Richard Curtis calls stalker scene in Love Actually “a bit weird”

Richard Curtis has been re-appraising one of his most famous films, calling the so-called ‘stalker scene’ in Love Actually “a bit weird.”

Richard Curtis is one of the UK’s most successful writer-directors, having hits with the likes of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and About Time.

One of his most beloved features is Love Actually, a Christmas flick with interlocking stories that hit screens worldwide 20 years ago this month.

The film stars the likes of Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Bill Nighy, and Rowan Atkinson. But it’s the sub-plot featuring Keira Knightley and Andrew Lincoln that has caused Curtis to re-evaluate his writing in recent years.

Richard Curtis calls stalker scene in Love Actually “a bit weird”

Love Actually features a storyline in which Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is married to Juliet (Keira Knightley). But Peter’s best friend Mark (Andrew Lincoln) is also in love with her. The plot culminates with Mark showing up at their door – on Christmas Eve – and holding up a series of placards with writing that reveal his feelings towards Juliet.

It’s a key scene in Love Actually, and one that’s been parodied and spoofed on sketch shows and in sitcoms and adverts ever since. But more recently, critics have turned on the scene, deeming this grand gesture as more creepy than romantic. Which has resulted in Curtis re-appraising the sequence, as the writer-director describes below…

“He actually turns up, to his best friend’s house, to say to his best friend’s wife, on the off chance that she answers the door, ‘I love you.'” Curtis tells The Independent, while shaking his head. “I think it’s a bit weird.

“I remember being taken by surprise about seven years ago – I was going to be interviewed by somebody and they said, ‘Of course, we’re mainly interested in the stalker scene,’ and I said, ‘What scene is that?’ And then I was, like, educated in it.

“All I can say is that a lot of intelligent people were involved in the film at the time, and we didn’t think it was a stalker scene. But if it’s interesting or funny for different reasons [now] then, you know, God bless our progressive world.” 

Love Actually is streaming all over the place right now, while it will probably be playing in your local repertory cinema at some point in December. For more TV and Movies coverage, head here.