2023-12-26 16:01:00
Christmas cult film 15 things you need to know about “Love Actually”.
Scene from “Love Actually”: The newly elected British Prime Minister David (Hugh Grant) falls in love with his maid Natalie (Martine McCutcheon).
© picture-alliance
Some people love the film because it is so mercilessly romantic. The others hate him because he is so mercilessly romantic. Either way: “Actually… Love” from 2003 has long been one of the Christmas evergreens. 15 facts about British comedy.
To get you in the mood, first of all Trailer:
Die Welcome scenes at the beginning and end of the film are real. Director Richard Curtis sent a team of cameramen to Heathrow Airport for a week and then asked the people being filmed to be allowed to use the material. Originally, Curtis had two films at the same time worked. In one the focus was on the Prime Minister, played by Hugh Grant, in the other, on the writer Jamie, played by Colin Firth. Since both plots were too similar, he decided to combine them both for Love Actually.Hugh Grant hated the scene, in which he danced exuberantly through the rooms of 10 Downing Street to “Jump (For My Love)” by the Pointer Sisters. He believed that a prime minister would never do such a thing. Anyway, the sequence is one of the funniest in the film:
The lake where Jamie (Colin Firth) and his Portuguese assistant Aurelia (Lucia Moniz) bathed was real only 45 centimeters deep, so the two had to kneel and pretend they were swimming. It was also full of mosquitoes and Firth was bitten several times, one of the bites swelling to the size of an avocado. In the film, Karen (Emma Thompson) talks about her “big brother” David (Hugh Grant). In reality it is Thompson a year and a half older than Grant“Love Actually” was released in 2004 for nominated for two Golden Globes, Best Screenplay and Best Film Musical/Comedy, but came away empty-handed. One of the most amusing episodes is that of the clumsy caterer Colin, who is constantly unlucky with women and ultimately wins the hearts of three dream women in the USA. Actor Kris Marshall was so excited to be undressed by three beautiful women in 21 takes that he… returned the check with his daily salary. Incidentally, one of the ladies was January Jones, who four years later became famous as Don Draper’s wife Betty in “Mad Men.” In an interview, Richard Curtis said that Stacey Snider, boss of the co-producing company Universal, predicted that “In fact… Love” would gross $50 million less if he leave all the nude scenes in the film. But since he only went to the cinema as a teenager in the hope of seeing someone naked on the screen, he left the sequences in – also in order not to betray his younger self. For the record: The film cost 45 million dollars and grossed around $247 million worldwide a. Added to this are the very good DVD sales over the years (especially at Christmas). For many, the star of the film: the washed-up rock star Billy Mack. The role marked the big international breakthrough for actor Bill Nighy, who had long been known in England, at the age of 54. Mack’s Song”Christmas Is All Around”, a cover version of the Troggs’ 1967 “Love Is All Around”, became the film’s anthem. The video is intentionally reminiscent of Robert Palmer’s from the 80s. The principle in “Addicted to Love”, “Simply Irresistible” and “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On” was always the same: Palmer sings in front, and behind her beautiful, identically dressed women move to the rhythm.
“Christmas Is All Around”:
“Addicted to Love”:
Shortly before the end of the film Claudia Schiffer makes a guest appearance, in which she flirts intensely with Liam Neeson. She is said to have received $300,000 for just under a minute at the beginning of this year some of the actors together again in front of the camera, to document in a quarter-hour sketch how their characters have fared over the years. The short film was broadcast by the BBC in March as part of the Red Nose Day fundraising campaign. And, yes, Hugh Grant is dancing again.This is what the critics said:
“A thoroughly entertaining romantic comedy, a ruthlessly cheerful confection, nobly packaged and perfectly constructed like a Rolls Royce. With its cheeky humor, incredibly attractive cast, confident direction and all-encompassing romance, this film will be a huge success on both sides of the Atlantic. ” (“Variety”)
“A romantic comedy as bloated as an epic looking to enter the Oscar race, and feels less like a movie and more like a record label’s greatest hits collection or a sitcom short reel.” (“New York Times”)
“‘Love Actually’ tries to convince us that it’s totally romantic, which makes it the most unromantic movie of all time. It’s probably best if we all give up on love and move on with our lives.” (“The Atlantic”)This is what Richard Curtis says:
“The only nightmare I’ve had in my life was ‘Love Actually.’ It all worked great in the script sessions, but when we finished the film and I saw it edited, it was… a disaster. It contained twelve stories, and putting them in a sensible order was extremely difficult, like three-dimensional chess. You could have continued playing forever, but it had to be in the cinemas at Christmas.”
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