Love Actually Originally Had a Lesbian Couple or: How I Never Watched Love Actually’s DVD Extras

LoveActually

I’m one of those people who adores Love Actually so you can imagine my confusion when I learned a lesbian couple were cut from the film and said information was included in the DVD extras. Which I apparently never bothered to watch.

Love it or hate it, it’s “Love Actually Season” once again and articles and lists about the film are starting to pop up. Every once in a while though, a bit of trivia pops up and takes the world by storm even though it’s been easily accessible knowledge for over ten years and other people have probably written about it several times over.

Case in point, Buzzfeed. They’ve posted today about a DVD extra from Love Actually which reveals writer/director Richard Curtis originally had a small portion of the film set aside for a same-sex couple. It would have been lovely had it been included since the film is extremely lacking in the diversity area but for reasons he explains in the preamble, he cut their very brief part.

Being such a big fan of the film I still can’t believe I never got around to watching the DVD extras. Like many regular editions they were certainly light enough with just commentary, a few deleted scenes, a feature on the soundtrack, and a music video from Kelly Clarkson.

Of the clip Curtis says, “You realize that no matter how unlikely it seems, that any character you come across in life has their own complicated tale of love,” which may be the best argument for equality I’ve ever heard. But I digress, here’s the scene (which was uploaded to YouTube in 2009). It features Anne Reid (Hot Fuzz, Doctor Who) and Frances de la Tour (aka Harry Potter’s Madame Olympe Maxime). Enjoy!




One Response to “Love Actually Originally Had a Lesbian Couple or: How I Never Watched Love Actually’s DVD Extras”

  1. I had a fanedit which stuck this scene into the movie along with all of the others and I didn’t realize until just now that it’s the only version I’ve seen all the way through. So, I didn’t even know this had been deleted. Alas.