Love, Really is a Christmas rom-com that reveals an ensemble of characters experiencing romantic entanglements 5 weeks earlier than the jolly vacation. It was so memorable that 14 years later, a tv brief movie sequel Crimson Nostril Day Really introduced the unique solid collectively once more. Because it’s been 20 years because the beloved ensemble movie got here out, Love Really director Richard Curtis has admitted there are specific points of his film that haven’t aged nicely in the present day.
In one in every of the main Love Really character tales, junior workers member Natalie is criticized by different characters for her “large” “tree trunk thighs.” Even Hugh Grant’s character David commented about her weight saying, “God, you weigh quite a bit” as she jumped into his arms. Richard Curtis of Love Really admitted on the Occasions and Sunday Occasions Cheltenham Literature Pageant (through Right this moment) that sure fat-shaming components of the Hugh Grant-led rom-com haven’t aged nicely, and he is conscious of this due to his daughter, Scarlett, bringing it to his consideration:
I keep in mind how shocked I used to be like 5 years in the past when [my daughter] Scarlett stated to me, ‘You possibly can by no means use the phrase ‘fats’ once more.’ And wow, [she was] proper. I feel I used to be behind the curve, and people jokes aren’t any longer humorous, so I don’t really feel I used to be malicious on the time, however I feel I used to be unobservant and never as intelligent as I ought to have been.
It’s true that sure jokes do die with age. The 2000s was not a form time for individuals who weren’t skinny on movie, with films like Shallow Hal, The Satan Wears Prada and even The Sisterhood of the Touring Pants making ladies who weren’t skinny really feel like they’d one thing to be ashamed of. I doubt Richard Curtis meant to offend anybody with this film, because it was alleged to be a feel-good basic for the vacations. I’m certain if the film was remade in the present day, there can be extra thought put into the dialogue to verify no viewers members are offended.
One other component of Love Really that wouldn’t age nicely in the present day was the film’s lack of range. The British-led solid was primarily white and set in London’s Notting Hill district. This district is a neighborhood that drew in lots of Caribbean immigrants and was the positioning of assorted civil-rights riots in 1958. Richard Curtis defined that this was one other material he, the casting director and the producers didn’t take into consideration on the time. The British director/screenwriter additionally identified that he went to an “un-diverse faculty” and felt he didn’t know tips on how to write non-white components. Nevertheless, Curtis admitted he felt “kind of silly and mistaken about that.”
One of the iconic scenes of Love Really is when Andrew Lincoln’s character, Mark, professes his like to Keira Knightley’s Juliet with cue playing cards regardless of her being married to his finest pal. This is able to be one other scene that wouldn’t do nicely in the present day, making the strikes in your pal’s spouse and portraying it in a romantic vogue. Even Andrew Lincoln had complicated ideas in regards to the signal scene, as he was afraid that he would come off as “a creepy stalker.” When Lincoln spoke about Mark to Richard Curtis with fears of his character’s “stalker” qualities being proven like this, the director advised him it could be high quality attributable to his proficient performing talents being an actual standout for the position. These days although, there’s no approach habits like Mark’s can be construed as wholesome or romantic.
When trying again at Love Really, Richard Curtis admitted his film’s “fat-shaming” and lack of range segments would not work nicely if advised on display screen in the present day. If you happen to determine to observe this Christmas basic proper now along with your Netflix subscription, you simply have to recollect the yr it was filmed and that the leisure business is extra cautious in the present day by way of inclusion and sensitivity.
