The cast of Love Actually – or at least some of them – took some time to relive memories of the classic Christmas movie in a new primetime special. On November 29, nearly 20 years after the film’s original airing, Diane Sawyer hosted a special to celebrate the occasion, entitled “The Laughter and the Secrets of True Love: 20 Years Later.”
Featuring director Richard Curtis and stars Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Laura Linney, Bill Nighy, Martine McCutcheon and Thomas Brodie-Sangster all sat down to discuss their memories of the film. One of their main topics of discussion was Grant’s grumpy nature. “He’s often moody and unhappy, but he’s also the only person in the world who has never sent me a text that didn’t make me laugh,” Curtis said of the actor’s personality. “Hugh finds everyone annoying,” Thompson joked, before Grant said, “Not only am I unhappy myself, I like to make everyone around me unhappy when I can.”
As it turns out, Grant was a bit moody during the filming of Love Actually — especially during his infamous dance scene. “No Englishman can dance sober at 8am,” he said. “He was grumpy, but he knew it was a contractual obligation,” Curtis laughed.
Grant also had his doubts after seeing the film, and he wasn’t the only one. “I sat there and thought, ‘God, it’s pretty out there, isn’t it?'” Thompson recalled. “And then Hugh came up behind me as we walked out and said, ‘Correct me if I’m wrong, but is this the most psychotic thing we’ve ever been in?'”
“Well, it’s a bit psychotic!” Grant countered. “Like I said, it’s Richard on steroids. When he writes about love, he means it and that’s pretty rare.” He said he understood the film over the years with a little help from his wife, Anna Elisabet Eberstein. “I was drunk watching Love Actually with my wife a few months ago and she was the one who said… ‘It’s all about pain. It’s all about suffering,’” Grant Sawyer said during the interview. per die Los Angeles Times.
For his part, Curtis made it clear that he stands by the film’s themes. “We get thousands of serial killer movies, and there were only about nine of them,” he said. “Yet a million people will fall in love and feel like those are the most interesting moments of their lives.” He does have some regrets, though. “There are things you would change, but thank God society is changing. So, inevitably, there are moments when my film feels dated,” he said. “The lack of diversity makes me uncomfortable and a bit stupid. There are three plots that have bosses and people that work for them.”
Thompson also understood what made the film so enduringly popular. “I get it,” Thompson said. “We forget, again and again we forget, that love is all around us. It’s all that matters. My grandmother always said your heart was no good until it was broken ten times. There’s something about the scar tissue that makes it stronger.”
The special was not without bittersweet sides. Alan Rickmanwho played Thompson’s character’s husband, Harry, was unfortunately unable to perform as he died in 2016.
But it wasn’t the first time the cast had gotten back together. Kiera Knightley, Liam Neeson, Grant and many of the other stars — aside from Rickman and Thompson, who felt it was too soon after the former’s death — returned in 2017 for a mini-sequel called Red Nose Day Actually together, which some loosely connected ends with the first film.
The Laughter and Mysteries of Love Actually: 20 Years Later is streaming now on Hulu.