Love may not be the best way to describe any of these By Keira Knightley most iconic movie scenes.
The legendary actress was just 17 when she joined the star-studded ensemble cast “Love Actually,” a 2003 romantic Christmas film that has since become synonymous with the holidays.
Despite the popularity, Knightley admits she doesn’t remember much about her time on set.
“Most of my movies I’ve never seen or have only seen once. So there’s nothing against ‘Love Actually.’ It’s wonderful because it didn’t do as well as everyone thought when it came out. Suddenly, such three or four years later, it took on a life of its own,” she said Los Angeles Times.
Keira Knightley was one of many big-name actors in the cast of the 2003 Christmas movie, “Love Actually.” (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
“It’s the only film I’ve had that found this life in retrospect. The problem is, I was on it for about five days. I was 17, so I don’t really have any memory of it.”
Keira Knightley says ‘Love Actually’ is her only project that has resonated with an audience since its initial release. (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
The film, which brings the characters together through a variation of love stories, features a newlywed couple, Juliet and Peter, played by Knightley and Chiwetel Ejiofor respectively. Their wedding is filmed by Peter’s best man, Mark (played by Andrew Lincoln), who is secretly in love with Juliet.
In what is now an iconic scene, Mark comes to Julia’s door to profess his love for her, with cue cards in tow. Standing outside the couple’s door with a boombox playing ‘Silent Night’, unbeknownst to his friend Peter, Mark has Juliet read the cards and tell her his true feelings.
Andrew Lincoln, who plays Mark in “Love Actually,” shuffles a series of cards to profess his love for Juliet (played by Keira Knightley). (Maximum film/Alamy stock photo)
The scene has not aged well, with many recognizing a bizarre undertone of inappropriateness, one that Knightley remembers feeling on set and speaking to the director. Richard Curtis.
“The slightly stalkerish aspect of it – I Doing Remember that,” Knightley reflected on filming. “My memory is of Richard, who is a very dear friend now, of me doing the scene, and him saying, ‘No, you’re looking at (Lincoln) like he’s creepy.’ and I’m like, ‘But it is quite creepy. ”
“And then I have to do it again to fix my face so he doesn’t look scary,” she added.
Keira Knightley said during filming in 2003 that she raised her concerns with director Richard Curtis. (Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection)
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“I mean, there was a creep factor at the time, right?” Knightley, now 39, said. “Also, I knew I was 17. It seems like just a few years ago everyone otherwise realized I was 17,” she said of her age during filming. Lincoln, who her character Juliet runs after and kisses, was 29 at the time.
Lincoln, in turn, recalled having similar concerns in a 2017 interview with Vanity Fair.
“I kept saying to Richard, ‘Are you sure I’m not coming across as a creepy stalker?’” he said.
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In 2023, Richard gave an interview with The Independent in which he acknowledged the inherent strangeness of the scene.
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“I I think it’s a bit strange. I mean, I remember about seven years ago I was surprised, I was going to be interviewed by someone and they said, ‘Of course we’re mainly interested in the stalker scene,’ and I said, ‘What scene is that? ?’ And then I was trained in it,” he said. “All I can say is that there were a lot of intelligent people involved in the film at the time, and we didn’t think it was a stalker scene.”
Hugh GrantEmma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney and Colin Firth also appeared in the film.
