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When it comes toholiday moviesthat will rip your heart out, tear it into a thousand pieces, then put it back together and somehow leave you with a restored faith in humanity,Love Actuallyis one of the best.

The belovedChristmasrom-com, which was released in November 2003, features an ensemble cast comprised of the lateAlan Rickman,Emma Thompson,Hugh Grant,Colin Firth,Liam Neesonand Bill Nighy, as well as then-rising stars likeKeira Knightley, Thomas Brodie-Sangster,January Jonesand Chiwetel Ejiofor.

By now, you’re familiar with lots of trivia from the cult classic — yes, the opening scene in the airport features real people; yes,that is actually Olivia Olsonbelting “All I Want for Christmas Is You” — so we combed every corner of the internet to find 22morethings you need to know. Read it, re-watchLove Actuallyfor the thousandth time, happy cry, then thank us.

1. Joe Alwyn auditioned to play Sam

“[The auditions] actually came about because ofZorro. I took fencing lessons, and they’ll often send casting directors around to schools and community centers,” Alwyn shared. “So this local community center where I took fencing lessons, this brilliant U.K. casting director, Shaheen Baig, she came around, and she saw me there.”

The actor recalled taking time off school to audition for the part, which involved a series of workshops. “I didn’t get it in the end, obviously, but I do remember meeting Hugh Grant and [writer-director] Richard Curtis and sitting down and reading some scenes.”

The role eventually went to Brodie-Sangster.

2. Keira Knightley wore that big hat to cover up a zit

“I had a massive spot in the middle of my forehead,” Knightley recalled to BBC Radio 1 in 2018. “This is the problem with being 17 and being in films! It was humongous, so there was no choice but to find a hat to cover it — because there was no lighting or makeup that was going to cover it.”

3. Yep, Alan Rickman’s character definitely had an affair

In December 2015,Love Actuallyscriptwriter Emma Freudanswered fan questions on X(formerly Twitter), and it took our heartbreak to the next level. “DEFINITELY had an affair. I begged [director Curtis] just to make it a flirtation, but no. The whole way,” Freud said of the relationship between Rickman and Thompson’s characters. As for their future,she also revealed, “They stay together, but home isn’t as happy as it once was.”

4. Olivia Olson, who played the supremely-talented Joanna, was offered record deals after the movie

5. Colin Firth’s epic kiss was choreographed (Spoiler: It WILL make you swoon)

“In the restaurant in Portugal (was Marseille actually). I WAS THE KISSING CONSULTANT. And that is a real job,” Freudrevealed on Xin 2015,explaining how it came together: “I ‘designed’ the kiss between Firth and the Portuguese girl. My signature move? His thumb on her lip before they snog. #boom.”

6. Director Richard Curtis intended to cast a mix of well-known and up-and-coming actors

And it worked — kind of. Many ofthe film’s unknown starswent on to find major success, like Jones onMad Men, Ejiofor in12 Years a SlaveandAndrew LincolnonThe Walking Dead.

As for Knightley, CurtistoldThe Daily Beastin 2013: “With Keira, it was only her second film, and I remember talking to her while we were shooting and asking her what she was doing next, and she said, ‘Oh, it’s going to be terrible, and I’ve probably made a terrible mistake, but I’m doing this pirates movie, but it will at least be a few fun months in the sun.'”

That “pirates movie,” of course, was 2003’sPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl— onlythe fourth highest-grossing movieof that year.

7. The iconic “To me, you are perfect” scene almost didn’t happen

8. Whose handwriting is on those signs?

“It is my handwriting!” LincolntoldEntertainment Weeklyin November 2013. “It’s funny, because the art department did it, and then I said, ‘Well, can I do it?’ because I like to think that my handwriting is really good. [Laughs] Actually, it ended up with me having to sort of trace over the art department’s, so it is my handwriting, but with a sort of pencil stencil underneath.”

9. People still quote Billy Mack at Bill Nighy

“My favorite line — the one they’ll write on my tombstone and the one kids still shout at me, is: ‘Hi, kids! Don’t buy drugs — become a rock star, and they give you them for free,’ " NighytoldThe Guardianin December 2013.

10. Billy Bob Thornton faced an unexpected phobia on set

11. The Spider-Man in the school Christmas pageant is Richard Curtis’ son

His daughter is also in the play!

“There’s a scene where they’re up onstage performing the Nativity play, and he’s got aSpider-Manmask on, and there’s a big close-up of a very perplexed-looking 5-year-old,” CurtistoldThe Daily Beastin 2013. “And my daughter is one of the lobsters.”

12. Sam’s race through the airport was even more epic than we thought

“In the original edit Sam did amazing [parkour] all through the airport when he ran to find his girlfriend,” Freudrevealed on X.

13. Laura Linney and Rodrigo Santoro both experienced relationship woes while filming

One of the saddest moments in the film is the open end to Sarah (Laura Linney) and Karl’s (Rodrigo Santoro) plotline. Off-camera, however, the stars had something in common.

“We were both brokenhearted at the time and had gotten out of rough relationships, so it was just very sweet,” Linney recalled toThe Daily Beastin 2013.

14. Hugh Grant was not aboutthatdancing scene

Curtis recalled as much duringThe Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later, ABC News' one-hour reunion special withDiane Sawyercelebrating the film’s 20th anniversary.

“He kept saying no,” he explained. “I think he was hoping I’d get ill or something and we’d say, ‘Oh, well, what a shame, we’ll have to lose that dancing sequence.’ ”

“I saw it in the script, and I thought, ‘Well, I’ll hate doing that,’ ” Grant added. “I didn’t fancy doing the dance at all, let alone rehearsing it. … To this day, there’s many people — and I agree with them — who think it’s the most excruciating scene ever committed to celluloid. Then some people like it. But I will give myself this credit … it was my idea to have that secretary lady catch me. Genius.”

15. Andrew Lincoln joked that his character is kind of a stalker

The actortold The Wrapin February 2016: “That was my question to Richard Curtis, ‘Do you not think we’re sort of borderline stalker territory here?’ And he said, ‘No, no. Not with you playing it, darling. You’ll be all right.’ "

16. Keira Knightley’s wedding dress was almost very different

“Richard Curtis wanted [Keira’s] character to be kind of sexy, even as a bride,” costume designer Joanna JohnstontoldGraziain November 2016. “He wanted her to be dressed ready for the end of the scene where they’re partying, so he had this idea of a crop top, with a bare tummy. … I told Richard, ‘You don’t want a bare tummy going into church!’ So I went for a sheer, layered style instead with petal details underneath; gauzy and multi-layered.”

17. January Jones helped out with her Wisconsin bar scene

“January Jones wrote half of her lines,“Freud tweetedin 2015. “She was sooooo funny when we filmed that scene.”

18. Juliet and Sam were eerily close in age in real life

A viral 2019 tweet pointed out that Knightley (who played a married woman) was 18 at the time of filming, while Brodie-Sangster (who played a young child) was 13, making them much closer than they appear in age to viewers.

“I remember already having the part and going into the read-through andnot knowing who else was in it,” theQueen’s Gambitstar told PEOPLE in October 2020. “I’d just go, ‘Oh, it’s another job. Great. I’m on another job.’ And then all these faces started walking in through the door, and I realized that this is probably quite big.”

“I felt a bit embarrassed, I asked [a runner], ‘Is this coming out in the cinema?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah,’ " Brodie-Sangster added. “I was like, ‘Really? Oh, wow.’ I had no idea what it was, and then they walked me through to the room, and I was sat down with maybe 50 very high-profile amazing actors all around this table. It was only then that I realized what I was a part of. All the way up until that point I had no idea whatsoever.”

20. Richard Curtis regretted the film’s lack of diversity

Looking back on the movie for 2022’sThe Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Lateranniversary special, Curtis admitted to feeling “uncomfortable and a bit stupid” aboutLove Actually’s “lack of diversity.”

“There are things you’d change but, thank God, society is changing, so my film is bound, in some moments, to feel out of date,” the director continued. “I think there are sort of three plots that have sort of bosses and people who work for them,” he added, speaking to the film’s story lines mostly involving white, heterosexual romances.

“There is such extraordinary love that goes on every minute in so many ways [in life], all the way around the world, and makes me wish my film was better,” he said. “It makes me wish I’d made a documentary just to kind of observe it.”

21. Bill Nighy wasn’t aware he was auditioning forLove Actually

“I did a rehearsal reading of the script as a favor to the great casting director, Mary Selway, who had been trying to get me into a film for a long time,” Nighy toldThe Daily Beastin 2013. “I thought it was simply to help her hear the script aloud and to my genuine surprise I was given the job.”

22. Olivia Olson had her first real-life kiss in the movie

The up-and-coming actress had never been kissed before smooching costar Brodie-Sangster.

“It was my first kiss and on-screen kiss, too,” OlsontoldE! Newsin 2016. “I was really nervous because I kind of had a crush on Thomas back in the day and I was also worried because I was taller than him.”

23. The word “actually” is said more than 20 times throughout the movie

IMDb countedthe word was used 22 times inLove Actually— well, 23actually… if you includethe opening monologue.

Paris C.

source: people.com