‘Love Actually’: Fan Favorite Hugh Grant’s Dance Scene Was the Actor’s Most Hated Moment
Among the most beloved holiday movies of all time, Love Actually features an unbelievable cast with relatable storylines. Whether heartbroken or falling in love, young, old, married, single, man, woman, boy, or girl, there is likely a scene in Love Actually that will make you laugh, cry, blush, or recoil.
One scene, however, made actor Hugh Grant cringe in the movie: the film’s iconic dance number.
The reason ‘Love Actually’ is on every list of best Christmas movies
Set in modern-day London, Love Actually follows eight vastly different couples. Grant plays the country’s new Prime Minister, who finds himself in love with his assistant. His sister, Karen (Emma Thompson), is married to Harry (played by Alan Rickman), who is boss to the ill-fated lovebirds Sarah (Laura Linney) and Karl.
After discovering Harry’s infidelity, Karen spends the film mourning the loss of her marriage while also trying to support her friend, the recently widowed Daniel (Liam Neeson). He is trying to support his stepson, the puppy-love-struck Sam (Game of Thrones’ Thomas Brodie-Sangster).
Similar to Karen, Colin Firth’s Jamie is also cheated on, but while Karen discovers she may be better off alone, Jamie falls in love with the young and beautiful Aurelia.
Meanwhile, Juliet (Kiera Knightly) has just wed Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) when she discovers Peter’s best friend Mark is in love with her; John (Martin Freeman) and Judy are bananas for each other, and Colin Frissel journeys to America to find love. And, through it all, Bill Nighy’s aging rocker Billy Mack finds no salve better for his lonely life than the companionship of his long-time manager.
It’s a mess (anyone needing a flow chart can find a comprehensive one at lemonly), but that’s the point. Life is messy, even at Christmas. Despite the chaos, the film unfolds like a symphony, giving hope to those going through the best and worst times.
Hugh Grant hated making one of the most iconic scenes from ‘Love Actually’
Largely considered the film he is now best known for, Love Actually sees Grant at his best. As the charming and handsome Prime Minister, Grant’s wooing of his beautiful assistant, Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), is nothing short of rom-com perfection, with Grant as Prince Charming and Natalie as a curse-word-slinging, hourglass-figured Cinderella.
But during ABC’s retrospective special, The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later, Grant revealed that his character’s most iconic scene was the actor’s most dreaded. When asked about the Prime Minister’s dance scene to The Pointer’s Sisters’ song, “Jump” Grant said, “I saw it in the script, and I thought, ‘Well, I’ll hate doing that’” (via Variety).
Love Actually’s writer-director, Richard Curtis, confirmed Grant’s misery, saying the actor delayed the scene as long as possible and was “grumpy” when the day finally came to shoot it. Furthermore, Curtis joked that Grant’s performance was “agonizingly embarrassing” yet “just perfect.”
Grant, however, points out that, while he agrees with those who think the scene is “the most excruciating scene ever committed to celluloid,” the actor was responsible for the “genius” moment in the end when the dance is interrupted.
Hugh Grant’s projects since ‘Love Actually’
Already a huge star when he appeared in Love Actually, Grant has continued his career with great success.
Shortly after Love Actually, Grant reprised his role as another of his most famous heartthrobs, Daniel Cleaver, in the final installment of the Bridget Jones franchise, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. He then starred opposite Drew Barrymore in 2007’s Music and Lyrics and played Waverly in 2015’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Grant starred in A Very English Scandal, The Gentlemen, and HBO’s The Undoing with Nicole Kidman in recent years. This holiday season, fans can see Grant in a less-holiday-themed, but likely no less enjoyable film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
