Movies - TV
One Love Actually Scene Was Especially Frustrating For Alan Rickman
By BEN F. SILVERIO
It’s difficult not to think about the late, great Alan Rickman during the winter season, as he stars in two fan-favorite Christmas staples: “Die Hard” and “Love Actually.” In honor of the latter’s 20th anniversary, ABC News put together a special titled “The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later,” which revealed one scene that Rickman found particularly grating.
In “Love Actually,” Rickman plays Harry, a husband and father working at a design agency, who is enticed by the flirtations of his secretary Mia. While Christmas shopping with his wife, Harry sneaks away to buy Mia a gift, but his disloyal efforts are thwarted by store clerk Rufus’ (Rowan Atkinson) elaborate but aggravatingly slow gift-wrapping process.
Writer-director Richard Curtis divulged that Harry’s annoyance with Rufus mirrored the actor’s real-life feelings for his scene partner, as Rickman didn’t find Atkinson’s drawing out of the scene amusing. “Rowan was just taking his time, so he would do 11-minute takes. [He would say], ‘Let’s go back and do that. Let’s start again,’” said Curtis. “And poor Alan was there all the time going, ‘Grr, ugh.’”