Love Actually's Keira Knightley calls out 'creepy' scene in Christmas film: 'I was 17'

For many people, it's Christmas tradition to celebrate the festive season by indulging in an aptly themed Christmas movie. For many families, that movie is Love Actually - the iconic 2003 film that 21 years later still has people watching it religiously every year.

One of the more memorable scenes from the film is when Keira Knightley's character, Juliet, realises her new husband's best man, Mark (Andrew Lincoln) has secretly been in love with her the whole time. Juliet was operating under the assumption that Mark just didn't like her at all, but it was upon seeing the footage he videotaped on the wedding day she realised it was in fact, quite the opposite.

This leads to the scene where Mark shows up on Juliet's doorstep on Christmas Eve, carrying a boombox and a bunch of large cue cards, instructing Juliet to tell her husband Peter that it's just carol singers. While Peter stays inside watching TV, Mark silently professes his love to Juliet through the cards, before she runs down the straight after him and gives him a quick kiss.

What was the age gap in Love Actually?

While the scene was often interpreted as romantic, over the years more people have called out Mark's weird behaviour towards his best friend and his best friend's new wife.

Even weirder is the fact that Keira was only 17 at the time of filming, making her something of a child bride!

By contrast, Chiwetel Ejiofor, who played her on-screen husband, was 26.

Andrew Lincoln, meanwhile, was 30.

Keira Knightley on iconic Love Actually scene: 'Creepy'

Keira, now 39. recently admitted in a new interview with the Los Angeles Times that she told director Richard Curtis the cue card scene was "stalkerish" and that the scene was "quite creepy".

"The slightly stalkerish aspect of it — I do remember that. My memory is of [director] Richard [Curtis], who is now a very dear friend, of me doing the scene, and him going, 'No, you’re looking at [Lincoln] like he’s creepy,' and I’m like [in a dramatic whisper], 'But it is quite creepy,'" Keira said. "And then having to redo it to fix my face to make him seem not creepy."

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When asked if she felt there was a 'creep' factor to the scene when filming it, Keira, who was only a teenager when filming the movie, said, "I mean, there was a creep factor at the time, right? Also, I knew I was 17. It only seems like a few years ago that everybody else realised I was 17."

Director Richard Curtis has spoken out about the scene years on, telling The Independent in 2023 that it's "a bit weird", saying, “We didn’t think it was a stalker scene. But if it’s interesting or funny for different reasons [now] then, you know, God bless our progressive world.”

Keira Knightley's wild Love Actually admission: 'Most of my films I haven't seen'

When asked about the rumours that she had only seen Love Actually once, Keira had this to say.

"Most of my films I have either never seen or I have only seen once. So it’s nothing against Love Actually. It’s lovely because it didn’t do as well as everyone thought it was going to when it came out. Suddenly, like three or four years later, it sort of took on a life of its own," she said.

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She went on to say she was only on set for about five days, so her memories of filming the movie are scarce.

"It’s the only film I’ve had that found this life afterward. The problem is, I was on it for about five days. I was 17, so I don’t actually have any memory whatsoever of it."

Keira Knightley's Netflix debut with Black Doves

While Keira has predominantly stuck to the big screen when it comes to acting, things have now changed with the actress starring in the latest Netflix hit Black Doves, a spy thriller mini-series that follows a posh wife of a conservative politician who has also spent years as a professional assassin in an organisation called Black Doves.

When her secret lover is killed, an old friend from the organisation comes out of retirement to protect her as they investigate her lover's death.

Keira called the role of Helen "very cool" saying her teenage self would be proud.

“My teenage self is thrilled with this. Sometimes you have to listen to your teenage self and go, ‘This one’s for you,’ you know. I think she would have found this very cool,” Keira said. “Helen was just so weird and incorporated so many strange, oppositional things at the same time."

The series has so far received critical acclaim since its debut and is currently holding a 98% review rate on Rotten Tomatoes.

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