Richard Curtis: “It’s a pretty open secret that when three of us had the final vote for who should play the lead in Four Weddings and a Funeral, I was out-voted. I wanted Alan Rickman. Hugh Grant got the part. My reasoning was that Hugh was a bit too handsome and annoying, but mainly I voted for Alan because I’d so loved him in a film called Close My Eyes. In the years that followed Four Weddings, with each new film Alan did, from Sense and Sensibility to An Awfully Big Adventure to Galaxy Quest, I kept seeing reasons why I might have been right. He had such a wonderful softness and depth next to his stern, scarier side. And a great sense of comedy. But I did also always think he was a bit out of my league, so it was such a thrill when he agreed to be in Love Actually 10 years later. I thought he was wonderful in the film, and a huge part of the power of Emma Thompson weeping to Joni Mitchell in the bedroom is because Alan has been so believable; a million miles from the cliched cad the character could have been. He’s extraordinary in the scene where Emma faces him with what he’s done. He made it easy for me during the filming – it was my first film as director – and I was surprised by how friendly he was, and unsurprised by how pitch-perfect his performance was. I’m sure Alan wouldn’t mind me talking about the only tricky night we had. It was the scene where Rowan Atkinson is wrapping a present for him in a department store, very slowly. First we shot Alan, who did his work swiftly and exquisitely. Then we turned the camera on Rowan. Rowan, being a close friend of mine and having about 10 different stages to remember, took his time, often stopped and chatted with me in the middle of takes, us keeping the camera running while he worked out what to do with rosebuds and sticks of lavender, breaking out of character, practising. I’ll never forget Alan’s agony as, total professional that he was, he kept up his supportive and nervous performance for 12 minute takes, never dropping out of character for a moment as we chatted and dithered. He described it as one of the worst nights of his life. It is heart-breaking how many wonderful years and wonderful performances of his we’ve missed.” (‘The Guardian’, January 2026)