Keira Knightley will soon grace the screens as a mother leading a double life as a spy in the upcoming series, Black Doves. She has been doing the press tour for the show and since the holiday season is right on the horizon, it is only fair that one of her most popular movies, Love Actually, is brought up.
The Christmas romantic comedy film is considered one of the best ones to date, but that does not mean it is perfect. When it first became popular, no one seemed to see the problem with one of its rather creepy scenes. Once the initial adoration for it began wearing off, viewers began to notice how flawed that one scene involving Andrew Lincoln and Keira Knightley is. As it turns out, the actress also agrees.
Keira Knightley Agrees That One of Her Scenes with Andrew Lincoln in Love Actually Is “quite creepy”
Keira Knightley was only 6 when she began acting professionally. She appeared in quite a few commercials and TV films before she landed a role as Padmé Amidala’s handmaiden and decoy, Sabé in 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. However, her breakthrough did not come until 2002 when she played one of the lead roles in Bend It Like Beckham.
Knightley rose to international fame with her role as Elizabeth Swann opposite Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. That same year, she also appeared as Juliet in Love Actually. The film did not become a hit immediately after release but surprisingly blew up after three or four years.
In the movie, there is a scene in which Andrew Lincoln’s Mark shows up at Juliet’s door sometime after she is happily married. 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 scene is sweet and creepy at the same time and Knightley had no issue admitting this in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
The slightly stalkerish aspect of it — I do remember that. My memory is of [director] Richard [Curtis], who is now a very dear friend, of me doing the scene, and him going, “No, you’re looking at [Lincoln] like he’s creepy,” and I’m like [in a dramatic whisper], “But it is quite creepy.”
Then, she had to redo the scene because she needed to look like it was a romantic gesture. She also emphasized the fact that she was only 17 at the time and claimed that people did not seem to realize this until recently.
Director Richard Curtis Says the Cue Card Scene Could Have Been Different
Love Actually has emerged as one of the holiday classics in the two decades since its release. The cue cards scene, although creepy, is considered one of the most iconic scenes in the movie and has been parodied several times. However, in a recent interview on Still Watching Netflix, director Richard Curtis said that it could have been different.
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. 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.
Then, he went into the office and asked the four people which one of those four ideas they would pick if they were to be flirted with. Curtis said they definitely picked the cards which is why he went with the cue card idea, because it was a “community” decision, although whether or not four people can be called a community is debatable.
Love Actually is available for streaming on Netflix.
\nFrequently asked questions
\nWhich Love Actually scene did Keira Knightley call “quite creepy”?
She was referring to the famous cue-card scene, in which Andrew Lincoln’s character Mark turns up at the door of her character Juliet after her wedding and silently confesses his love using a series of placards. In a Los Angeles Times interview, Knightley recalled the “slightly stalkerish aspect of it” and remembered telling director Richard Curtis that the moment was “quite creepy.”
\nWho did Keira Knightley play in Love Actually, and how old was she during filming?
Knightley played Juliet, a newlywed whose husband’s best friend Mark (Andrew Lincoln) is secretly in love with her. She has said she was 17 years old when the film was made, a detail she noted many viewers only became widely aware of more recently.
\nDid director Richard Curtis consider other ideas for the cue-card scene?
Yes. In a Still Watching Netflix interview, Curtis said he weighed about four different concepts for the love declaration, including aerial signage from an airplane and a mews filled with flowers, before the people in his office voted for the cue cards. He described the choice as a “community” decision and noted the cards were inspired by a Bob Dylan video.
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