Love Actually is a favorite cult Christmas movie for many fans, and while the film has become a classic overtime, lead star Hugh Grant revealed he was not particularly fond of a specific scene.
The actor openly expressed his hatred for the dancing scene in Richard Curtis’ 2003 project. He tried to make a lot of excuses in hopes of avoiding it to the point that he faked his injury. The British star called it “absolute hell.”
Hugh Grant Dreaded Filming Dance Scene In Love Actually
In an ABC News special via Los Angeles Times, actor Hugh Grant revealed his displeasure for the dancing scene in Love Actually. As someone who does not usually grooves on screen, it is quite understandable. Still, he thought the idea was very terrible:
“I saw it in the script, and I thought, ‘Well, I’ll hate doing that.’ I didn’t fancy doing the dance at all, let alone rehearsing it. To this day, there’s many people — and I agree with them — who think it’s the most excruciating scene ever committed to celluloid.”
He lamented how he had to power through the early morning by strutting his stuff, and at the same time, not really feeling it. He further added via E! News:
“And then on the day—I mean, imagine, you know, you’re a grumpy 40-year-old Englishman. It’s 7 o’clock in the morning. You’re stone-cold sober, and it’s, ‘OK, Hugh, if you’d like to freak out now…’ It was absolute hell.”
Grant prancing around 10 Downing Street to the Pointer Sisters’ Jump (For My Love) remains one of the most iconic scenes in the movie. The actor admitted not being enthusiastic about it that he had to delay filming it:
“I certainly dreaded filming it, and [writer-director] Richard [Curtis] kept saying as the weeks went by… he said, ‘Don’t you think we better rehearse the dancing scene?’ And I said, ‘Well, yeah, yeah, I gotta learn some lines. You know, my ankle hurts today.’ So, it was never rehearsed.”
Director Richard Curtis revealed Grant kept making excuses until it was already the last day of production, so he had no choice but to shoot the scene.
Hugh Grant ‘Drunkenly’ Watched Love Actually Again
Hugh Grant admitted in the same interview with ABC News that he revisited the movie with his wife Anna Eberstein and reflected via People:
“It comes from the heart — it’s true. And I did drunkenly watch a bit of Love Actually a few months ago with my wife, and she was the one who said, ‘Oh look, it’s all about pain; it’s all about suffering.’”
The Music and Lyrics star complimented the director’s writing and even called the movie “a bit psychotic.” Grant said:
“The thing is with him, what you have to remember is when he writes about love, he means it. And that is quite rare.”
Love Actually also starred Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Andrew Lincoln, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Martin Freeman, Bill Nighy, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Liam Neeson, and Rowan Atkinson.
