Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy to reunite for special 20th anniversary celebrating “Love Actually”

The stars of Love Actually will reunite for a special 20th anniversary special on US network ABC, it has been announced.

The one-hour special will look at how the film became a beloved Christmas tradition and a global sensation, with exclusive interviews with cast members.

Love Actually

Hugh Grant, Dame Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy, Laura Linney and Thomas Brodie-Sangster will sit down with ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer for the show.

It will also include an appearance from writer and director Richard Curtis, as well as a message from Martine McCutcheon.

ABC said the special would offer new insight into behind-the-scenes secrets and the film’s famous scenes as well as examining how the Covid-19 pandemic “refocused the ways we love and connect”.

In an exclusive clip of the interview, Dame Emma recalled watching the film for the first time.

“Hugh came up behind me as we were walking out and said ‘is that the most psychotic thing we’ve ever been in?’” she said.

Grant, who plays the British Prime Minister in the iconic Christmas film, also reveals he thought he would “hate” the iconic dancing scene in Downing Street.

“But I will give myself the credit of having the secretary catch me,” he says.

In another clip, Curtis tells Sawyer: “I do think that the way to think about life is that every day has the potential just to be gorgeous.”

Sawyer also poses the ever elusive question to cast members: “Love actually is?”, to which Grant answers “dead”.

The special comes after cast members in 2017 reunited for the short sequel, Red Nose Day Actually, which was also made by Curtis and further developed key character storylines.

Several scenes from the short echoed iconic moments from the film such as the cue card scene with Keira Knightley’s and Andrew Lincoln’s characters.

In the mini sequel, Grant, Liam Neeson, Linney, Colin Firth and Rowan Atkinson made appearances.

Curtis, who was also involved in Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones’ Diary as a writer, said in the lead-up he would “never have dreamt of writing a sequel to Love Actually”, but added: “I thought it might be fun to do ten minutes to see what everyone is now up to.”

“We’ve been delighted and grateful that so many of the cast are able to take part – and it’ll certainly be a nostalgic moment getting back together and recreating the characters 14 years later,” he said.

“We hope to make something that’ll be fun – very much in the spirit of the original film and of Red Nose Day – and which we hope will help bring lots of viewers and cash to the Red Nose Day shows.”

Love Actually has consistently rated as the top searched-for Christmas film in France, Italy and 17 other countries, totalling 887,000 worldwide searches a month.

The story of the original film, which is an international co-production between the UK, the United States and France begins five weeks before Christmas and is played out in a weekly countdown until the holiday, followed by an epilogue that takes place one month later.

The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special, will air on Wednesday, November 30 at 1am UK time on ABC.

Source: Love Actually: Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy to reunite for special 20th anniversary TV special celebrating popular Christmas film

Love Actually: The tearjerking love scene deleted from classic Christmas romcom

It’s the festive season, which always brings with it seemingly endless repeats of Love Actually on the box.

But while many of us have seen Richard Curtis’ romcom enough times to know all the words, including those on Andrew Lincoln’s soppy placards, few know of the highly emotional storyline about an older lesbian couple that ended up on the cutting room floor.

The relationship was between the headmistress (Anne Reid) at the school attended by Karen’s (Emma Thompson) son and her terminally ill partner Geraldine (Frances de la Tour).

The audience was supposed to see a moving scene in which the pair bicker over their differing tastes in fancy sausages and display wicked senses of humours, before cuddling up at night.

It is later revealed during a school assembly that Geraldine died shortly before Christmas [ . . . ]

Source: Love Actually: The tearjerking lesbian love scene deleted from classic Christmas romcom | The Independent

There’s a lot to hate in Love Actually. But it’s also the ultimate Christmas fantasy

Love Actually

Ignore the sexism if you can, and revel in a world of palatial flats where everyone adores the prime minister, says Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

By: Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

What is it about Love Actually? Richard Curtis’s ensemble Yuletide schmaltz-fest came out 16 years ago, and yet whether you adore it or despise it – for this has never been a film to provoke milquetoast emotions – you can’t deny that it remains a cultural touchstone.

The Christmas-centric plot facilitates the film’s annual exhumation by the sort of earmuff-sporting crowd who get excited about the switch to red Styrofoam cups in high street coffee chains, duly followed by its summary dissection by a bunch of misanthropic pseudo-nihilist killjoys whose concept of festive filmic fun is limited to watching the snowy bits in Andrei Rublev. No one comes out of this grudge match well. As I read on a desk once, the darkest parts of hell are reserved for those who, in times of moral conflict, maintain their neutrality (it was attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche, but it seems it’s actually Dan Brown).

Surely, you are thinking, it’s just a Christmas movie? You are wrong. It isn’t just a Christmas movie. It is the Christmas movie that devours all other Christmas movies. Continue reading

A sugary Christmas fantasy? Yes – and I love it, actually: a defence of Richard Curtis’s 2003 romcom

One of my favourite festive traditions is to snuggle up on the sofa with a full glass and an even fuller stomach to watch Love Actually. Richard Curtis’s 2003 romantic comedy, which tells nine different love stories and stars every famous actor you care to think of, is perfectly silly and totally delightful.

For millions of us, it is as much a part of Christmas as brandy butter or bread sauce. And the good news is, it’s now on Netflix – if you happen to miss the endless screenings on ITV2.

But while the film holds a place in the national imagination, it is not an uncontroversial one. In fact, it is difficult to think of another film that inspires quite this much hatred in some, while providing comfort and joy for so many others.

In recent years, Love Actually has been condemned for being, among other things, cynical, creepy, sexist and fat-shaming. Yes, really. [ . . . ]

Read More at source: A sugary Christmas fantasy? Yes – and I love it, actually: a defence of Richard Curtis’s 2003 romcom

Is it just me? I thought Love Actually was rubbish

The top five Christmas movies to boost your festive spirit

We get it, Christmas can be stressful. Even the most organized of people can feel overwhelmed – and when your to-do list is longer than your arm, it can be difficult to get into the Christmas spirit. The solution? You need a night at home, glass of mulled wine in hand, and a Christmas movie on the TV…Despite the fact that British film Love Actually was never really supposed to be a Christmas movie (find out more about that here), it’s become tradition to watch it every time December rolls around (or November, depending on how festive you’re feeling). Featuring eight or nine subplots, a brilliant soundtrack and a host of respected actors, the pressure of a big budget means it could easily have been a disaster. Instead, it turned out to be 136 minutes of uplifting, heart-warming soppiness. We love it.

Is it just me? I thought Love Actually sucked. What do you think?

Read the fully story: The top five Christmas movies to boost your festive spirit