Love Actually Reunion | Let’s talk about love, really (20 years later)

After Friendsthen Harry Potterit was the team’s turn to Love Actually (Really love), Tuesday evening, to meet, in a 60-minute television appointment orchestrated by Diane Sawyer, on the airwaves of ABC. For the 20th anniversary of the cult romantic holiday comedy, gossip, backstage and interviews were on the agenda. But unfortunately, there were a few absentees. Report in four parts.

Love is…

It was to be expected: there was an abuse of the word “actually” (really) in this reunion show, which brought together some big names from Richard Curtis’ choral film, starting with the director himself, in addition to Emma Thompson (as heartbreaking Karen), Hugh Grant (PM David, a bespoke role), Bill Nighy (as Billy Mack, a role he hadn’t even auditioned for!), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (revealed here with his character of young Sam), etc. A major absentee, Alan Rickman, of course, died in 2016, but also Colin Firth, Liam Neeson and Keira Knightley, we will not really know why. The show, obviously stuffed with good feelings and happy memories, could not elude the great and existential question: “today, love, really, what is it? It’s “everywhere” and “everything that matters”, replied the actors in turn. The palm goes to Hugh Grant, always tongue-in-cheek (and apparently notoriously grumpy), who replied with a vibrant: love, really, is dead (dead)!

The revelation

It leaked in the days leading up to the broadcast and made the headlines of gossip magazines, but it deserves no less mention here: believe it or not, but as legendary as the scene and the pretty swaying of Hugh’s hips Grant, the actor was not thrilled, but really not, with the idea of ​​dancing on Jump, of the Pointer Sisters (scene taken up extensively on TikTok, it should be noted). If you’ve seen the movie, don’t pretend you’ve forgotten it. Nevertheless: you have to hear Richard Curtis explain how much Hugh Grant (his friend in life) hoped that the director would fall ill and drop the project. Bad luck, it was a “contractual obligation”, sorry, a “contractual guillotine!” “said Hugh Grant, with yet another offbeat comment. Note that in the short sequel to the film, a television short film made in 2017 as part of a charity program (Red Nose Dayan issue which raised 61 million), entitled Red Nose Day ActuallyHugh Grant, who reprized his character 14 years later, did a similar dance on Hotline Bling (Drake). Surprise ? Time having done its work, he tumbles squarely down the stairs of the chic 10 Downing Street.

love behind the scenes

It wasn’t just on camera, and in the ten (yes ten!) stories of the convoluted and tightly knit screenplay of Love Actually. Do you remember ? Between the PM and his assistant, of course, but also the latter’s sister and her sadly lost husband (and this heartbreaking scene from the unpacked CD), the employee and her shadowy colleague, the newlyweds and their friend (and his declaration on cards, a classic since!), the nerdy rock star and his faithful manager (we probably forget some), there was action in this choral film, warmly welcomed by the public, but not really critically. The Atlantic, for its tenth anniversary in 2013, headlined squarely: the least romantic film of all time! However, here we learned here that the employee and her dark colleague, precisely, were also experiencing a roller coaster in real life. “There were also real broken hearts in Love Actually “said Laura Linney, who at the time had just separated, just like (coincidentally) her playing partner. “And what do we do all day? […] We have the chance to do good […]take comfort. […] It was really a balm. »

Really, in the life of…

And then we know it: love with a capital A is not just a feeling of love between a man and a woman. Richard Curtis notes in this regard how his story is dated, with its lack of diversity, but also its relationship between bosses and employees. “I feel a bit stupid and uncomfortable!” “, he slips at the end of the interview. But let’s move on. Because love exists here in the broader sense, between a father-in-law and his son, but also between a sister and his brother. Speaking of the son, the character of young Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), madly in love with a classmate, is directly inspired by the director himself. “I was obsessed with love! (and is it really a surprise, after Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill ?). Ditto for the relationship of Sarah (Laura Linney) and her psychiatric brother. “My sister has a long history in terms of mental health…” However, these loves, as different as they are, are no less “deep”, downright “unconditional”. Real, what. This is no doubt why, and despite the past 20 years, Love Actually still resonates so loudly (TikTok and YouTube are proof of this). Because love is told there in (almost) all its forms and directions. Without sparing us in its heartbreaks or its sometimes happy endings. Because it can. Richard Curtis still believes in it “passionately”.