Love Actually remains near and dear to our hearts nearly two decades later, and while we have the whole film memorised word for word, we're always learning something new about the festive classic.
For example, director Richard Curtis explained that he regretted cutting the storyline involving two characters played by British acting icons Anne Reid and Frances de la Tour. While we all know and love the nine other intertwined stories involving actors such as Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon and Keira Knightley, the decision to boot Anne and Frances' from the final cut is a decision Richard was none too happy about.
‘I didn’t fancy doing the dance at all, let alone rehearsing it,’ actor said
In the scene, Reid, who was meant to play a school headmistress, returns home from work to find Geraldine in bed - and it is immediately apparent that she is very unwell as she coughs and grimaces in pain. The scene then cuts to Emma Thompson's character, who is giving a speech in the school hall on behalf of Reid, who is sitting in the audience looking sad.
She says: "I'd just like to say to our headmistress, on behalf of all the parents, that we think it's very brave her being here today in light of her recent loss. Geraldine was a wonderful and wicked woman, and sorrow is particularly hard at Christmas."
In the clip, Richard says of his regret: "I was really sorry to lose this. The idea was meant to be that you just casually meet this very stern headmistress, but later on, in the film, we suddenly fell in with her, and you realise that, no matter how unlikely it seems, any character you come across in life has their own complicated tale of love."
Twitter users went on to discuss their sadness at the scene being cut, with one person writing: "How have I only just learnt about the entire lesbian storyline that was cut from Love Actually with FRANCES DE LA TOUR and ANNE REID 😱‼️"
Another wrote: "Can we please have a new cut of Love Actually with the creepy best man storyline removed and Anne Reid & Frances De La Tour put back in?"
A third added: "It's a tragedy we lost this. But not as much as these feels. I'm so sad this wasn't in the film." We also agree that we would have loved to have seen this bonus storyline in Love Actually!
“I think it's very clear from the set design…”
