Richard Curtis, director of beloved 2003 Christmas romcom Love Actually, has revealed that the show’s famous cue card scene could have been very different.
The film stars an ensemble cast including Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, and Andrew Lincoln as they face a series of romantic challenges over the festive season.
In the iconic scene Knightley’s character Juliet opens the door to Lincoln’s Mark as he stands outside with a series of cue cards that begin, “Say it’s carol singers”, as he proceeds to profess his love for her. The clip has been parodied countless times since the film’s release over two decades ago, even being used in national election campaigns.
“I remember very specifically doing it so I wanted to have a way that he could show Keira how he felt,” Curtis told Netflix UK.
“I was in an office and there were about four people working in the office and I said what I’m going to do today is think of four ideas and then put them to the vote.”
He then listed the options he had considered that could have been in the final cut, replacing the famous signs.
“I think one of them was going to be an airplane with one of those things after it, one of them was going to be him filling the mews with flowers, I remember this sign one which is really stolen from a Bob Dylan video.”
He continued, “I went out and said to the four people working in the office if you were being flirted with, which of these would you prefer? They definitely picked the cards. so it was a community decision.”
Knightley recently described the well-known scene as “creepy and sweet.” The actor told The Graham Norton Show in November that she still gets stopped in the street by fans of the Christmas film.
She recalled how she was stuck in traffic when a group of builders next to her began holding up signs in a recreation of the scene.
“It was creepy and sweet at the same time, much like it was in the film,” Knightley told the host.
Love Actually has been reappraised several times since its release two decades ago, with critics debating whether the film is as romantic as it initially appeared.
