Richard Curtis admits he finds Love Actually 'stalker' scene weird

It’s been two decades since one of the best British Christmas films coming out.

You know the one with Keira Knightley and that ‘To me you are perfect scene'? I’m talking about Love Actually, obviously.

The Richard Curtis classic is absolutely iconic, don’t even pretend you won’t be rewatching it again this Christmas.

But even the creator himself finds the odd scene in the film a little weird nowadays.

While some might find the scene where Mark (played by Andrew Lincoln) shows up to declare his love for Juliet (Knightley) - the wife of his best mate Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) - cute, it’s not so sweet for others.

With his giant cue cards, he silently stands at her doorstep and tells Juliet she’s ‘perfect’, but people reckon it’s a little stalker-ish and some have accused the scene of romanticising stalkers.

Oh, and let’s not forget him filming the entire wedding video of just her.

Universal Pictures

And Curtis addressed this to The Independent: “I think it’s a bit weird. I mean, I remember being taken by surprise about seven years ago, I was going to be interviewed by somebody and they said, ‘Of course, we’re mainly interested in the stalker scene,’ and I said, ‘What scene is that?’ And then I was, like, educated in it.”

Recalling making the 2003 flick, he added: “All I can say is that a lot of intelligent people were involved in the film at the time, and we didn’t think it was a stalker scene.

“But if it’s interesting or funny for different reasons [now] then, you know, God bless our progressive world.”

Martine McCutcheon, who played Natalie in Love Actually, previously defended the famous scene in 2020: “I don’t think it’s creepy at all. I think people do crazy things when they are in love with people.”

Kate Green/Getty Images

LADbible also recently spoke to Curtis about controversy surrounding the age gaps between Knightley and her co-stars.

Fans are shocked each year to discover the actor was just 18 when she played Juliet, just five years older than Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who played little Sam at 13.

Then throw that in with Ejiofor being eight years her senior at 26 and Lincoln (the ‘stalker') at 30.

Curtis admitted that it ‘didn’t seem too peculiar’ at the time.

“I’m really interested in whether or not I would think ‘don’t do that’ now, ” Curtis said.

“And that actually now we probably wouldn’t have gotten someone as young as Keira was in.”

Topics: Christmas, TV and Film, Celebrity, Sex and Relationships

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_