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While Keira Knightley spell his action series on Netflix, Black Dovesthe screenwriter and director of Love Actually, Richard Curtisalso shares on the platform his new project, the animated film That Christmas. So much so that the two find themselves interviewed on the same film in different interviews.
If the director recently explained that he should not follow up on Love at first sight in Notting Hillunlike this rom-com which had the right to reunion for a good causethe actress returns to a scene which has caused a lot of ink to flow since its release in 2003: that love declaration cards of Mark (Andrew Lincoln) towards Juliet, Keira's character, who is married to his best friend, Peter, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Love Actually, 20 years later: for or against?
The sequence is intended to be romantic, but it can also be perceived as a form of harassment, especially on the part of a man in his late thirties towards an underage young woman, Knightley being only 17 at the time of filming.
“My memory of this scene?replies the actress to Los Angeles Times. I remember Richard [Curtis] asking me to redo the scene, saying to myself: 'No it's not okay you look at him like he's scary.'“
“But he East pretty creepy”would have replied the actress, to whom the director asked to redo the take.
“He wanted another reaction on my face, she explains. To make him seem less disturbing. While there was indeed this factor 'creepy' at the time, right? I was very aware of being 17 (and Lincoln, 29, editor’s note). It's like everyone only realized my age a few years ago, not then.”
Andrew Lincoln and Richard Curtis were also asked about how public perception of this particular sequence has changed over the years, and they also acknowledge that it can be seen “a form of harassment”and that she has aged badly. The director also made his mea culpa for lack of diversity of his film and his grossophobic jokes.
“He arrives in front of his best friend's house to pass a message to his wife, Curtis reacted last year. And what a message: 'I love you' ! I think it's a bit weird. I remember being taken by surprise seven years ago, when during an interview someone told me they were 'interested in the stalker scene.' I answered him: 'What scene are you talking about?' And there, I understood, it really educated me. All I can say in hindsight is that there were a lot of smart people who worked on this film and at the time it wasn't perceived as a harassment scene. But if it's interesting or fun to see it differently these days, so much the better. God bless our more progressive world.”
For the actor, “he’s definitely a stalker”as he explained in 2016. “Besides, this is a question I asked Richard Curtis: 'Don't you think we're on the edge of stalker territory?'. And he answered me: 'No, no. Not with you, darling. You'll be great.'“
During this Christmas season, Love Actually can be seen again on First Max. Here is its trailer:
The improbable cut scene from Love Actually, full of false connections