Director Richard Curtis would have loved to have Diwali in ‘Love Actually’

Mumbai, Dec 16 (IANS) Filmmaker Richard Curtis has been looking back on his 2003 rom-com ‘Love Actually’. He discussed more ways he wished he could improve his film and said that he wished he had included more religions in the film.

The film had a divided fanbase due to lack of diversity, cruel jokes, and stereotyped characters. Curtis himself has noted that the star studded movie failed on a cultural level. He touched upon a storyline that was cut from the film that featured acclaimed actresses Anne Reid and Frances de La Tour.

He said: "We were meant to have an LGBTQ story [in Love Actually] but it got cut and I feel as though I let myself down there. And the diversity issue is very different now. It would’ve been lovely to make the film more culturally rich. To have had Hanukkah, to have had Diwali in there.”

“So I do think if I did it again it would have a broader spread to it than the film now does."

Curtis was a guest on the London Love Stories podcast where he reflected on his film, which was his directorial debut, reports mirror.co.uk.

In axed scenes, 88-year-old actress Anne played a lesbian headmistress that would have interacted with 64-year-old Emma’s character and her family and had a terminally ill partner named Geraldine who was played by 79-year-old Harry Potter actress Frances.

While the scenes were cut from the film, they were released in home media releases of the film.

Earlier this year, Richard said he regretted the fat shaming jokes that he crowbarred into his script. Martine McCutcheon’s character Natalie was the punchline of many jokes about her size and was referred to on-screen as “the chubby one” in the movie’s script.

In October, Richard confessed he had been called out about the unkind words by his own daughter, 28-year-old writer Scarlett Curtis.

The 2003 movie is still by far the most successful film 67-year-old filmmaker has ever directed - and features star packed cast that includes Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightly and Chiwetel Ejiofor, reports mirror.co.uk.

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