Since being released in 2003, Love Actually has become a staple Christmas movie among romance and comedy fans alike.
The flick featured monumental stars– such as Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, and Kiera Knightley– and followed the lives of eight very different but seemingly intertwined love stories to reveal the one emotion that connects all of us as humans.
And with its twenty-year anniversary quickly approaching, the movie continues to hold the hearts of fans hostage while attracting new viewers every single year. But, even if you know the film’s script like the back of your hand, some of these secret behind-the-scenes facts might seriously shock you.
1. Hugh Grant Did Not Enjoy His Dancing Scene
Women everywhere swooned when the fifty-nine-year-old (now) silver fox pranced around and shook his behind to Jump by The Pointer Sisters in his Downing Street home. But, a Daily Beast interview with director Richard Curtis revealed that Hugh was seriously grumpy about the whole scene.
“The fault line was the dance because there was no way he could do that in a prime ministerial manner. Hugh kept on putting it off, and he didn’t like the song– it was originally a Jackson 5 song, but we couldn’t get it– so he was hugely unhappy about it,” Curtis said.
So, Hugh and the film’s production team actually did not end up shooting that scene until the very final day.
To Curtis’ surprise, though, the dance went so well that Hugh actually sang along to the lyrics– which made the editing team’s job surprisingly more difficult.
“When you edit a dance sequence like that, it’s going to be a third of the length, and the bit he’s singing the words to isn’t going to be the bit of that moment, so it was incredibly hard to edit.”
deagreez – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
2. The Lake Scene Was A Total Fake
Do you remember when Jamie, played by Colin Firth, and his love interest Aurelia, played by Lúcia Moniz, had the leap into the lake to save all of his writing? Well, if their dives, flailing arms, and gasps seemed authentic, then the actors had you totally fooled.
The lake used to film was nowhere near as deep as the scene had viewers believe. Instead, the water was only eighteen inches deep!
So, the pair of stars were forced to kneel down and act for their lives while pretending to be struggling in deep water.
According to cast members, the water’s depth was not the only problem with that lake, either. Apparently, it was also infested with mosquitos– resulting in Colin’s elbow swelling to the size of a ripe avocado following so many bites.
3. The Jaw-Dropping Age Difference Between Juliet And Sam
The beautiful bride Juliet was played by Keira Knightley, who ultimately discovered that her new husband’s best bud never hated her at all. Instead, the best friend was actually just madly in love with her. Go figure!
At the same, Sam was played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster– a young boy who was navigating the pain of being in love with his school crush, Joanna.
So, being that Juliet was literally walking down the aisle and Sam was trying to snag a simple kiss on the cheek, wouldn’t you think that the pair of actors were pretty far apart in age?
Well, if you did, then you thought wrong– because while filming the movie, Keira was just eighteen years old, and Thomas was only thirteen. This means that the stars were only five years apart!
The next time you watch Love Actually, I’m sure you won’t be able to get that realization out of your head.
4. The Cards Used During Andrew Lincoln’s Seranade Were Handwritten By Him
Everyone knows and loves the scene when Andrew Lincoln’s character, Mark, shows up on Juliet’s doorstep with a boombox and large cue cards. Then, while playing tunes that are supposed to be Christmas carolers, he shares his love with Keira Knightley’s character.
As if this scene could not tug on your heartstrings more, though, Andrew actually revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he wrote the cards himself. Well, he did not write the script per se, but he did take over the actual duty of writing the words on the cards using a permanent marker.
“It’s funny because the Art Department did it, and then I said, ‘Well, can I do it?’ because I like to think that my handwriting is really good,” Andrew said.
“Actually, it ended up with me having to sort of trace over the Art Department’s, so it is my handwriting, but with a sort of pencil stencil underneath.”
5. Love Actually Was Never Meant To Be An Ensemble Or Christmas Film
According to Richard Curtis, he had actually written two separate films before deciding to combine the two into this groundbreaking film. The first was centered around David, Hugh Grant’s character. And the second was going to focus on Jamie, played by Colin Firth.
“I’d worked out who films on those subjects, and then I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t want to do these because they are just turning out to be a shape I know,'” Richard said in an interview with Vulture.
So, the director switched courses altogether and decided to create an ensemble film with various plot lines that all come back to one main root: love.
“I said, ‘I’d be more interested in writing a film about love and what love sort of means, and how, you know, about the subject rather than one example of a story about that subject.”
And boy, are we glad he did!
On top of the film’s original plot coming from unexpected origins, Love Actually was also never intended to be a Christmas film. In fact, when Richard first started the movie, it was never set during the holiday season at all. But then, he reflected on his own love of Christmas and figured he would lean into that.
“So I thought I’ll make a Christmas movie, but it didn’t occur to me that it might be one of those Christmas movies where people actually watch it again and again, and it’s a delightful surprise to me,” Richard said in an interview with VH1.
Would it even be Love Actually without Christmas? Thankfully, we will never have to know.
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