Love Actually director regrets film’s “gross-phobic” humor

“I think I was in my bubble and not as smart as I should have been.”

This is not new. Even though the film has been incredibly popular for two decades, Richard Curtis still doesn’t take responsibility Love Actually. For its lack of diversity among the characters. And also for its humor, which would certainly be less well received today.

The filmmaker regrets the numerous jokes centered on the overweight of several female characters. Notably Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), often mocked because of her weight throughout the film. Her father calls her “plump“, and a colleague even points out that she has “huge thighs“. Richard Curtis is ashamed today and confides during the Cheltenham Literature Festival of the Times and the Sunday Times:

“I remember how shocked I was five years ago when (my daughter) Scarlett said to me, ‘You’ll never be able to use the word ‘fat’ again! And wow, she was right. I think I was way behind in this matter. These jokes are no longer funny today. Afterwards, I don’t have the feeling of having been vicious at the time. I just think that I was in my bubble and not as smart as I should have been.”

Returning to the lack of diversity in his films, he explains that he comes from a “very undiversified school. I have a group of friends from university. When I wrote Notting Hill, I latched on to the issue of diversity. In the end, I had the feeling that I didn’t know how to write these roles. And I think I was a little stupid to think that. I was wrong.“