Keira Knightley recently shared with the Los Angeles Times that she found the iconic cue card scene from Love Actually “quite creepy” while filming it at the age of 17. Directed by Richard Curtis, the Christmas rom-com became a cultural touchstone after its release in 2003, the same year Knightley’s breakout role in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl turned her into a global star.
The scene in question involves Andrew Lincoln’s character arriving unannounced at Knightley’s door with a series of cue cards confessing his unspoken love for her. One reads: “Let me say, without any hope or agenda, just because it’s Christmas (and at Christmas you tell the truth) to me you are perfect.” The scene unfolds while Knightley’s character’s husband (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) is inside, adding an awkward tension. Over the years, some viewers have reevaluated the moment, calling it “stalker-ish.”
Reflecting on the filming process, Knightley said, “The slightly stalker-ish aspect of it — I do remember that. My memory is of [director] Richard [Curtis], who is now a very dear friend, of me doing the scene and him going, ‘No, you’re looking at [Lincoln] like he’s creepy,’ and I’m like, ‘But it is quite creepy.’ And then having to redo it to fix my face to make him seem not creepy.”
When asked if she recognized the “creep factor” at the time, Knightley admitted: “I mean, there was a creep factor at the time, right? Also, I knew I was 17. It only seems like a few years ago that everybody else realized I was 17.”
Richard Curtis also addressed the scene’s divisive reception in a 2023 interview with The Independent. He acknowledged that the moment now “reads a bit weird,” but explained, “We didn’t think it was a stalker scene. But if it’s interesting or funny for different reasons [now], then, you know, God bless our progressive world.”
Despite the controversy, the cue card scene remains one of Knightley’s most memorable moments in her career. On The Graham Norton Show, she recalled a humorous encounter inspired by the film: “I was stuck in traffic for ages recently, and a car full of builders next to me started holding up the signs like in the movie. It was creepy and sweet at the same time, much like it was in the film.”
