Emma Thompson has shared her thoughts on the enduring appeal of Love Actually.
The British actor stars in Richard Curtis’s 2003 Christmas ensemble romcom as Karen, a stay-at-home mother who learns that her husband Harry (Alan Rickman) is having an affair with his secretary.
Speaking in a new interview, Thompson said that she’d have had “no idea” she would still be talking about the film nearly 20 years after its release.
“None of us had any idea,” she told Deadline. “I saw Richard Curtis the other day and Diane [Sawyer] had been over, and she’d interviewed us both, you know, and we were just talking about it and saying, isn’t it just the strangest thing?”
Last month, Sawyer filmed a reunion special titled The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later. It featured interviews with Thompson, Curtis, Hugh Grant, Bill Nighy, Laura Linney and Thomas Brodie-Sangster.
Thompson continued: “I suppose in some ways it isn’t strange, because in the same way as It’s A Wonderful Life, it says everything that you do matters. You know, It’s the sum of every kind act that creates a tapestry that is a net that saves people.”
She explained: “It’s such a beautiful thing, and Love Actually, which says in the end this thing that we treat I don’t think with nearly enough respect, we don’t make it part of our institutions or our government or our civil society, and it should be.
“Because love is what keeps us healthy, what keeps us going, those connections, those bonds are the most essential things that we will ever have, and that’s what it says. People like to be reminded of that.”
Earlier this month, Thompson admitted that she never rewatches the film, admitting that it’s “not really” fun for her.
