Bridget Jones’s door key!

Renee Zellweger makes a v v embarrassing howler as she tries to get into wrong house

MAYBE it could be chalked up to method acting, but Renee Zellweger last week made a goof as charmingly quirky as anything the absent-minded Bridget Jones might get up to.

The Oscar-winner returned to her London home only to find her keys didn’t fit the front door. And after a few moments’ confusion she realised her mistake: she was trying to enter the wrong house.

Ms Zellweger, 55, has been staying at a magnificent £4million London townhouse while she films the fourth instalment in the hit movie franchise, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.

Dressed casually in a black puffer jacket and orange baseball cap, she initially looked puzzled by her failed attempts to enter ‘her’ rental property. But she soon realised her mistake and walked next door to the correct house.

The new film, coming almost a quarter of a century after the first, Bridget Jones’s Diary, will see the title character as a single mum

It’s a goof worthy of her hapless character

trying to raise two children following the death of husband Mark Darcy, played by Colin Firth.

And this time around the actress has not been forced to pile on the pounds, with sources saying her character’s preoccupation with her weight will be ‘played down’. One insider said: ‘We will be more reflective of what people think about body image these days. Letting go of Bridget’s weight obsession is seen as the right thing to do.’

Bridget was routinely fat-shamed in the earlier films with Ms Zellweger revealing she ate a 4,000calorie-a-day diet for the part.

Out next Valentine’s Day, the new film will see Bridget entering the world of online dating and balancing potential suitors including a younger rock star (One Day’s Leo Woodall), a handsome PE teacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and long-time on-off love Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), who was not, as assumed, killed in a plane crash.

A film source said: ‘Never before has Bridget had so many choices of men. It is going to be brilliant.’

JUST WALK AWAY, RENEE: Ms Zellweger wiggles the key in the lock (1) before giving up (2) and looking puzzled on the doorstep (3) OPEN SESAME: After figuring out her mistake, the actress tries the very similar door of the neighbouring house (4) and finally gets inside (5)