“Love Actually” star reflects on iconic scene, calling it ‘creepy’.
Keira Knightley, a celebrated actress, was only 17 when she appeared in the beloved holiday film “Love Actually,” released in 2003. This movie has since carved a niche for itself in Christmas traditions across the globe.
Although the film enjoys widespread acclaim, Knightley confesses that her memories of the set are fuzzy at best.
“Most of my films I have either never seen or I have only seen once. So it’s nothing personal against ‘Love Actually.’ It was charming, but surprisingly, it did not perform as well as anticipated upon its release. Then, a few years later, it blossomed into something significant,” she shared with the Los Angeles Times.
“It’s the only film I’ve worked on that thrived long after its debut. The catch is that my time on set lasted about five days. At 17, I have no recollection of the experience.”
This heartwarming film intertwines myriad love stories, including that of Knightley’s Juliet and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Peter. Their wedding, filmed by Peter’s best man, Mark (Andrew Lincoln), holds an unexpected twist: Mark harbors secret affections for Juliet.
In a memorable scene, Mark arrives at Juliet’s doorstep with cue cards in hand, ready to declare his feelings. With a boombox blasting “Silent Night,” he compels Juliet to read his heartfelt messages, all while keeping his true intentions hidden from Peter.
However, this scene has not stood the test of time unscathed. Many viewers acknowledge an unsettling undertone of obsession that Knightley recalls sensing during filming. She voiced her concerns to director Richard Curtis.
“The slightly stalkerish element was apparent to me,” Knightley remarked. “I remember Richard—now a dear friend—telling me, ‘You’re giving him a creepy look,’ and I replied, ‘Well, it is pretty creepy.’
“We had to rework my expression to make it less unsettling,” she added, laughing softly at the memory.
“I mean, there was definitely a creep factor,” Knightley stated, reflecting on her age at the time. “I knew I was just 17. Yet, it seems like only recently that everyone else realized that,” she observed, contrasting herself with Lincoln, who was 29 during production.
Lincoln echoed these feelings during a 2017 interview with Vanity Fair. “I kept asking Richard, ‘Are you sure I won’t be seen as a creepy stalker?’” he recounted.
In a recent 2023 interview with The Independent, Curtis unwrapped the peculiar essence of that scene. “I think it’s a bit weird. Seven years ago, I was surprised when someone said, ‘We’re really interested in the stalker scene,’ and I thought, ‘What scene is that?’ I was schooled on it then,” he admitted. “Many intelligent minds were involved, and we certainly didn’t perceive it that way at the time.”
Alongside Knightley, the film features an impressive cast including Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, and Colin Firth, creating a tapestry of love that resonates, even amidst its complexities.
