Keira Knightley has addressed the long-standing controversy around the cue card scene in 2003’s Christmas rom-com Love Actually, and she actually agrees that the moment is “quite creepy”.
The scene sees Andrew Lincoln’s character showing up at Knightley’s character’s door to confess his love for her though cue cards. She just got married to his best friend (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), who is inside the house thinking his wife is talking to some door-to-door carol singers.
Although meant to be romantic, the scene comes across as stalker-ish, and has been the subject of debate among fans for two decades.
When asked about the scene in an recent interview with LA Times, Knightley acknowledges its “creep factor” and recalls her own reaction on set.
“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’. And then having to redo it to fix my face to make him seem not creepy,” she said.
The actress also pointed out she was only 17 at the time, which only made the whole thing even creepier. “I mean, there was a creep factor at the time, right? Also, I knew I was 17. It only seems like a few years ago that everybody else realized I was 17,” she added.
Knightley was also 17 when she worked on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which was also released in 2003. “It’s very brutal to have your privacy taken away in your teenage years, early ’20s, and to be put under that scrutiny at a point when you are still growing. Having said that, I wouldn’t have the financial stability or the career that I do now without that period,” she said in the interview.
The British actress is now the star of Netflix’s new hit show, Black Doves, a six-episode spy thriller that follows an undercover agent seeking revenge for the death of her boyfriend. Co-starring Ben Whishaw and Happy Valley’s Sarah Lancashire, the show has already confirmed a season 2 is coming.
If you’re looking for your next obsession over the Christmas break, check out our guide of best Netflix shows.
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