14 December 2023 , 11:12
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Richard Curtis has discussed more ways he wished he could improve his divisive Christmas film, Love Actually.
The 2003 movie is still by far the most successful film 67-year-old Richard has ever directed - and features an insanely star packed cast that includes Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightly and Chiwetel Ejiofor. To say the film has aged badly could be something of an understatement, as the film promotes stalker behaviour, is laced with offensive jokes, and features sexist stereotypes.
But there are more reasons that the film could be regarded as a failure - as Richard himself has noted that the star studded movie failed on a cultural level. The filmmaker seems to have been digging deep into his soul in recent months to reflect on the movie he made and how he wished he could have made it better.
This week, Richard was a guest on the London Love Stories podcast where he reflected on his film - which was his directorial debut. He touched upon a storyline that was cut from the film that featured acclaimed actresses Anne Reid and Frances de La Tour and says he wished he had included more religions in the film.
A deleted scene from Love Actually saw Frances de La Tour and Anne Reid playing lovers (Working Title)Richard explained: "We were meant to have an LGBTQ story [in Love Actually] but it got cut and I feel as though I let myself down there. And the diversity issue is very different now. It would’ve been lovely to make the film more culturally rich. To have had Hanukkah, to have had Diwali in there. So I do think if I did it again it would have a broader spread to it than the film now does."
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In axed scenes, 88-year-old The Mother actress Anne played a lesbian headmistress that would have interacted with 64-year-old Emma’s character and her family - and had a terminally ill partner named Geraldine who was played by 79-year-old Harry Potter actress Frances. While the scenes were cut from the film, they were released in home media releases of the film.
Earlier this year, Richard admitted he regretted the fat shaming jokes that he crowbarred into his script. Martine McCutcheon’s character Natalie was the punchline of many jokes about her size and was referred to on-screen as “the chubby one” in the movie’s script.
For many film fans, Love Actually has aged like sour milk (REX)In October, Richard confessed he had been called out about the unkind words by his own daughter, 28-year-old writer Scarlett Curtis. He told The Times: "I remember how shocked I was five years ago when Scarlett said to me, 'You can never use the word "fat" again’… Wow, you were right. In my generation calling someone chubby [was funny] — in Love Actually there were jokes about that. Those jokes aren't any longer funny.”
Addressing his failure to make his films more diverse, he added: “I wish I'd been ahead of the curve… I think because I came from a very undiverse school and bunch of university friends, I think that I hung on to the feeling that I wouldn't know how to write those parts. I think I was just stupid and wrong about that. I felt as though me, my casting director, my producers just didn't look outwards.”
As Love Actually's popularity surges every festive season, film fans have been more and more split on it's significance. One film fan on X/Twitter declared this year: "annual reminder Love Actually is not as good as you remember it and you do not need to watch it." And another blasted the movie, writing: "Love actually might be one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen."
But others continue to overlook the movie's many flaws and embrace it for the simple storytelling that it involves. One film fan unashamedly declared online: "#LoveActually is a perfect movie. I love it every single time."