At Christmas, you tell the truth.
And the truth is Hugh Grant didn’t want to film his iconic dance scene in the 2003 holiday movie Love Actually.
“I think I saw it in the script,” the actor, 62, recalled during The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special, “and I thought, ‘Well I’ll hate doing that.'”
And he did. So much so, in fact, that the movie’s writer and director Richard Curtis shared that Grant “kept saying no” to the scene. Still, it was part of the job.
“He was grumpy,” Curtis remembered of filming that day. “It was a contractual obligation, a bit of a contractual obligation acting.”
So what did he think when the Notting Hill star finally started busting some moves? “I’m thinking, ‘Oh, good he’s doing it,” Curtis continued. “Two, that’s agonizingly embarrassing. He’s just perfect.”
However, Grant thinks his performance doesn’t quite hit the mark. “I’m out of rhythm by the way,” the Four Weddings and a Funeral actor told Diane Sawyer, “especially at the beginning when I wiggle my ass.”
