Love Actually is without a doubt one of Hugh Grant’s career highlights, thanks in large part to the legendary dance that his character does during the song Jump. An intriguing tidbit about the film is that the actor was “hugely uncomfortable” with the segment and was hesitant to perform it. The British actor said in an ABC News retrospective show titled The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later that after reading the screenplay, he did not “like performing the dance at all.” Richard Curtis, the director of the modern-day Christmas classic, agreed and quipped that “a contractual guillotine” compelled Grant to shoot the sequence.
Hugh Grant portrays a freshly elected UK Prime Minister in Love Actually.
In Love Actually, the London native plays David, a freshly elected UK Prime Minister. He finally falls in love with Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), a young Downing Street staff employee. The dancing scene occurs after David responds appropriately to the US President (Billy Bob Thornton) earlier in the day. To celebrate David, a radio station plays Jump by The Pointer Sisters (which won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1985).
When he hears the music, the youthful Prime Minister bursts into an unplanned dance in the hallways of his official house. Natalie steps in and interrupts him. This specific series of events has now become a memorable cinema takeaway.
Grant describes the dancing routine as the “most agonizing moment ever.”
When the special’s presenter, prominent television journalist Diane Sawyer, questioned Grant about the scenario, he replied:
“When I read that in the screenplay, I thought to myself, ‘Well, I’ll detest doing that.'” I didn’t want to perform the dance, much alone practice it.”
The actor still appears to despise the scene, describing it as “the most excruciating scene ever committed to celluloid.”
He went on:
“To this day, many people, and I agree with them, believe it’s the most agonizing scene ever committed to film.” However, some individuals like it.”
Meanwhile, Curtis revealed that Grant “kept saying ‘no,'” and joked that the actor was “grumpy” on the day the scene was filmed.
He stated the following:
“I think he was hoping I’d get sick or something and we’d say, ‘Oh well, what a shame, we’ll have to lose that dancing sequence,'” she says.
He went on to say that watching Grant dance was “agonizingly embarrassing,” but that “he’s just perfect.”
Grant, who made a cameo appearance in the murder mystery Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, chimed in and pointed out:
“By the way, I’m out of beat. Especially when I’m wiggling my a** at the start.”
It should be noted that Natalie barging in and interrupting David’s dance was the actor’s idea.
Everything about Love Actually
Love Actually, which is currently streaming on Peacock, stars Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy, Rowan Atkinson, and Grant and McCutcheon. The film takes place more than a month before Christmas and explores various aspects of love through ten distinct but interconnected stories. It received mixed reviews at first but performed exceptionally well at the box office.
Love Actually earned a solid $246 million worldwide despite being made on a $40-45 million budget. In terms of awards, it received a nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes.
