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Movie : Love Actually
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Notes provided by Universal Pictures
Love Actually
Production Information
General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred
and greed but I don't see that seems to me that love is everywhere.
Igniting laughter, wreaking havoc, breaking hearts, daring commitments, forcing choices, catapulting spirits, forging inroads, creating risksecstatic, exciting, unexpected, unwelcome, inconvenient, inexplicable, inelegant, unequalled.
Love actually is all around.
From the new bachelor Prime Minister (HUGH GRANT) instantly falling in love with a refreshingly real member of the staff (MARTINE McCUTCHEON) moments after entering 10 Downing Street
To a writer (COLIN FIRTH) escaping to the south of France to nurse his re-broken heart who finds love in a lake
From a comfortably married woman (EMMA THOMPSON) suspecting that her husband (ALAN RICKMAN) is slipping away
To a new bride (KEIRA KNIGHTLEY) mistaking the distance of her husband's best friend for something it's not
From a schoolboy seeking to win the attention of the most unattainable girl in school
To a widowed stepfather (LIAM NEESON) trying to connect with a son he suddenly barely knows
From a lovelorn junior manager (LAURA LINNEY) seizing a chance with her long-tended, unspoken office crush
To an aging "seen it all, remember very little of it" rock star (BILL NIGHY) jonesing for an end-of-career comeback in his own uncompromising way
Love, the equal-opportunity mischief-maker, is causing chaos for all.
These London lives and loves collide, mingle and climax on Christmas Eveagain and again and againwith romantic, hilarious and bittersweet consequences for anyone lucky (or unlucky) enough to be under love's spell.
Acclaimed screenwriter RICHARD CURTIS (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary) now steps behind the camera for his directorial debut on his latest project, Love Actuallythe ultimate romantic comedy that weaves together a spectacular number of love affairs into one amazing story. Curtis is re-teamed with producers DUNCAN KENWORTHY and Working Title's TIM BEVAN and ERIC FELLNERthe filmmakers responsible for some of the most popular looks at modern love in all its guises, including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones's Diary. The powerhouse cast brought together for this look at love and laughter also includes ROWAN ATKINSON, ANDREW LINCOLN, MARTIN FREEMAN, KRIS MARSHALL, THOMAS SANGSTER, JOANNA PAGE, LUCIA MONIZ, BILLY BOB THORNTON and many others.
Joining Curtis and producers Kenworthy, Bevan and Fellner are an esteemed group of behind-the-camera talent, including director of photography MICHAEL COULTER, B.S.C. (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Sense and Sensibility), production designer JIM CLAY (Captain Corelli's Mandolin), editor NICK MOORE (Notting Hill, The Full Monty, About a Boy), costumer JOANNA JOHNSTON (The Sixth Sense, Contact), composer CRAIG ARMSTRONG (William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, The Quiet American) and casting director MARY SELWAY, C.D.G. (Notting Hill, Gosford Park).
About the Production
DANIEL
Hey. Great show. Classic drumming.
SAM
Yeah, thanks. Plan didn't work though.
DANIEL
Tell her then.
SAM
Tell her what?
DANIEL
Tell her that you love her.
SAM
No way! Anyway, they fly tonight.
DANIEL
Even betteryou've got nothing to loseand you'll always regret it if you don't. I never told your Mum enoughI should have told her every daybecause she was perfect every day. You've seen the films, kiddoit ain't over till it's over.
SAM
Okaylet's do it, Dad. Let us go get the shit kicked out of us by love
It is a lucky thing for comedy lovers everywhere that Richard Curtis did not turn out to be a better actor. The screenwriter of such hits as the television series Blackadder and Mr. Bean and feature films Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill had cooled on his initial career choice of journalism by the time he reached Oxford University and instead decided to pursue acting.
It was then that Curtis began to pen the comedy sketches in which he would perform because, as he remembers, "It turned out I was totally bland and had no talent, and the only way of getting onstage was to write the things I would act."
While regularly turning out his sketch comedy, he met up with another actor, Rowan Atkinson, for whom Curtis also began to write. The partnership lasted through Oxford and then continued out in the "real world" of show business, with the two collaborating on projects for Atkinson and others to perform.
The pair was instrumental in the creation of the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News (Curtis' first job writing for television); the popular topical sketch comedy show ran for four series. With no more lofty goals than "just wanting to write a good sitcom," Curtis and Atkinson then created Blackadder, the internationally popular and award-winning series for the BBC, which also ran for four series, each set in a different century.
It was about this time that Curtis, the successful television comedy writer, began to take his career, "even mildly seriously. Then I decided to write a film like some of the films that I lovesmall intimate little movies with love in them."
Curtis' first feature film outing was The Tall Guy, a comedy about an American actor trying to make a go at a career in British theater after playing second banana to a successful comedian (played by Atkinson). It also featured the film debut of an English actress named Emma Thompson and was produced by Tim Bevan.
"Richard is wonderful at creating those moments where embarrassment and joy collide. He brings everything he learned during years of sketch and television comedy writing to his film workit's a deft and fine touch, combining humor and pathos without either one ever taking center stage for too long," observes Bevan.
The writer himself adds, "I do seem to have written a great deal about love. But I mean if you look at the world, there are huge amounts of love and affection, and yet so much of art portrays the darker side of humanity. When I look around the world I notice a lot of things that are rather gorgeous, lots of people with kind hearts."
Following more collaborative work between Curtis and Atkinson (including such projects as a holiday telefilm about a boy and a genie and the worldwide television phenomenon of Bean), Curtis wrote another small intimate movie with love in it, about a group of friends, acquaintances and lovers meeting and re-meeting at a series of social ceremonies. He sent a copy of the screenplay to producer Duncan Kenworthy.
Kenworthy recalls, "Richard gave me a copy of Four Weddings and a Funeral and I read it and told him it was the best thing he'd ever written. I also told him I couldn't produce it because, at the time, I was on staff at the Henson Company, but that I'd really love to help him work on it."
As the project evolved, Kenworthy took a leave from the company in order to produce the movie and joined Working Title co-chairmen Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, who served as executive producers. The brilliantly successful film went on to earn more than $250 million worldwide and Oscar® nominations for Best Film and Best Original Screenplay.
Fellner says, "It sounds like such a cliché, to say that something is a 'feel-good' film. But that's what we had with Four Weddings and a Funeral. We started out being perceived as this little British film, but the response to it just kept building and expanding. In the end, it became this enormous hit that sort of revived the fashion of the 'feel-good' romantic comedy."
After Four Weddings, "a Richard Curtis comedy" was planted even more firmly into the lexicon of movie business jargon.
Kenworthy explains, "I think the hardest thing to achieve in a comedy is something that Richard seems to manage effortlesslyto make you laugh and care at the same time. He's not really into ridicule. It's this quality that often blinds people to the rudeness of his jokes, and vice versa. The first seven words of Four Weddings were not 'Oh, no, I'm late for the wedding.' The level of profanity was pretty radical for a romantic comedy in 1994, but it was still a movie that people didn't mind watching with their grandmothers."
It was while the group was working on another film (Richard writing, Duncan producing and Tim, Eric and Richard executive producing) about love and fameNotting Hillthat the idea for Love Actually began to emerge.
Kenworthy remembers, "Richard usually gets the idea for his next film while he's hanging around the set of his last one, so it was when we were working on Notting Hill that he was dreaming up Love Actually. He said he'd had an idea for something that would touch on lots of people's lives. Richard had promised himself and the family that they would do something very special in the year 2000, and he and Emma and the kids went off to Bali for six months. Something 'special' for Richard was not working. And during his walks along the beach in Bali to exercise his damaged back, he was dreaming up ideas for this film."
Richard says, "Love Actually is meant to be a real spoiling experience. I tried to work out the extra bits of plot and get straight from 'A' to 'F.' It's like watching the edited highlights of several stories, yet put together, they all combine to an overall storyeven though there are a lot of different ingredients, they form one cogent taste."
Curtis' story on the genesis of the project is less clear, but echoes Kenworthy's take. He remarks with a smile, "I can't remember how Love Actually started. I think it may be that I decided that films take me such a long timeabout three years, in the endand I thought that if I wanted to go on writing romantic films, I would spend the rest of my life doing it. So I decided that I would try to write nine or 10 of them all at the same time. I went away on a long holiday with my family and every day, during my walk, it was my job to come up with a story. I would think around the world that I knew, of little incidents from my past and the lives of people I knew, and slowly the storyline for Love Actually came to me."
Tim Bevan observes, "Working Title has succeeded on the strength of the relationships we have built, and we're proud of that. For us to have begun very early on with Richard and continued with him up to this pointI can't imagine a more satisfactory arrangement. The arrival of Love Actually was just a natural evolution, not only for Richard, but for us as well."
Somewhere before/during/after the script for Love Actually began to emerge, the idea of Curtis directing the project also surfaced.
"I said to Richard, at one point during Notting Hill," says Kenworthy, "'You know, it's either going to have to be you or me directing the next one.' I'm never surprised when a writer wants to direct his own work. It's a genuinely difficult thing for a writer to hand over his work to a director to interpret. That's why as a producer, I think of myself as the guardian of the script, making sure that everyone working on a film is working on the same film with the same interpretation of the scriptbecause, generally speaking, the writer isn't there."
Except on a Curtis film.
Richard explains, "I've been an unusual writer in that I've been allowed to be on the set every minute of every day of every film that I've ever done."
In addition to being a constant presence on the sets and in the editing rooms of his films, Curtis had also been, since 1987, co-producing the BBC's live fundraising Comic Relief telecastsall invaluable experience for the filmmaker about to launch into his directorial debut.
Kenworthy observes, "Richard's always had the skills. Comic Relief is a fantastic training ground for working with actors. And he thinks in the round about everythingif the crew ask questions about whether a character wears glasses, where he would live, or what sort of pictures he would have on his wall, he's always had those answers to hand."
Curtis jokingly adds, "I think other directors were finding me hard to work with and I decided if anyone was going to suffer with me as an interfering writer, it might as well be me."
All forces in filmmaking in their own right, the re-combination of Curtis, Kenworthy and Working Title's Bevan and Fellner made for a dream situation when it came time to filling the roles of the seemingly multitudinous castthe combined rolodexes alone could provide endless possibilities for casting choices.
Though several of the faces in Love Actually are longtime collaborators (including Grant, Thompson and others), many are new additions to the Curtis/Kenworthy/Working Title troupe. Kenworthy admits that while Curtis had specific actors in mind when penning selected parts, everyone was required to audition for the filmmakers.
"Richard definitely had certain actors in mind for certain roles this time, which had never happened before, not even on Notting Hill, but he still wanted to cast and cast and cast. One of the things we both learned from Mike Newell during Four Weddings is that you see everybody and you keep on looking and testing and casting up until the last minute, until you've got the perfect mix. That was all the more necessary with the balance of such a large cast in Love Actually," tells Kenworthy.
The director/screenwriter offers, "Love Actually was a huge amount of fun to cast, because normally there aren't enough roles to castif I have this actor then I can't have that actor, that sort of thing. But in this film there are around 20 leading roles and everybody has a really substantial story to tell. So the casting process was a delight."
The Prime Minister & The Secretary
PRIME MINISTER
You live with your boyfriend . . . husband . . . three illegitimate but lovely children?
NATALIE
No, I've just split up with my boyfriend actually, so I'm back with my Mum and Dad for a while.
PRIME MINISTER
Oh, I'm sorry.
NATALIE
No, that's fine. I'm well shot of him. He said I was getting fat.
PRIME MINISTER
I beg your pardon?
NATALIE
He says no one's going to fancy a girl with thighs the size of big tree trunks. Not a nice guy, actually, in the end.
PRIME MINISTER
Right. Goodness. Well, well. You know, being Prime Minister, I could just have him killed.
NATALIE
Thank you, sir I'll think about it.
The idea of writing a film about a prime minister had first occurred to Curtis more than 20 years ago, after Conservative Edward Heath had served in the office from 1970-74. The writer had mused that it would have been compelling if the character of the prime minister had fallen in love with someone outside of the normsay, a spiky-haired, 22 year-old blond girl. Curtis was interested in seeing the politician as a man, an "ordinary blokewhy shouldn't the panic of love set in for a man who's responsible for our health, education and transport? I wanted to contrast the responsibility and the seriousness of the job with that blind 'what-the-hell-do-I-do'-ness of love."
Curtis also admits that he thought it would be enjoyable for Hugh Grant to play the role ("since he's played such feckless people in my movies until now").
The actor, star of both Four Weddings and Notting Hill, did not see an immediate fit when he first read Curtis' work. He remembers, "With Four Weddings and a Funeral, I remember taking the script away to Australia where I was doing a film, before we started shooting it, feeling that I couldn't do it, I couldn't hear that voice at all. When I came back and started rehearsing the film, I started listening to Richard just talking in the course of rehearsal and I realized that that voice is him. It is quite a unique balancing act that he brings off between London nasty and actually being quite positive about things."
In describing what is so special about Curtis' work, Grant appreciates the author's humorous and deft verbal touch and comments, "The comedy is hugely important in the success of Richard's work, but equally important is this very rare thing of actually quite liking life. What I admire is that he just completely goes for it in this film and is determined to lay out his optimism in front of the worldI think people actually do quite want that. And, if you really stop for a moment and think about it, it's as good a take on the world as 'the glass half-empty' view."
Grant was happy to take on the role of the PM in love with his tea lady and also welcomed involvement in a piece that featured such a relatively large cast. (He off-handedly adds, "A cast of thousands. I don't know any actors who aren't in this film, actually.")
For the object of the Prime Minister's deep and instantaneous affection, the filmmakers chose Martine McCutcheon (described as "a great television heroine" by Curtis).
McCutcheon, who became a household presence with her three-year run on the popular continuing drama EastEnders, observes, "What's interesting to me is that this is about different types of love with their different challenges and different temptationsthat there's love all around us all the time. That's kind of a romantic view, but it's also true as well. The script is written in such a real way. There are those embarrassing moments when you love someone and those moments when nothing else matters. Richard's really captured thathe is guaranteed to make you laugh at a moment where you feel like you are going to cry. I'd say that's kind of his stamp."
The Stepdad & The 11-Year-Old Stepson
DANIEL
So, what's the problem, Sammy-o? Maybe . . . school are you being bullied? Or is it I don't know something worse can you give me any clues at all?
SAM
You really want to know?
DANIEL
I really want to know.
SAM
Even though you won't be able to do anything to help?
DANIEL
Even if that's the case.
SAM
Okay. The truth isI'm in love.
DANIEL
Sorry?
SAM
The truth is that I'm in love and there's nothing I can do about it and it just keeps getting worse.
DANIEL
Aren't you a bit young to be in love?
SAM
No.
DANIEL
Okay, right. Well, I can't deny it I'm a little relieved.
SAM
Why?
DANIEL
Well, you know I thought it might be something worse . . .
SAM
Worse than the total agony of being in love?
DANIEL
Oh. Yeah, you're right. Total agony.
One of the storylines challenging the standard presumption that love stories deal exclusively with romantic love takes place between a recently widowed man, Daniel, and his now motherless stepson, Sam. Curtis wanted to look at a story that deals "not just with people falling in love for the first time, but what love is like as it goes on." Now a father, the filmmaker drew from this newer aspect of his life when creating the look at Daniel and Sam, "two boys who start off a long way apart and end up very close together."
For Liam Neeson, cast as Daniel, the opportunity to work with Curtis provided an opportunity for the leading man to stretch different, lighter acting muscles.
Neeson comments, "I've always admired Richard's writing and was terribly chuffed that he thought of me for this. There is a kind of gravitas to the character, which
I'm drawn to, but there are also chances to be light, and a little silly, which I loved doing. Richard has caught an aspect of that side of humanity in the scriptthat one minute you can be terribly sad, and then be able to flip and be 'happy' and smiling. That's the stuff of life."
Following his mom's death, Sam isolates in his room, leaving Daniel feeling even worse for not being able to bolster the boy. Daniel eventually finds that it is love, not grief (or rather the grief of unrequited love) that has driven Sam into seclusion.
The young actor Thomas Sangster was cast opposite Neeson in the roleSam was the sixth acting job for Sangster since entering the business just two years prior, and he thoroughly enjoyed his work on the set, particularly learning (from his real-life musician dad) to play the drums.
The Writer & The Housekeeper
AURELIA
(in Portuguese)
What kind of book is it? Kind. Kind
SHE POINTS TO THE PAGES AND MIMES LAUGHTER, TEARS AND A HEART.
JAMIE
Ah.
HE MIMES KNIFE MURDER.
AURELIA
(in Portuguese)
Ahthrillermurder
JAMIE
Yes. Si. Crime. Murder.
AURELIA
(in Portuguese)
Scary?
SHE MIMES A SCARED FACE. HE MIMES BACK AN UNCERTAIN HAND.
JAMIE
Sometimes scarysometimes notMainly, scary how bad the writing is.
AURELIA
(in Portuguese)
I must get back to work.
SHE MIMES CLEANING.
And then maybe later you will take me home.
SHE POINTS TO 6 O'CLOCK ON THE CLOCK AND THEN MIMES DRIVING. HE NODS 'YES.'
JAMIE
My favorite time of the day, driving you.
AURELIA
(in Portuguese)
The saddest part of my day, leaving you.
Curtis' character of Jamie (brought to life by Colin Firth) also draws on its author's life, as Jamie is a writer. His story addresses the rejuvenative powers of love, as Jamie falls out of love with his unfaithful girlfriend and sequesters himself in the south of France, where he hopes to write a novel and mend his heart. A young Portuguese girl, Aurelia (played by native singing star Lucia Moniz), is hired to clean the villa and the two tentatively begin to get to know each otherdespite the fact that Aurelia speaks no English and Jamie constantly embarrasses himself in a variety of languages, none of them Portuguese.
The actor, renowned for his performances as two Mister Darcy's (Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones's Diary), was intrigued by the script's premise and offers, "The piece as a whole is a rather ambitious exercise to tell all these different kinds of love stories. It's also a very ambitious exercise to use the idea of the September 11th phone calls as a starting point, with the observation that they were all to do with love of one kind or anotherthat if you have one chance to say something to somebody at the end of your life, no matter what sort of person you are, no matter what sort of life you've led, no matter how awful you've been, it seems that that one thing you would communicate would be some kind of message of love. It's a very provocative thought and it's a big exercise to attempt to illustrate something of that."
The Dreamer & The Dreamboat
HARRY
Tell me, exactly, how long it is that you've been working here?
SARAH
Two years, seven months, three days and, I suppose, what two hours?
HARRY
Right. And how long have you been in love with Karl?
SARAH
Sorry?
HARRY
How long have you been in love with Karl, our enigmatic chief designer?
SARAH
Ahm two years, seven months, three days and, I suppose, an hour and thirty minutes.
HARRY
I thought as much.
SARAH
Do you think everybody knows?
HARRY
Yes.
SARAH
Do you think Karl knows?
HARRY
Yes.
SARAH
That is bad news.
HARRY
I just think perhaps now is the time to do something about it.
SARAH
Right. What sort of thing did you have in mind?
HARRY
How about ask him for a drink and then maybe after twenty minutes casually slip into the conversation the fact that you love him totally and would like to marry him and have lots of sex and babies.
SARAH
You know that?
HARRY
Yes. And so does Karl. Think about it. For all our sakes.
SARAH
Certainly excellent. Will do. Thanks, boss.
Actress Laura Linney had come to Curtis' attention in several projects, notably in her performance in You Can Count on Me, and he was enthusiastic to cast her as Sarah, an office worker with a not-so-secret crush on a colleague (Rodrigo Santoro).
Curtis says, "I kept saying, as we were auditioning, 'We need someone like Laura Linney in this part,' till our casting director just cracked and said, 'Why don't we ask Laura Linney, then?' She was just so perfect in that role. She seemed to me to be a very radiant and wonderful person, who fills those around her with a sense of goodness and rightness. It was the right quality for Sarah, who is in love with a guy in her office but has a family situation that makes it impossible for her to ever genuinely commit."
Linney found an easy connection to Sarah and her emotional truth and explains, "I think that love can be a choice and that love can be unexpectedit can be hoped for and it can be unselfish. I think the thing that I take the most comfort in is that love has a power of its own and that it can come into your life when it's least expected or most needed and transform things in ways that you never thought possible. You always know that it's out therewhen you realize that you actually have it, it's just a comforting fact."
The Husband, The Wife & The Other Woman
KAREN
It was a good nightthough I felt fat.
HARRY
Oh, don't be ridiculous.
KAREN
It's true. Nowadays the only clothes I can get into were once owned by Pavarotti.
HARRY
I always think Pavarotti dresses very well.
KAREN
Mia's very pretty.
HARRY
Is she?
KAREN
You know she is, darling. Be careful there.
One of the couples at the center of Love ActuallyKaren and Harry, a married couple with two childrenhave grown overly comfortable with their love for each other. In drawing their story, Curtis wanted to investigate "the whole idea of what happens when domesticity is interfered with." The director sought two actors for whom the task of playing a long-term couple would be second nature and cast Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman (who had previously worked together in several projects, including Sense and Sensibility and The Winter Guest) in the roles.
Rickman says, "It's good to work with people that you've worked with before, when you know, like and trust them. Emma Thompson's playing my wife, in a sense, meant that we almost didn't have to rehearse the relationshipnot that we're married, but we do know each other well and we've worked together a few times now."
In explaining his and Thompson's on-screen counterparts, Rickman says, "Karen and Harry both have very busy lives and that often leads to little chinks in the armorand into one of those chinks steps a young woman called Mia who works in Harry's office. It's just like a moment in timeyou turn your head one way and one thing happens, turn another way and something else happensbut like perhaps a lot of men he had a weak moment, weak enough to give in."
Thompson relishes her reuniting with so many of her colleagues and observes, "Richard's a master at this kind of light material that also has a wealth of hidden depth. The stories are cross sections of different lives that all line up, either thematically or tangentially. It was fabulous to team up with Richard and Hugh and Alan and everyone again."
The Rock Star & The Manager
DJ
So Billywelcome back to the airwavesnew Christmas singlecover of "Love Is All Around."
BILLY
Except we've changed the word "love" to "Christmas."
DJ
Yes. "Christmas Is All Around." Is that an important message to you, Bill?
BILLY
No, not really, MikeChristmas is for people with someone they love in their lives.
DJ
And that's not you?
BILLY
That's not me, Michaelwhen I was young and successful, I was greedy and foolish and now I'm left with no one, wrinkled and alone.
DJ
Wow. Thanks for that, Billy.
BILLY
For what?
DJ
Well, for actually giving a real answer to a question. Doesn't often happen here on Radio Watford, I can tell you.
BILLY
Ask me anything you likeI'll tell you the truth.
DJ
Okayhere's onehow do you think the new record compares to your old classic stuff?
BILLY
Come on, Mikey, you know as well as I do that the record's crap. But you know, wouldn't it be great if Number One this Christmas wasn't some smug teenagerbut an old ex-heroin addict searching for a comeback at any price?
Versatile and well-respected stage and screen actor Bill Nighy was cast to play veteran rock musician Billy Macka little the worse for wear but still rallying for a post-burnout comeback. Billy and his longtime (and long-suffering) manager, Joe (Gregor Fisher), have maneuvered the rocky road of Billy's career together and Joe is steering his client's attempt to end up on the record charts with a Christmas-themed re-tooling of a previous hit entitled "Christmas Is All Around" (actually Wet Wet Wet's "Love Is All Around," which was featured in Four Weddings and a Funeral).
Like his fellow actors, Nighy admits to not only being a fan of Curtis but also to being a committed romantic and confesses, "I'm disabled by romanticism, and I think most people are, aren't they? I think you have to be in some kind of trouble not to be, really."
Billy's story also differs from the usual M.O.R. love story in that it shows another guise of love, platonic and non-romantic. Curtis explains, "Something occurred to be when me were writing Blackadder, which was just the idea that if you work with somebody, you canwithout knowing itend up having spent your life with somebody that you never intended spending your life with. I just wanted to look at that curiosity of professional relationships, that you spend more time with your co-worker than you do with your wife."
One of the most charming aspects of Billy is his absence of pretense (often present in those that have truly "been there, done that"), which Curtis drew from "seeing John McEnroe being interviewed or Bob Geldof talking about politicsthey would say something and you would think, 'Oh my god, so that's the truth,' suddenly not coated with the varnish of convenience. Billy has no interest in actually selling his records, he just wants to have a good time."
The Best Man & The Happy Couple
PETER AND JULIET ARE SITTING WATCHING TELEVISION. THE DOORBELL RINGS. JULIET GETS UP TO GET IT. SHE LEAVES THE LIVING ROOM, GOES THROUGH A LITTLE CORRIDOR AND OPENS THE FRONT DOOR. IT'S MARK.
JULIET
Oh, hello.
HE MIMES "SHHH." SHE DOES. HE HAS A BUNCH OF BIG WHITE CARDS, LIKE BOB DYLAN IN HIS FAMOUS VIDEO. ON THEM, MARK HAS WRITTEN STUFF IN CLUMSY FELT PEN. THE FIRST ONE READS "SAY IT'S CAROL SINGERS."
PETER (V/O)
Who is it?
JULIET
It's carol singers.
PETER (V/O)
Give them a quid and tell them to bugger off.
MARK BENDS AND PUSHES THE BUTTON ON A SMALL TAPE PLAYER AT HIS FEET. IT STARTS TO PLAY A TAPE OF YOUNG, BAD CAROL SINGERS, SINGING SILENT NIGHT. HE'S THOUGHT THIS THROUGH. HE PRODUCES THE REST OF THE CARDS, ONE BY ONE:
WITH ANY LUCK BY NEXT YEAR
I'LL BE GOING OUT WITH ONE OF THESE GIRLS
A CARD SHOWING PICTURES OF THE FIVE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN IN THE WORLD.
BUT FOR NOW, LET ME SAY
WITHOUT HOPE OR AGENDA
JUST BECAUSE IT'S CHRISTMAS
(AND AT CHRISTMAS YOU TELL THE TRUTH)
TO ME YOU ARE PERFECT
AND MY WASTED HEART WILL LOVE YOU
UNTIL YOU LOOK LIKE THIS
A CARD SHOWING A PICTURE OF A DISINTEGRATING MUMMY.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
HE GIVES HER A LITTLE THUMBS UPAND TURNS AWAY, TAKING THE BOOGIE BOX, WITH SILENT NIGHT GETTING FAINTER.
SUDDENLY A TAP ON HIS SHOULDER. HE TURNS. JULIET HAS COME DOWN THE PATH AND GENTLY KISSES HIM ON THE LIPS. HE SMILES AND WALKS AWAY.
MARK
Enough. Enough now.
Combining both the themes of truth and the balance of domesticity is the triangle Curtis creates with newlyweds Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Juliet and Peter's best friend (and best man), Mark. Mark (Andrew Lincoln) has become so adept at denying his true feelings for his best friend's girl (Keira Knightley) that she and her new husband both believe that Mark dislikes Juliet. Curtis exploits his pointillistic approach and boils down the entire arc of the story to just a few scenesan entire sweet, funny, touching relationship in short bursts that speak volumes.
Knightley enjoyed honing a character in such an economical way and says, "It is so beautifully written, Richard's really excelled himself on this one. It's a challenge to tell the entire story in a few scenesI've never really come across something like this before. And it's been a pleasure to play."
The Sad-Act, The Movie Stand-Ins & The Others
COLIN
I've just worked out why I can never find true love.
TONY
Why's that?
COLIN
It's English girls. They're stuck up, you seeand I'm primarily attractive to girls who are, you know, cooler, game for a laughlike American girls. So I should just go to AmericaI'd get a girlfriend there instantly. What do you think?
TONY
I think it's crap, Colin.
COLIN
No, that's where you're wrong. American girls would seriously dig me with my cute British accent.
TONY
You don't have a cute British accent.
COLIN
Yes, I do. I'm going to America.
TONY
Do not act on this whim, Colin. You're a lonely, ugly arsehole, and you must accept it.
COLIN
Never. I am Colin, God of Sex. I'm just on the wrong continent, that's all.
Not content to limit his ingredients, the screenwriter/director includes several other different pictures of the variations on human love into his on-screen recipe: Colin, a goofy young sandwich vendor's (Kris Marshall) search for the woman of his dreams, who he believes most definitely lives in America, most probably Milwaukee; the relationship that begins between a couple of movie stand-ins (played by Martin Freeman and Joanna Page) who hesitate to reveal their sweet and growing emotions despite the fact that they are totally naked while they're working; and a mysterious figure (Rowan Atkinson), with a penchant for inserting himself into the lives of those around him.
A frustrated assistant director (Abdul Salis) trying vainly to be the voice of reason to his over-optimistic best friend; an American President (Billy Bob Thornton) who has a way of taking what he wants; a smoky voiced secretary (Heike Makatsch) who has no problem going for what she wants; and a ten-year-old Christmas pageant star (Olivia Olson) with the voice of an angelthese are just a few of the additional characters who play their parts in the panoramic world created by Curtis.
The filmmakers gathered Working Title alumsall top-notch talentsand a few fresh faces to work behind camera, including production designer Jim Clay, editor Nick Moore, costumer Joanna Johnston and composer Craig Armstrong.
Curtis set Love Actually in the city he has called home (off and on) for the last two decades, London, but also includes jaunts to Marseille (the airport, a restaurant, Aurelia's house) and a villa in Vidauban, France (Jamie's retreat)a change for the writer/director (and a setting which underlines the difficulties facing the very British Jamie in such a very foreign place).
"Throughout my career, I've been proud of the fact that I've never had a day of filming outside of LondonI'd never taken any of my characters outside of the city and I thought I'd been very wise about that. But then after one of week of filming in Marseille, with gorgeous surroundings and lovely dinners, I realized that I had made a terrible, terrible mistake," tosses Curtis. "Now, I'm never going to set anything closer to London than Morocco."
Principal photography began on September 2, 2002 and continued for 13 weeks, with shooting on soundstages and on locations in and around London (private residences, various businesses, a church, a chapel, Selfridges department store, a school, a boating base, the South Bank and even a racecourse building standing in for an American airport). Also, Curtis conceived of the opening and closing scenes happening in a place that truly demonstrates his point behind Love Actuallyan arrivals hall at Heathrow Airport.
He remembers, "We were shooting a film in Los Angeles and I had to stand at the airport for about an hour waiting for a package. It was an extraordinary sight to seethese really ordinary faces of people looking bored while they waited suddenly exploding with all of this love and affection. You could see the complexity of their relationships right there in their faces, and that's the kind of truth I'm trying to show."
By bookending the film this way, Kenworthy hopes moviegoers who have looked into the lives of the characters are brought back into the context of the real world, reminded that "everyone in a crowd has a special story, a real story, a love story."
Curtis closes, "I'm very haunted by what constitutes being 'realistic'if I had to say, to me The Sound of Music seems to be quite a realistic piece of work. That film, which is accused of being totally saccharine, says two things: that good people hated the Nazis, which they did; and that lots of people fall in love and love their children, which they do. So there seems to me to be more truth to that than something that's called a searingly realistic drama, because all over the world, every minute of every day, people are falling in love. I say that no matter how dark the world gets, the actual texture of life has a lot to do with love."
General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred
and greed but I don't see that seems to me that love is everywhere.
Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy but it's always there fathers & sons, mothers & daughters, husbands & wives, friends & strangers.
If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion that love actually is all around . . .
Universal Pictures and StudioCanal Present A Working Title Production, In Association with DNA Films. Starring Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Martine McCutcheon, Rowan Atkinson. The casting is by Mary Selway, C.D.G. The music is by Craig Armstrong. The co-producers are Debra Hayward and Liza Chasin. The costume designer is Joanna Johnston. The line producer is Chris Thompson. The production designer is Jim Clay. The director of photography is Michael Coulter, B.S.C.; the editor is Nick Moore. The film is produced by Duncan Kenworthy, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. Love Actually is written and directed by Richard Curtis. ©2003 Universal Studios. www.loveactually.com
About the Cast
Alan Rickman (Harry) is known throughout the world for his performances in films as diverse as: Die Hard; An Awfully Big Adventure; Bob Roberts; Truly Madly Deeply; Close My Eyes; Dogma; Galaxy Quest; and the recent worldwide hits Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
He also starred in Mesmer, for which he was named Best Actor at the Montreal Film Festival. For Sense and Sensibility and Michael Collins, he received BAFTA nominations and for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, he won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. For Truly Madly Deeply, Close My Eyes and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, he was named Evening Standard Film Actor of the Year.
For his role as the enigmatic Russian monk in HBO's Rasputin, Rickman won the 1996 Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor. His other television credits include: Fallen Angels; Benefactors; Revolutionary Witness; Pity in History; and Barchester Chronicles.
As a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he starred in Les Liaisons Dangereuses (both in the West End and on Broadway, where he was nominated for a Tony Award). His other productions for the RSC include: Mephisto; Troilus and Cressida; As You Like It; Love's Labour's Lost; Antony and Cleopatra; Captain Swing; and The Tempest. Most of his stage work, however, has been in contemporary theatre and includes work at the Bush Theatre, Hampstead Theatre Club and the Royal Court Theatre, where he appeared in The Grass Widow, The Lucky Chance and The Seagull.
For the National Theatre, Rickman starred in Antony and Cleopatra and played the title role in Hamlet at Riverside Studios and on a U.K. tour, which was directed by Robert Sturua, the celebrated director of the Rustaveli Theatre in Georgia. Rickman has also appeared three times at the Edinburgh Festival: a double bill of The Devil Is an Ass and Measure for Measure, which also toured Europe; The Brothers Karamazov, which then toured the USSR; and Yukio Ninagawa's Tango at the End of Winter, which later transferred to the West End and won Rickman the Time Out Award for Best Actor.
Rickman recently starred in the highly acclaimed production of Noel Coward's Private Lives both in London and New York. He won both the Variety Club and Theatre Goers Awards for Best Actor and was nominated for Olivier, Evening Standard and Tony awards.
As a director, Rickman's work includes The Winter Guest by Sharman Macdonald (at both the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Almeida Theatre in London). He also directed the feature film version of The Winter Guest, which was an Official Selection for the Venice Film Festival, where it won three awards and later won Best Feature at the Chicago Film Festival.
In his more than two decades in entertainment, Bill Nighy (Billy Mack) has established himself as one of Britain's most versatile actors with a superlative list of starring roles in film, television and the theatre.
In addition to Love Actually, Nighy has also completed filming Working Title's upcoming zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead. His recent work in Peter Cattaneo's Lucky Break brought him a Best Supporting Actor nomination from the London Film Critics Circle. His role as Roger in 2002's Lawless Heart garnered Nighy a Best Actor nomination from the British Independent Film Awards. He won the Evening Standard's Peter Sellers Award for best comedy performance in 1998's hit ensemble comedy Still Crazy (which received two Golden Globe nominations, for Best Film and Best Song). Among his feature film credits are Underworld, I Capture the Castle, and FairyTale: A True Story.
In 2001, Nighy earned an Olivier Best Actor nomination for his role in the National Theatre production of Blue/Orange. His list of theatrical credits encompasses productions from such esteemed playwrights and directors as David Hare, Trevor Nunn, Richard Eyre, Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, Roger Michell and Karol Reisz and for such prestigious organizations as the National Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse and the Almeida Theatre. In addition to Blue/Orange, these include Pinter's A Kind of Alaska and Betrayal; Skylight; The Seagull (with Dame Judi Dench); Stoppard's Arcadia; Mean Tears; King Lear; Pravda (with Anthony Hopkins); and Map of the World.
Nighy's extensive television credits include countless projects for the BBC: The Young Visitors; Auf Wiedersehen Pet; Absolute Hell; The Men's Room; Antonia and Jane; and Dreams of Leaving.
His telefilm credits include Thirteen at Dinner and The Last Place on Earth. Nighy's additional television projects include State of Play; Ready When You Are, Mr. McGill; and Stephen Poliakoff's The Lost Prince.
A classically trained British theatre actor, Colin Firth (Jamie) is a veteran of numerous television and film roles. In 2001, he charmed American audiences when he starred opposite Reneé Zellweger in the hit British comedy Bridget Jones's Diary. In the film, he portrayed Mark Darcy, the man who rivaled Hugh Grant for Bridget's affections. He is infamous for his breakout role in 1995, when he played Mr. Darcy in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor and legions of female admirers.
His upcoming projects include the film Girl with a Pearl Earring, which is based on the best-selling novel by Tracy Chevalier. Colin stars as the mysterious 17th Century artist Johannes Vermeer, who painted a beautiful peasant girl wearing his wife's pearl earrings. The film also stars Scarlett Johansson and Tom Wilkinson, and is scheduled for release this December. Girl with a Pearl Earring has been selected to screen at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals this fall.
Firth was recently seen in the hit comedy What a Girl Wants, opposite Kelly Preston and Amanda Bynes. In June, he wrapped production on the psychological thriller Trauma opposite Mena Suvari.
In 2002, he was seen starring opposite Rupert Everett and Reese Witherspoon in The Importance of Being Earnest. In 1998, Firth starred in Shakespeare in Love, where he portrayed Lord Wessex, the evil fiancée to Viola, Gwyneth Paltrow's character. In 1997, he starred in A Thousand Acres with Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange, and in 1996, The English Patient, opposite Kristen Scott Thomas and Ralph Fiennes. His other film credits include Hope Springs, Relative Values, My Life So Far, The Secret Laughter of Women, Fever Pitch, Circle of Friends, Playmaker and the title role in Valmont.
In 1989, he received the Royal Television Society Best Actor Award, as well as a BAFTA nomination for his work in the TV production Tumbledown. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2001 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in the critically acclaimed HBO film Conspiracy. His other television credits include Windmills on the Clyde: Making Donovan Quick, Donovan Quick, The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd, Deep Blue Sea, Hostages and the mini-series Nostromo. His London stage debut was in the West End production of Another Country playing Bennett. He was then chosen to play the character of Judd in the 1984 film adaptation opposite Rupert Everett.
Colin Firth resides in London, England, with his wife.
Emma Thompson (Karen) was born in London. Her father was theatre director Eric Thompson, also the creator of the successful children's series, The Magic Roundabout. Her mother is actress Phyllida Law.
She read English at Cambridge. While there, she made her debut as Aladdin in the Footlights pantomime, toured in the Footlights Revue and became Vice-President of Footlights, appearing on BBC TV's Friday Night, Saturday Morning. In February 1980, she co-produced, directed and performed in Cambridge's first all-women revue, Woman's Hour. In the summer of 1981, she performed in the Footlights revue, The Cellar Tapes, which won the Perrier Pick of the Edinburgh Fringe and was later broadcast by BBC-TV. She also made four series of the comedy show Injury Time for BBC Radio with Griff Rhys Jones.
1982 was spent filming a new series for Granada, interspersed with stage appearances in A Sense of Nonsense, which played at the Edinburgh Festival and toured England.
During 1983, Thompson received wide acclaim for her performances in the Granada TV series Alfresco; Jasper Carrott's Election Night Special for BBC TV; The Crystal Cube, written by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie for BBC TV; and Celebration for Channel 4. She also appeared in her own show, Short Vehicle, at the Edinburgh Festival, directed by Humphrey Barclay. In 1984, there was the broadcast of the second season of Alfresco and a series for HBO.
Thompson played opposite Robert Lindsay in the original cast of the musical Me and My Girl at Leicester, and then London's West End, in February of 1985. In December of that year, her own TV special, Up For Grabs, aired on Channel 4. She left the cast of Me and My Girl in January 1986 and appeared in two episodes of Saturday Live for Channel 4. Following this, she went to Scotland, where she played Suzi Kettles in the John Byrne series Tutti Frutti for BBC TV. She then played Harriet Pringle opposite Kenneth Branagh in The Fortunes of War. For these performances, she won her first BAFTA for Best Actress.
She wrote and recorded her own series, Thompson, for the BBC, which was broadcast at the end of 1988. She then went on to film Knuckle, directed by Moira Armstrong, also for BBC. She followed with the filming of the comedy feature, The Tall Guy, directed by Mel Smith, co-starring Jeff Goldblum and Rowan Atkinson for Working Title. She returned to the BBC to film The Winslow Boy, directed by Michael Darlow.
In December 1988, she filmed Henry V, directed by and co-starring Kenneth Branagh, for Renaissance Film. The following year she played Alison Porter in Look Back in Anger, filmed for Thames TV at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. In the autumn of 1989, she filmed the part of the Duchess in Impromptu, a feature directed by James Lapine, co-starring Judy Davis, Julian Sands and Mandy Patinkin.
Thompson then joined the Renaissance Theatre Company to play Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Fool in King Lear. A world tour of both productions finished in August 1990 at the Dominion Theatre in London.
At the end of 1990/beginning of 1991, Thompson filmed Dead Again, directed by and co-starring Kenneth Branagh, in Los Angeles. She went on to film the part of Margaret Schlegel in Merchant-Ivory's Howard's End, directed by James Ivory, and in December filmed an episode of Cheers for NBC.
In 1992, she filmed the part of Maggie in Peter's Friends, directed by Kenneth Branagh for Renaissance, and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing in Italy, also for Renaissance. On her return to England, she immediately started work on the Merchant-Ivory film The Remains of the Day with Anthony Hopkins, in which she plays Miss Kenton. For this performance she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress by the Academy®. She then moved on to film Jim Sheridan's In the Name of the Father with Daniel Day-Lewis, in which she played defense attorney Gareth Peirce, for which she was also nominated for Best Actress by the Academy®.
Thompson won the 1993 Academy Award® for Best Actress, as well as the Golden Globe Award; the New York, Los Angeles and National Film Critics Awards; and the BAFTA Award, all for her role in Howard's End.
For her performances in The Remains of the Day and In the Name of the Father, Emma was nominated for Golden Globe Awards for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. For her work in Much Ado About Nothing, Emma was nominated for Best Female Lead by the Independent Feature Project West (the Spirit Awards) and Best Actress by the American Comedy Awards. She won the London Film Critics Circle Award as Best Actress for her performances in both The Remains of the Day and Much Ado About Nothing.
In 1994, she appeared in The Blue Boy, an independent feature shot on location in Scotland for America's PBS, and Junior, a comedy co-starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito for director Ivan Reitman.
In 1995, she starred in the title role in Carrington, Christopher Hampton's story of the strange love affair between artist Dora Carrington (Thompson) and Lytton Strachey (Jonathan Pryce) from Hampton's own screenplay, shot on location in England.
She also starred in and wrote the screenplay adaptation (based on Jane Austen's novel) of Sense and Sensibility for director Ang Lee. For her writing accomplishments on that film, she received an Academy Award® for Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Published, as well as a Golden Globe Award, the USC Scripter Award and Best Screenplay awards from the Writers Guild, the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Broadcast Film Critics, the Chicago Film Critics, the Los Angeles Film Critics and the New York Film Critics. She also received a nomination from the British Academy of Film and Television. For her performance in Sense and Sensibility, she received her third BAFTA and National Board of Review awards for Best Actress, along with an Academy Award® nomination, a Golden Globe nomination and a Screen Actors Guild nomination.
Thompson followed that with starring roles in a succession of films including The Winter Guest, shot on location in Scotland and co-starring her mother Phyllida Law for director Alan Rickman (in his feature directorial debut); Primary Colors, with John Travolta, Billy Bob Thornton and Kathy Bates for director Mike Nichols; and the independent feature Judas Kiss with Alan Rickman, this time as co-star.
Emma most recently starred in the HBO telefilm Wit, for which she received a Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globe and Emmy Award nomination. She also received (as the film's co-screenwriter) the Humanitas Award. She will soon be seen in director Mike Nichols' screen adaptation of Angels in America, co-starring Meryl Streep and Al Pacino, airing on HBO this December. She also recently completed filming on writer/director Christopher Hampton's film adaptation of Imagining Argentina, opposite Antonio Banderas.
Emma is currently working on three screenplays, one of which, Nanny McPhee, will be shot next year with Kirk Jones directing and Lindsay Doran producing.
Hugh Grant's (The Prime Minister) acting credits are diverse and numerous, and include theatre, television and film. In 1994, Grant became an international star for his work in Four Weddings and a Funeral, directed by Mike Newell and co-starring Andie McDowell, for which Grant won both a Golden Globe and a British Academy Award. In the same year, he also starred in Roman Polanski's Bitter Moon, as well as in Sirens, directed by John Duigan.
Grant next appeared with Gene Hackman in the thriller Extreme Measures, directed by Michael Apted. Extreme Measures was the first feature film from Simian Films, the development company Grant and Elizabeth Hurley set up in partnership with Castle Rock Entertainment. Mickey Blue Eyes was the second feature for Simian Films with Castle Rock, which teamed up Grant and James Caan. ?
Next for Grant was Notting Hill, with Julia Roberts. The original screenplay was written and produced by the Four Weddings and a Funeral team and directed by Roger Michell. The film's opening weekend was the biggest opening for a romantic comedy in history.
In April 2001, Grant appeared opposite Reneé Zellweger and Colin Firth in the screen adaptation of Bridget Jones's Diary. The film was a huge success both in the U.S. and became the highest grossing British film in that country's history.
Grant recently starred in About a Boy, the hit comedy-drama based on the best-selling novel by Nick Hornby and directed by Paul and Chris Weitz. Most recently, he starred opposite Sandra Bullock in the hit comedy Two Weeks Notice.
Hugh Grant first came to notice in 1982 while at Oxford University when he made the movie Privileged, but it was in the 1987 Merchant-Ivory production of Maurice that Grant first received international acclaim. For that film, E.M. Forster's turn-of-the-century account of a young man confronting his homosexuality, Grant received a Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival.
This led to a succession of film roles including The Dawning, with Anthony Hopkins; Ken Russell's The Lair of the White Worm; The Big Man, opposite Joanne Whalley-Kilmer; and the role of Chopin in James Lapine's Impromptu. Grant was reunited with director James Ivory in 1993 for his pivotal role as a journalist in The Remains of the Day, starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and James Fox. In 1995, Grant appeared in the Oscar®-winning adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, then as a nervous father-to-be in Chris Columbus' Nine Months and the critically acclaimed The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, ?directed by Christopher Monger. He was also seen in the British comedy, An Awfully Big Adventure, directed by Mike Newell, and has a cameo role in the 17th Century romp Restoration.
Among Grant's other film credits are White Mischief, Bengali Nights and Rowing in the Wind.
Grant's television credits include: The Changeling and The Trials of Oz, both for the BBC; ABC's Our Sons, ?with Julie Andrews; and CBS's Dangerous Love and Till We Meet Again.
On the stage, he worked with director Richard Wilson in An Inspector Calls at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre; and with Richard Digby Day in Lady Windermere's Fan, Hamlet and Coriolanus, all at the Nottingham Playhouse.
Few actresses today have made an indelible impression on Hollywood as quickly as Laura Linney (Sarah) has. In 2001, Laura earned an Academy Award® nomination for her starring role as Sammy Prescott in Kenneth Lonergan's You Can Count On Me, opposite Matthew Broderick. In addition, this role garnered her nominations for a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe Award and an Independent Spirit Award. She was awarded Best Actress by the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics.
Since that film she has starred in numerous projects, both onscreen and onstage. Laura was recently seen on the big screen in The Mothman Prophicies, starring opposite Richard Gere, and in The Life of David Gale, directed by Alan Parker and starring opposite Kevin Spacey. She also starred on Broadway opposite Liam Neeson in The Crucible, receiving a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Play. Linney also turned in a memorable performance in a featured role in the HBO telefilm version of Moisés Kaufman's The Laramie Project.
The critically acclaimed film, The Truman Show, directed by Peter Weir, gave Laura a chance to shine brightly as she co-starred opposite Jim Carrey. Her motion picture debut was also her first starring film role the jungle action picture, Congo. Linney starred opposite Clint Eastwood in Absolute Power, directed by Eastwood and based on the best-selling novel by David Baldacci. Previously, she teamed up with Richard Gere in the hit suspense thriller Primal Fear, directed by Gregory Hoblit; Linney garnered critical acclaim for her role as a tough attorney prosecuting the case of a grisly murder of a priest.
Linney's other screen credits include supporting roles in Edith Wharton's turn-of-the-century novel The House of Mirth, Lorenzo's Oil, Dave, Searching for Bobby Fischer and A Simple Twist of Fate. Her television appearances include the leading role of Mary Ann Singleton in PBS's award-winning Tales of the City, based on the novels by Armistead Maupin, and she also reprised her role as Mary Ann Singleton in More Tales of the City for Showtime. She also starred opposite Joanne Woodward in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Blind Spot and opposite Steven Weber in Love Letters, directed by Stanley Donen. She was last seen on the small screen in Showtime's Wild Iris opposite Gena Rowlands, a performance that brought her an Emmy for Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie.
Her upcoming projects include Clint Eastwood's ensemble drama Mystic River; and Bill Condon's Kinsey, starring again opposite Liam Neeson.
Linney, a graduate of The Juilliard School and an accomplished theatre actress, was also seen starring on Broadway in Gerald Gutierrez's Honour opposite Jane Alexander. She won a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk nomination for her performance in Sight Unseen. Her theatre credits also include roles in the Broadway productions of Six Degrees of Separation, The Seagull and Hedda Gabler, the latter earning her a 1994 Calloway Award. She recently returned to Broadway, starring opposite Tony Goldwyn in Phillip Barry's Holiday, a comedy of manners, and she also starred in John Guare's Landscape of the Body at the Yale Repertory Theatre.
Academy Award® nominee Liam Neeson (Daniel) has become one of the leading international motion picture figures of our time.
In March of 2002, Liam Neeson returned to Broadway, co-starring with Laura
Linney in Arthur Miller's critically acclaimed play The Crucible at The Virgin Theater. Neeson's performance as John Proctor earned him a 2002 Tony Award nomination. He is currently in production on the movie Kinsey, playing Professor Alfred Kinsey (who wrote the famous male and female sex reports in the 1940s/50s), re-teaming once again with Laura Linney; the film is directed by Bill Condon, who wrote the screenplay, and co-stars Chris O'Donnell.
In 2002, Neeson was seen in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Also, he starred opposite Harrison Ford in the true story of Russia's nuclear submarine tragedy entitled K-19: The Widowmaker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow.
In 2000, he was seen in Gun Shy, a black comedy in which he starred opposite
Sandra Bullock. Liam played a world-weary DEA agent who is looking forward to retirement, but must get through one final difficult case before he is able to proceed with his plans. In 1999, Liam starred in the box-office phenomenon Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, playing the role of Qui-Gon Jinn, the Master Jedi Knight who bestows his Force-ful wisdom upon Obi-Wan Kenobi and the young Anakin Skywalker. Later that year, he starred in The Haunting, a tale involving a haunted New England mansion and a group of people struggling to escape its terrors; the film was directed by Jan de Bont and co-starred Catherine Zeta-Jones and Lili Taylor.
In 1998, he starred in the screen adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables in the role of Jean Valjean, co-starring Uma Thurman and Claire Danes. Also that year, Neeson played Oscar Wilde in David Hare's new play, The Judas Kiss, which opened in London's West End on March 19th, and subsequently on Broadway on April 29th.
In 1996, Neeson starred in the title role in Neil Jordan's Michael Collins, for which he received Best Actor honors at the Venice Film Festival, a Golden Globe Best Actor nomination and London's prestigious Evening Standard Award for Best Actor. The film also received the highest honor in Venice, The Golden Lion Award. For decades, filmmakers such as legendary directors John Huston and Robert Redford worked to bring this life story of the Irish Republican hero to the big screen. None of those attempts got off the ground until Neil Jordan and Liam Neeson teamed up with the studio backing of producer David Geffen. The film opened worldwide to critical acclaim and set box office records in Europe.
The Irish-born actor had originally sought a career as a teacher, attending Queens College, Belfast, and majoring in physics, computer science and math. Neeson set teaching aside and in 1976, joined the prestigious Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast (the best training any actor could have), making his professional acting debut in Joseph Plunkett's The Risen People. After two years with the Lyric Players he joined the famed repertory company of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Neeson appeared in the Abbey Theatre Festival's production of Brian Friel's Translations and a production of Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars for the Royal Exchange Theater, where he received the Best Actor Award.
In 1980, John Boorman spotted him playing Lennie in John Steinbeck's Of Mice
and Men and cast him in his epic saga of the Arthurian legend, Excalibur. Following his motion picture debut in Excalibur, Neeson has appeared in more than 30 films, demonstrating a wide range of characters, including Dino De Laurentiis' epic remake of The Bounty, directed by Roger Donaldson and co-starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins; the critically acclaimed Lamb, for which he received an Evening Standard Drama Award nomination for his haunting portrayal of a priest tormented by doubts about his faith; Andrei Konchalovsky's Duet for One, co-starring Julie Andrews; as a political terrorist in A Prayer for the Dying with Mickey Rourke and Bob Hoskins; and as a Jesuit priest in Roland Joffe's The Mission, co-starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons.
Neeson next received critical acclaim, starring opposite Cher as a deaf and mute Vietnam veteran in Peter Yates' courtroom drama Suspect; as the passionate Irish sculptor opposite Diane Keaton in The Good Mother; and as scientist Peyton Westlake, whose disfiguring accident forces him into hiding in Sam Raimi's fantasy-thriller Darkman.
Neeson next starred in David Leland's gritty contemporary drama Crossing the
Line, based on William McIIvanney's acclaimed novel The Big Man, about an unemployed Scottish miner desperate for money who is thrust into the high-stakes world of bare-knuckle boxing.
In 1992, he starred as both a Nazi engineer in David Seltzer's adaptation of
Susan Isaac's best-selling novel, Shining Through, opposite Michael Douglas; and as a disgraced policeman accused of murder in the erotic thriller Under Suspicion.
Neeson then continued to star in a succession of acclaimed films, most notably playing the sensitive art historian vying for the affections of Mia Farrow and Judy Davis in Woody Allen's controversial Husbands and Wives.
Other recent credits include: Leap of Faith with Steve Martin; starring opposite Jodie Foster and Natasha Richardson in Michael Apted's Nell; Before and After, with Meryl Streep; and the title role in Michael Canton-Jones' Rob Roy, co-starring Jessica Lange.
Neeson made his Broadway debut in 1993 in the Roundabout Theater's revival
of Eugene O'Neill's 1921 drama Anna Christie. Co-starring Natasha Richardson and playing to sold-out audiences nightly, the run was extended and garnered Neeson a Tony Award nomination.
Neeson's passion for the classics was once again rewarded critically in the American Playhouse production of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome. Neeson starred in this tragic love story of three lonely people trapped by circumstances and repression in turn-of-the-century New England.
Also in 1993, Neeson was nominated for an Oscar®, Golden Globe and BAFTA
Award in the Best Actor categories for portraying Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's highly acclaimed Schindler's List.
In the year 2000, he received an OBE from the Queen for "services to drama."
Martine McCutcheon (Natalie) has enjoyed another landmark year, as 2003 saw not only the release of the feature film Love Actually, but also the debut of Martine's long-awaited photo diary, Martine McCutcheon: Behind the Scenes. She also recently signed with film agency representation in Los Angeles, enabling the entertainer to widen her choices of projects on both sides of the Atlantic.
The previous year ended on a high note for McCutcheon, when her well-received tribute to musicals aired on the U.K.'s ITV on November 30. The release of her most recent album, Musicality (a collection of her favorite songs) followed on December 2; Musicality's track listing reads like a classic 21st Century songbook where Hollywood meets the West End and includes such classics as "The Lady Is a Tramp," "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart," "Don't Rain On My Parade," "What I Did For Love," "White Christmas" and the My Fair Lady standard, "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?". McCutcheon also spent a good portion of 2002 working on the launch of her new lifestyle website, www.MartinesPlace.com.
Musicality follows Martine's first two albums: her 1999 multi-platinum debut,
You, Me & Us, featuring the Number One single "Perfect Moment"; and the follow-up album, Wishing, which contained the hit "I'm Over You." This was followed by Martine's award-winning performance in the lauded West End revival of the stage musical My Fair Lady. From music to film, theatre to books (including 2000's best-selling autobiography, Who Does She Think She Is?: My Story), Martine is constantly busy singing, acting, rehearsing and writing.
Still only 25, Martine's first appearance on TV was at the tender age of six weeks when she starred in a Party Political Broadcast. By the age of four, she was appearing in commercials for Pears soap and Kool Aid. By the time she reached her teens, she'd appeared in an Enya video as a fairy.
Even at such an early age, it was clear what kind of career direction Martine wanted to take. She was a natural entertainer, inspired by Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra and Marvin Gaye, among others.
"By the time I reached my fourth birthday I was dancing to mum's records,
dressing in fairy outfits or skating skirts," she explains. "I'd listen to mum's Crystal Gayle, Average White Band and Barbra Streisand albums. I used to write down the lyrics to Streisand's songs and belt them out."
In January 1995, Martine made her first appearance in the U.K.'s popular long-running drama series EastEnders. The nation fell in love with Martine's character, Tiffany, and she won countless best actress awards in the three years that she starred in the show. When Martine announced that she would be leaving the series, the BBC switchboards were jammed by calls from distraught fans pleading for Tiffany to stay in Albert Square.
A chance opportunity to sing for the BBC1 1997 Children In Need telethon rekindled Martine's interest in music and later led to a concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. Her sensational performance included show-stopping versions of "Cabaret" and "Don't Rain On My Parade."
A record company bidding war soon followed and Martine was eventually signed to Innocent Records on the Virgin label. She began her solo artist career when she released her first single, "Perfect Moment," at the end of 1998, which went straight into the U.K. charts at No.1, achieving platinum status.
Following her musical success, Martine returned to acting when she starred in the ITV drama series The Knock. She made her feature film debut in 2000's Kiss Kiss (Bang Bang), co-starring Chris Penn.
Since she played the tomboyish Juliette in the hit comedy Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Keira Knightley's (Juliet) rise has been meteoric. After playing the role of Lara in the TV mini-series Doctor Zhivago (2002), the London-born actress went on to star opposite Johnny Depp in the recent hit swashbuckling adventure drama Pirates of the Caribbean.
Knightley, who is the daughter of playwright Sharman MacDonald and the actor Will Knightley, first acted in school and youth club productions. She made her movie debut as Natasha Jordan in a Village Affair (1994) and followed that with parts in Innocent Lies (1995), Treasure Seekers (1996) and Coming Home (1998). But her first major role was as a handmaiden to Queen Amidala in Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace (1999). Since then she played in the TV mini-series Oliver Twist (1999) and the telefilm Princess of Thieves (2001). After Bend It Like Beckham, she appeared in Gillies MacKinnon's Pure (2002).
Knightley is also to star opposite Jude Law and Jim Broadbent in the forthcoming Tulip Fever, to be directed by John Madden. Keira is currently playing Guinevere in the film King Arthur, directed by Antoine Fuqua and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Rowan Atkinson (Rufus) has become one of the best-known British comic talents of his generation. In 1977, Atkinson attracted wide critical notice while performing at the Edinburgh Festival; the following year, he mounted his own review at London's Hampstead Theatre and became a founding member of the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News team. The series fast became a major success, running a total of four seasons, spawning platinum and gold albums and many best-selling books, and garnering a Silver Rose at Montreux, an International Emmy and a British Academy Award. In the process, Atkinson was also named BBC Personality of the Year.
In 1981, Atkinson became the youngest performer to have a one-man show in London's West End; the sell-out season at the Globe Theatre won him the Society of West End Theatre's Award for Comedy Performance of the Year. In 1983, he embarked with writer Richard Curtis on their situation tragedy Blackadder for the BBC. Over the ensuing five years, the four Blackadder series won three British Academy Awards, an International Emmy, three ACE awards and personal awards for his performance, including Best Entertainment Performance. Once again, Atkinson was voted BBC Personality of the Year.
On stage, Atkinson took the lead in Larry Shue's The Nerd at the Aldwych Theatre in 1985. In the following year, he mounted a new one-man show in the West End and, following a sell-out season, it was transferred to Broadway. The show went on to tour successfully in Australia, New Zealand, the Far East and the U.K. In 1988, he undertook a six-month run in the West End, starring in The Sneeze, a collection of humorous one-act plays by Anton Chekhov.
Atkinson's next major television undertaking was the creation of the silent comedy series Mr. Bean for ITV and HBO. The pilot program won the Golden Rose of Montreux and was nominated for an International Emmy. Subsequent episodes continued to win plaudits, including an International Emmy, two BANFF Awards and an ACE Award for Best Comedy in 1995. Since its debut, the series has been sold to more than 200 territories and has attained classic statusMr. Bean was the highest-rated comedy show of the decade on commercial television. (The show was produced by the production company Tiger Aspect, of which Atkinson is a partner and for whom he also appeared in a number of highly successful documentary programs on subjects ranging from comedy to his passion, automobiles.)
In 1995, Atkinson starred in the lead role of Inspector Raymond Fowler in the first series of Tiger Aspect's number one rated situation comedy, The Thin Blue Line (written by Ben Elton); a second series was produced in the summer of 1996. For HBO and the BBC, Tiger also produced the ACW award-winning Rowan Atkinson on Location in Boston, a one-hour special featuring highlights from his stage shows.
Atkinson has appeared in a number of films, the most recent being Working Title's international hit, Johnny English, which opened Number One in 40 countries; it grossed more than $125 million worldwide and more than $30 million in the U.K., making it the 7th highest grossing film of all time in that country.
His other film credits include the hit Scooby-Doo; Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery; The Tall Guy with Jeff Goldblum; Nicolas Roeg's The Witches; and Steven Wright's The Appointments of Dennis Jennings, which won the 1989 Oscar® for Best Short. Other film appearances include Hot Shots - Part Deux, Four Weddings and a Funeral, the voice of Zazu in The Lion King and Jerry Zucker's Rat Race. He also co-produced and appeared in Bean The Ultimate Disaster Movie, a film produced by Working Title in association with Tiger Aspect.
In 2002 Atkinson was involved with the creation and production of the Mr. Bean animated series, produced by Tiger Aspect Productions, currently showing on television in the U.K.
With his easygoing charm and impressive acting skills, Andrew Lincoln (Mark) has become a familiar and popular presence in British film, television, theatre and radio.
Following completion of his studies at London's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Lincoln soon became known to British television audiences as the good-hearted "Egg," one of a group of young professionals sharing a London flat on the popular and influential dramatic series This Life, co-starring Jack Davenport and Amita Dhiri. Lincoln's television work also includes starring in the recent series Teachers, as well as in the telefilms Woman in White, Bomber and Likeness in Stone. His additional television credits include Drop the Dead Donkey, N7, Overhere, Bramwell and Saving Grace.
Lincoln's growing list of feature film credits include The Jury, I Know the Place, Boston Kick Out, Human Traffic, Gangster No. 1 and Offending Angels.
Andrew has been seen in two productions for the acclaimed National Theatre: director Thea Shorrock's production of Free and in Roger Michell's controversial hit Blue/Orange (which transferred to the West End). He also starred in the Hampstead Theatre's production and the national tour of Hushaby Mountain, as well as in Sugar, Sugar at the Bush Theatre.
His work for radio includes Private Wheelers' War for the BBC, Weird Tales, From the Slip Road of Paranoia, as well as a production of Shakespeare's As You Like It.
Academy Award®-winning writer, actor, director and musician, Billy Bob Thornton (The U.S. President) has an extensive and impressive career in motion pictures, television and theater. Charismatic and uniquely talented, Thornton has established himself as one of the most sought after filmmakers of his generation.
Billy Bob Thornton is currently celebrating a high-water mark in his career. Having recently wrapped starring roles in the upcoming epic The Alamo (in which he portrays legendary frontiersman Davy Crockett) and the black comedy Bad Santa (in which he co-stars with Bernie Mac), he will also be seen in the upcoming Coen brothers'/Brian Grazer romantic comedy Intolerable Cruelty, also starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Showing the versatility of his acting abilities, in 2001 Thornton starred in the caper comedy Bandits for director Barry Levinson and co-starring Bruce Willis and Cate Blanchett; the noir The Man Who Wasn't There for the Coen brothers; and the heart-wrenching drama Monster's Ball, in which he co-starred with Halle Berry, Peter Boyle and Heath Ledger.
Each of the three performances garnered Thornton unprecedented critical acclaim and resulted in him being named Best Actor of 2001 by the National Board of Review and receiving Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor in a Drama for The Man Who Wasn't There and Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for Bandits, as well as an American Film Institute Award nomination for Best Actor for The Man Who Wasn't There.
Thornton's 1996 release of the critically acclaimed and phenomenally popular feature film Sling Blade (in which he starred and directed from an original script he wrote), firmly secured his status as a pre-eminent filmmaker. For his efforts, he was honored with both an Academy Award® for Best Adapted Screenplay and an Academy Award® nomination for Best Actor. The film also starred Robert Duvall, J.T. Walsh, Dwight Yoakum and John Ritter.
Prior to Sling Blade, Thornton already had an extensive motion picture credit list. He wrote and starred in the thrilling character drama One False Move, which brought him immediate critical praise. Thornton's powerful script (co-written with Tom Epperson) was enhanced by his intense performance as a hunted criminal. The film, directed by Carl Franklin, was an unheralded sleeper success.
In addition, Thornton has been featured in such films as The Winner for director Alex Cox; Indecent Proposal, directed by Adrian Lyne; Deadman for Jim Jarmusch; and Tombstone for George Cosmatos. He has also appeared in On Deadly Ground, Bound By Honor, For The Boys and The Stars Fell on Henrietta.
As a writer, Thornton has worked on numerous projects for United Artists, Miramax, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., Touchstone Pictures, Island Pictures, David Geffen Productions and HBO. He also scripted A Family Thing, a highly regarded feature film that starred Robert Duvall and James Earl Jones.
Thornton has also co-starred in the blockbuster action-adventure film Armageddon with Bruce Willis; co-starred opposite Sean Penn and Nick Nolte in U-Turn, directed by Oliver Stone; and starred in Primary Colors opposite John Travolta and Emma Thompson for director Mike Nichols. He also starred in the dark comedy Pushing Tin opposite John Cusack.
Thornton received an Academy Award® nomination and Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his celebrated work in the tightly woven drama A Simple Plan for director Sam Raimi, as well as a Best Supporting Actor award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and a Best Supporting Actor nomination from the Screen Actors Guild.
For his second and third directorial outings, Thornton chose the comedy Daddy And Them, which he again wrote and starred in, and the epic screen version of the best-selling Cormac McCarthy novel, All the Pretty Horses, starring Matt Damon, Penelope Cruz and Henry Thomas.
Thornton also co-wrote The Gift, starring Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi and Hilary Swank.
Thornton was most recently seen in the comedy Waking Up In Reno, co-starring Charlize Theron, Patrick Swayze and Natasha Richardson; and the drama Levity, in which he co-starred with Morgan Freeman, Holly Hunter and Kirsten Dunst.
In a relatively brief space of time Joanna Page (Judy) has amassed a varied list of credits in prestigious projects for film, television and the stage, most recently completing shooting a lead role in ITV's Making Waves and will shortly begin shooting the series Mine All Mine.
Page graduated from London's esteemed Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1998. Since then, she has been seen in the productions As You Like It (Buckingham Palace Gala); The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and The Mysteries (both for the National Theatre); Doomsday (National Cottesloe); and Camera Obscura (Almeida Theatre).
In addition to the upcoming Making Waves, Joanna's television work includes roles in David Copperfield, The Cazalet Chronicles, The Lost World and Ready When You Are Mr. McGill (all for the BBC).
Page's feature film credits include the thriller From Hell, starring with Johnny Depp and Heather Graham; Very Annie Mary, starring Rachel Griffiths; Mike Figgis' Miss Julie; and David Kane's This Year's Love.
Kris Marshall's (Colin) credits include a variety of British and American projects, encompassing feature-length and short films, telefeatures and series, and theatrical works.
He is perhaps best known for his four seasons on the BBC series My Family; his work as Nick Harper garnered him the Best Newcomer of 2002 at the British Comedy Awards. Marshall's other television projects include Murder Squad, Dr. Zhivago, Waiting for the Whistle, Metropolis, Trial and Retribution II, The Bill, Lively Lads and Stick with Me Kid.
The actor was also seen in the films Iris, starring Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent; The Four Feathers, co-starring Wes Bentley, Kate Hudson and Heath Ledger; The Most Fertile Man in Ireland; Mood Swingers; Deathwatch; 5 Seconds to Spare; Closing Numbers; Make Believe; Rumblewood; Mexicano; and Je T'Aime John Wayne (winner of the 2000 L.F.F. short film competition).
Marshall's theatrical credits include Invention of Love (West End); Happy Savages (Lyric Hammersmith); The Unexpected Guest (No. 1 Tour); Journey's End (King's Head); Deathtrap (No. 1 Tour); The Winslow Boy (King's Edinburgh); Sleuth (Pomegranate); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bucket Theatre); and Gagging of Britannia Closet (Referendum Party).
Lucia Moniz (Aurelia) was born in 1976 in Lisbon and has lived there all her life. Coming from a family of musicians, her musical career began a long time ago in 1991 at the Music Academy de Santa Cecilia, Lisbon.
In 1996, she came in sixth in the Eurovision Song Contest with Portugal's entry "O Meu Coração Não Tem Cor," after winning the Festival RTP da Canção earlier that year. She then went on to host the Portuguese national final in 1998.
After her Eurovision entry, Lucia's career has diverged into two areas. A singer/songwriter with a gold album to her name, she has also become a well-known actress in Portugal through her performances in the theatre and in several television series.
Her first album, Magnólia (1999), was a very successful platform for her follow-up and latest release, 67, which was recorded in Boston. It was made with her longtime producer and collaborator Nuno Bettencourt and released by EMI (Portugal) in 2002. This album matched her debut by also going gold in her home country.
In addition to her work in Love Actually, she has recently filmed a lead role in a Portuguese short film.
Martin Freeman (John) is perhaps most familiar to television audiences on both sides of the Atlantic for his role as Tim, one of the employees on the BBC's groundbreaking comedy series The Office (which also airs on BBC America). The cult hit has won over critics and fans with its almost documentary-style look at 9-to-5 life under the fluorescent lights.
A graduate of the Central School of Speech & Drama, Freeman's comic acting skills were also showcased in the Thames Television series Hardware, which was written expressly for him. He recently co-starred in the BBC telefeature Charles II, and has also appeared in numerous other television projects: Linda Green, Marjorie & Gladys, Men Only, The Debt, the Francis Fyfield trilogy, World of Pub, TV to Go, Lock Stock, Bruiser, Casualty, The Hello Girls and This Life.
Freeman has also appeared in the feature film Ali G Indahouse for Working Title, and in several short films, including I Just Want to Kiss You, Round About Five, The Lowdown, Exhaust and Fancy Dress.
His lengthy list of theatrical credits includes starring roles in Kosher Harry for the Royal Court; Jump Mr. Malinoff, Jump for the Soho Theatre; La Dispute for the R.S.C. and the Lyric Hammersmith; Angela Carter's Cinderella for the Lyric Hammersmith; Woman in Black, Dealing with Claire and A Going Concern, all for the Stephen Joseph Theatre; and Mother Courage and Her Children and Volpone, both for the Royal National Theatre; among others.
Thomas Sangster's (Sam) television debut was in the BBC Film The Adventures of Station Jim, playing alongside Prunella Scales, George Cole and Frank Finley. The telefilm was a delightful story about a runaway orphan finding sanctuary on a steam railway. This was followed by a lead role in the Showtime Original film Bobbie's Girl, in which he was cast alongside Jonathan Silverman, Bernadette Peters and Rachel Ward.
Immediately after, he was whisked off to Vancouver to take the lead in The Miracle Of The Cards, the telefilm version of the true story of Craig Shergold, who was diagnosed with cancer at age ten and recovered with the help of an anonymous benefactor and enough get-well cards to enter him into The Guinness Book of World Records.
Thomas then appeared in the BBC's Emmy and BAFTA award-winning adaptation of Clive King's wonderful story, Stig of the Dump. It tells the tale of Barney and his friendship with a caveman named Stig. Thomas received glowing reviews as Barney, all wide-eyed wonder and innocent adventurer.
He next appeared in the action telefeature Daddy, which gave him the opportunity to work alongside Klaus Maria Branduer. This was Thomas' first thriller and he loved all the action scenes, explosions, shootouts and car chases. His performance won him the Best Actor in a mini-series award at the 2003 Monte Carlo Film Festival.
Love Actually is Thomas' first international feature film. The young actor is thrilled to be part of such an impressive cast and particularly delighted to be playing Liam Neeson's son. His training for Love Actually involved learning how to play the drums, perform cartwheels and (most challenging of all), have his first screen kiss.
Thomas is currently back with the BBC filming the new TV series, Featherboy.
He lives in South London with fellow actors Mum and Dad and little sister Ava and dreams of being the next Luke Skywalker.
About the Filmmakers
Richard Curtis (Director / Screenwriter) was born in New Zealand in 1956 and raised in Manila, Stockholm, Folkestone and Warrington. He has now lived in London off and on for over 20 years.
He began writing comedy after leaving Oxford University in 1978. He had worked with Rowan Atkinson thereand continued to do so. His first job on television was writing for all four series of Not the Nine O'Clock News, a BBC program which was slightly topical and won some awards. He then went on to write the Blackadder series, a situation comedy set in four different eras of British history, always starring Rowan Atkinson in a different amusing haircut. It was slightly historical and also won some awards. The last three series were co-written with Ben Elton.
During these years, Richard, Rowan and Ben staged two West End comedy revues and Richard wrote his first film, The Tall Guy, directed by Mel Smith and starring Jeff Goldblum, Emma Thompson (in her film debut) and Rowan Atkinson as a cruel heartless comedian starring in a West End show. The film was not autobiographical and was produced by Working Title with whom Richard always has worked since.
Back on television, Richard and Rowan then began work on Mr. Bean, and continued for some years to make intermittent programs starring the man in the tie who says very little. In 1993, Richard wrote Bernard and the Genie, a wholesome Christmas fantasy starring Lenny Henry and Alan Cumming.
In December 1993, Richard was awarded the Writers Guild of Great Britain Comedy Lifetime Achievement Award.
His second film, Four Weddings and a Funeral, starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell, was directed by Mike Newell, produced by Duncan Kenworthy and released in March 1994. The film won a French Cesar, an Australian Academy Award and the BAFTA for Best Film. At the Academy Awards®, the film was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film.
In 1994, Richard was made an MBE and started writing The Vicar of Dibley, a situation comedy for the BBC, starring Dawn French as a female vicar in a small village suspiciously full of eccentric characters.
The movie Bean, co-written with Robin Driscoll, directed by Mel Smith and starring Rowan Atkinson opened in Britain at the end of August 1997. It is about Mr. Bean's visit to America and has more dialogue in it than you would expect.
His next film, Notting Hill, starred Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant and was released in May 1999 and for a while was the highest earning British film ever, making something like $350 million worldwide.
In 2001, Richard was co-writer of the award-winning screenplay Bridget Jones's Diary, starring Reneé Zellweger, Colin Firth and a nasty Hugh Grant.
His most recent film, on which he directed for the first time, is Love Actually, a story about lots of different kinds of love, set at Christmas and featuring 22 leading characters.
Richard Curtis is co-founder and vice-chairman of Comic Relief, the organization which runs Red Nose Day in Britain. He has co-produced the live nights of Comic Relief for the BBC since 1987. Comic Relief has made over £325,000,000 for charity projects in Africa and the U.K.
He is not married to Emma Freud and they have a daughter, Scarlett, and two sons, Jake and Charlie. In 2000, he was made a CBE.
Duncan Kenworthy (Producer) took a First in English at Cambridge in 1971, and then went to the U.S. for seven years: first as a Thouron Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, then moving to New York City to work for the Children's Television Workshop, producers of Sesame Street. In 1977 he relocated to Kuwait for two years to produce 130 half-hours of an Arabic version of Sesame Street. A hugely influential series, Iftah Ya Simsim was seen daily in fifteen Arab countries.
From 1979, Kenworthy worked closely with the late Jim Henson in London until Jim's death in 1990, first as the associate producer on the feature film The Dark Crystal (1981), then as co-creator and producer of Fraggle Rock. He produced 14 television dramas written by Anthony Minghella: nine half-hours of The Storyteller, four half-hours of Greek Myths (both series winning the Best Children's BAFTA for their year), and the Channel 4 one-hour film Living with Dinosaurs (which won the International Emmy). From 1988 to 1995, he served as Henson's Senior Vice-President of Production.
In 1994, he took a leave of absence to produce Four Weddings and a Funeral. The film grossed more than $250 million worldwide and Kenworthy received Oscar® and Golden Globe nominations and won the French Cesar and British Academy Award. He was also named British Producer of the Year by the London Film Critics' Circle.
In 1995, he set up his own company, Toledo Pictures. His first production as an independent was the highly-rated Gulliver's Travels (1995), a $20 million mini-series that received five Emmy Awards, including Best Mini-Series. Following its Easter 1996 broadcast on Channel 4, it won four R.T.S. Awards and two British Academy Awards.
Kenworthy's first American film, Lawn Dogs, was shot entirely on location in Kentucky in the summer of 1996. The U.K.-financed Toledo Pictures production received its world premiere in September 1997 at the Montreal Film Festival, where Sam Rockwell won the Best Actor Award. The film received several festival awards around the world, and opened in the U.K. to critical acclaim in November 1997.
In 1997, Kenworthy formed a partnership with Andrew Macdonald, the producer of Trainspotting. Their mini-studio, DNA Films, was awarded a production franchise by the Arts Council of England, with £29 million of matching production financing to make a slate of films over six years. To date, DNA has produced six films, including the current U.S. hit 28 Days Later, directed by Danny Boyle.
In 1998, Kenworthy produced the romantic comedy Notting Hill, a second collaboration with Four Weddings writer Richard Curtis and actor Hugh Grant. The romantic comedy, starring Grant and Julia Roberts and directed by Roger Michell, made history as the first British film to gross more than $100 million at the U.S. box officeand, with a worldwide gross of more than $360 million, broke Four Weddings and a Funeral's record as the highest-grossing British film of all time.
Kenworthy is a director of the Film Council; Deputy Chair of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts; a Governor of the National Film School; and a member of the British Council's Arts Advisory Board. He was made an OBE in the 1999 New Year Honors "for services to the film industry."
Working Title Films, co-chaired by Tim Bevan (Producer) and Eric Fellner (Producer) since 1992, is Europe's leading film production company. Together, they have made more than 70 films grossing over two-and-a-half billion dollars worldwide. Their films have won four Academy Awards® (for Elizabeth, Fargo and Dead Man Walking), 18 British Academy Awards (including for Billy Elliot and Four Weddings and a Funeral) and won prestigious prizes at the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals.
Bevan and Fellner have a long-term relationship with writer Richard Curtis and actor Hugh Grant, with whom they have collaborated on their three most successful films all romantic comedies Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones's Diary, with Notting Hill holding the record for the highest grossing British film worldwide. Curtis also wrote the screenplay for the hit comedy, Bean, starring Rowan Atkinson; Love Actually marks Curtis' directorial debut of his own original screenplay. Hugh Grant also starred in About a Boy, based on the celebrated book by Nick Hornby and directed by Chris and Paul Weitz.
The Coen brothers also have a long association with Working Title, having made five films with the company, including the Academy Award®-winning Fargo, The Hudsucker Proxy, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski and The Man Who Wasn't There, which won Joel Coen the Best Director prize at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.
In 1999, WT² was formed to produce Working Title's lower budget films. Its first film, Billy Elliot, directed by Stephen Daldry, became an international commercial and critical hit. The division, headed by Natascha Wharton, has since made Ali G Indahouse (starring Sacha Baron Cohen, which was a huge success in the U.K.), as well as Long Time Dead and My Little Eye. WT² is currently in post-production with The Calcium Kid (starring Orlando Bloom and directed by Alex de Rakoff) and has completed shooting Shaun of The Dead, a romantic zombie comedy directed by Edgar Wright.
Adapting successful and original books is high on Working Title's manifesto. The film of Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary endeared audiences worldwide to Reneé Zellweger in the title role. Stephen Frears transferred Nick Hornby's High Fidelity to the screen, and Chris and Paul Weitz directed About a Boy based on Hornby's best-selling novel. Other notable adaptations include John Madden's Captain Corelli's Mandolin (starring Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz), Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking (starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn) and the children's classic The Borrowers.
Three years ago, Working Title opened an office in Australia (WTA), headed by Tim White. Their first film is Ned Kelly, featuring Heath Ledger as the legendary outlaw, supported by a cast including Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Naomi Watts and Rachel Griffiths. The second, Gettin' Square, a comedy starring Timothy Spall, is currently in post-production.
Recent releases include the coming-of-age drama Thirteen, starring Holly Hunter; the international hit spy comedy Johnny English, with worldwide grosses exceeding $125 million; The Shape of Things, Neil Labute's screen adaptation of his own play starring Rachel Weisz; Michael Lehmann's 40 Days & 40 Nights, starring Josh Hartnett; and Daisy von Scherler Mayer's romantic comedy The Guru, starring Jimi Mistry, Heather Graham and Marisa Tomei.
Forthcoming releases this year are the aforementioned Ned Kelly and The Calcium Kid.
Filming has just been wrapped on Working Title's biggest film to date, Thunderbirds, a live action feature film of the hit British TV series of the '60s directed by Jonathan Frakes and starring Sir Ben Kingsley, Bill Paxton, Anthony Edwards and Sophia Myles. Currently in production is Wimbledon, a romantic comedy directed by Richard Loncraine and starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany. Pre-production has also begun on Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason, the follow-up to the original hit, with Reneé Zellweger reprising her role as the lovable heroine of singletons everywhere.
Nick Moore's (Editor) editing feature film credits include About a Boy (nominated for Best Edited Feature by the American Cinema Editors); Roger Michell's Notting Hill; David Caffrey's Divorcing Jack; David Leland's Land Girls; and Peter Cattaneo's The Full Monty, for which he received a shared BAFTA nomination for Best Editing.
Michael Coulter, B.S.C. (Director of Photography) has amassed an impressive list of feature film cinematography credits in his more than two decades in the business. For his work on 1995's Sense and Sensibility, Coulter was honored with Oscar®, BAFTA and B.S.C. nominations for Best Cinematography. He was likewise nominated by the B.S.C. for his photography of the previous year's Four Weddings and a Funeral.
His more recent credits as director of photography include the thriller Killing Me Softly; the big screen Jane Austen adaptation Mansfield Park; the worldwide hit Notting Hill; the family film My Giant; and the beautiful period piece FairyTale: A True Story.
Coulter's numerous other feature film credits include The Neon Bible, Being Human, Long Day Closes, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Monster in a Box, Bearskin, Diamond Skulls, Breaking In, The Dressmaker, Housekeeping, The Good Father, Heavenly Pursuits, No Surrender, Gregory's Girl and That Sinking Feeling.
He has also worked in television, filming The Infiltrator, Foreign Affairs and Widowmaker.
Jim Clay's (Production Designer) feature film credits include most recently Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz's About a Boy and John Madden's Captain Corelli's Mandolin, both for Working Title; William Boyd's The Trench; Atom Egoyan's Felicia's Journey; and Onegin for director Martha Fiennes. His earlier credits include Copy Cat, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, and Queen of Hearts, all for director Jon Amiel; Pat O'Connor's Circle of Friends; John Roberts' War of the Buttons; Neil Jordan's The Crying Game; and James Dearden's A Kiss Before Dying. Upcoming projects include John Madden's Tulip Fever and Richard Eyre's Compleat Female Stage Beauty.
Television credits include The Singing Detective, for which Jim won an RTS and BAFTA Award for Best Design, and Christabel, for which he also won a BAFTA Award for Best Design.
Chris Thompson (Line Producer) has amassed a long list of feature film and television production credits, serving in a variety of capacities. He most recently co-produced Gregor Jordan's Buffalo Soldiers. Thompson served as line producer on the Hallmark telefeatures Jason & the Argonauts, Don Quixote, A Christmas Carol, Alice in Wonderland, Merlin, The Odyssey and Gulliver's Travels, and on HBO's The Infiltrator; his line producing feature film credits include Paul Weiland's Roseanna's Grave and Milcho Manchevski's Before the Rain (the London portion of the film). He served as associate producer on Christopher Hampton's Carrington, Peter Kosminsky's Wuthering Heights, John Irvin's Robin Hood and James Dearden's A Kiss Before Dying. His additional feature film credits include Chris Menges' Second Best (production supervisor), Tom Clegg's Sharpes Rifles (production manager in Portugal) and Terry Jones' Erik the Viking (production manager).
Feature film credits for Joanna Johnston (Costume Designer) are as impressive as they are extensive and include About a Boy; M. Night Shyamalan's films Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense; Castaway, Contact, Forrest Gump, Death Becomes Her, Back to the Future III, Back to the Future II, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and most recently The Polar Express, all for director Robert Zemeckis; Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan; Lawrence Kasdan's French Kiss; Ron Howard's Far and Away; and Clive Barker's
Hellraiser. She served as co-designer on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and costume coordinator on The Color Purple, both for director Steven Spielberg; and associate designer on Out of Africa for director Sydney Pollack.
Debra Hayward (Co-Producer) serves as Head of Film for Working Title Films and is creatively responsible for the company's entire slate of motion pictures in conjunction with her U.S. counterpart, Liza Chasin.
Hayward joined Working Title in 1989 as a producer's assistant on such films as Fools of Fortune and Dakota Road and then moved to the development department, where she worked on such diverse films as 1991's London Kills Me and 1993's Map of the Human Heart.
Upcoming projects on which Hayward is serving as co-producer include Wimbledon (starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany), Thunderbirds (starring Bill Paxton and Ben Kingsley) and Ned Kelly (starring Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom). Her most recent co-producer credits include the international hit Johnny English, starring Rowan Atkinson, Natalie Imbruglia and John Malkovich; and the award-winning About a Boy. She also recently executive produced The Guru and 40 Days & 40 Nights.
Hayward's additional co-producing credits include the worldwide smash Bridget Jones's Diary, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, the lauded Elizabeth, The Matchmaker and The Borrowers. As a development executive, she was instrumental in helping to bring such films as Notting Hill, Plunkett & Macleane, French Kiss, Moonlight and Valentino, Panther, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Posse to the screen. She also served as associate producer on Loch Ness.
Liza Chasin (Co-Producer) has served as President of U.S. Production at Working Title Films since 1996.
Upcoming pictures Chasin is developing and executive producing are Wimbledon, starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany, and Thirteen, which recently won the best director slot at the Sundance Film Festival for Catherine Hardwicke and stars Holly Hunter, Jeremy Sisto and newcomer Evan Rachel Wood.
Over the past several years, Chasin has been involved in the development and production of such acclaimed films as Dead Man Walking, Fargo, Notting Hill and O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Chasin recently served as co-producer of About a Boy, directed by Chris and Paul Weitz, starring Hugh Grant, Toni Colette and Rachel Weisz; Bridget Jones's Diary, starring Reneé Zellweger; and High Fidelity, starring John Cusack. She also co-produced the Academy Award® and Golden Globe nominated critical success, Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett.
A graduate of N.Y.U. Film School, Chasin first joined the company in 1991 as Director of Development. She was subsequently promoted to Vice President of Production and Development, becoming the head of the Los Angeles office for Working Title, overseeing the company's creative affairs in the U.S. Prior to joining Working Title Films, Chasin worked for several years in various production capacities in New York-based production companies.
Award-winning Scottish-born musician Craig Armstrong (Composer) has proved his versatility by fluidly shifting between musical genres, equally at home writing film scores or theatrical and classical compositions, producing/composing/arranging for world-class recording artists, and recording his own solo albums.
His most recent score for The Quiet American garnered him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score. His work on Baz Luhrmann's groundbreaking musical Moulin Rouge! earned him AFI's Composer of the Year, a Golden Globe for Best Original Score of the Year and a BAFTA for Achievement in Film Music. His other feature film scoring credits include The Magdalene Sisters, Kiss of the Dragon, The Bone Collector, Plunkett & Macleane, Best Laid Plans and Orphans. His work as co-composer on William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (again with Baz Luhrmann) also earned him a BAFTA for Achievement in Film Music. He also composed additional music for the features The Negotiator and Goldeneye. His upcoming projects includescoringThe Clearing for director Pieter Jan Brugge.
As a composer/producer/arranger, Armstrong has worked with a wide variety of artists, including U2, Madonna, Luciano Pavarotti, Massive Attack, Tina Turner, Suede, Pet Shop Boys, Michael Hutchence, Future Sound of London, Paul Buchannan and Texas. Armstrong has recorded two solo albums: As If To Nothing and The Space Between Us. He has composed two original works that premiered at the Edinburgh Festival ("20 Movements" in 1996 and Chamber Opera in 1993), and wrote "The Broken Heart" for the Royal Shakespeare Company (premiered 1994). And premiering in 2002 was "Northern Sound....Island," which was commissioned by The Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Mary Selway, C.D.G. (Casting) started her career in 1956 as a production assistant in the first year of commercial television.
She moved into casting ten years later and has now cast over one-hundred feature films. She says she has been blessed by the wonderful directors she has worked with, amongst others Roman Polanski, Bertrand Tavernier, Fred Zinneman, Blake Edwards, John Boorman, Nic Roeg, Clint Eastwood, Michael Apted, Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg and Fred Schepisi.
Although the most famous films she has worked on are probably Raiders of the
Lost Ark and Out of Africa, such films as Dancing at Lughnasa for Pat O'Connor, Love Is the Devil for John Maybury and Onegin for Martha Fiennes are included in her favorites.
Mary cast Notting Hill, so Love Actually is the second time she has worked with Richard Curtis and Duncan Kenworthy. She has most recently enjoyed being with Robert Altman in Gosford Park and with Peter Weir as Master and Commander. This year has included Thunderbirds for Jonathan Frakes, Vanity Fair for Mira Nair and Enduring Love for Roger Michell.
In 1999, Mary Selway received the Women In Film & Television award for original creativity. In 2001, Mary received the Michael Balcon BAFTA award for Outstanding Contribution to British Film, something of which she is inordinately proud.
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