50 Fun Facts About Love Actually

Love Actually was the directorial debut of which screenwriter?

He had already written two Working Title hits for other directors before stepping behind the camera himself.

Which actor plays David, the newly elected Prime Minister?

His character reflects on the arrivals gate at the very start of the film, before any of the storylines begin.

The film opens and closes with scenes at which London airport?

The opening voiceover recalls scenes of affection at the arrivals gate there, and a month after Christmas the stories converge in the same place.

Billy Mack's novelty Christmas single is a reworked version of which song?

The Troggs original had already been given a second life by a Wet Wet Wet cover that spent 15 weeks at UK number one in 1994.

How does Mark silently confess his feelings to Juliet at her front door?

He pretends to be carol singers so her husband Peter, his best friend, will not come to the door.

Jamie's housekeeper Aurélia speaks only which language?

The pair fall for each other while unable to understand a word the other says, and each secretly learns the other's language.

Sam decides to win Joanna's attention by learning which instrument for the school concert?

He picks the one instrument that will get him on stage behind her while she sings the closing number.

Which comic actor plays Rufus, the maddeningly thorough jewellery salesman?

In an earlier draft the character was an angel, which explains why he keeps turning up at exactly the right moment.

Jamie discovers that his girlfriend is having an affair with whom?

The betrayal is what sends him off to the cottage in France, where the film's most tender storyline begins.

Karen is devastated when she finds evidence that Harry bought Mia what?

She had discovered the box in his coat pocket and assumed it was for her.

Which actor plays Daniel, the recently widowed stepfather?

A year later he reunited with his co-star Laura Linney, who plays Sarah, in the biopic Kinsey.

Who plays Harry, the design-firm boss married to Karen?

His seething, exasperated reaction while waiting for the gift to be wrapped was reportedly not entirely acting.

Which actress plays Juliet, the bride whose wedding opens the film?

Curtis's daughter Scarlett agreed to appear in the film on the condition that she got to meet her.

Which real-life TV presenting duo appear as themselves interviewing Billy Mack?

Billy pointedly addresses one of them as 'Ant or Dec', a running gag about people confusing the pair.

Curtis's original concept for the film contained how many separate storylines?

Four were cut, two of them after they had already been filmed.

Billy Mack's music video is a shot-for-shot tribute to which 1986 Robert Palmer video?

The pouting, identically dressed backing 'band' of models is the giveaway.

In the US cut, which singer's 'The Trouble with Love Is' replaces a Sugababes track?

The UK and US versions of the film also swap the second song of the end-credit roll.

Which girl group's cover of 'Jump (For My Love)' plays over the UK end credits?

The US soundtrack album swapped it out for the Pointer Sisters original.

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film what average grade?

Critics were more split: the Rotten Tomatoes consensus called it 'a sugary tale overstuffed with too many stories'.

Where were the scenes set inside 10 Downing Street actually filmed?

Almost everything else was shot on location around London, from Somerset House to the Millennium Bridge.

The opening wedding was filmed in which Mayfair church?

The surprise brass band and choir hidden among the congregation burst into 'All You Need Is Love' there.

In a cut storyline, Anne Reid's headmistress went home to her terminally ill partner, played by whom?

It was the film's only gay love story, and Curtis said he regretted losing it.

Curtis cast his own mother-in-law, Jill Freud, in which small role?

Casting family ran in both directions: his daughter Scarlett also appears in the school show.

Colin's search for American women takes him to a bar in which city?

He walks in out of the snow and is immediately adopted by three women who adore his accent.

When Jamie proposes, Aurélia reveals she has secretly been learning what?

Her reply, 'just in cases', is one of the film's most quoted lines.

After searching her street door-to-door, David finally reunites with Natalie where?

Their kiss is accidentally revealed to the whole audience when the curtain lifts.

Joanna brings the house down at the school concert singing which song?

Ten-year-old Olivia Olson sang it so well the filmmakers added audible breaths so audiences would believe it was really her.

Who composed the film's orchestral score, including 'Glasgow Love Theme' and 'PM's Love Theme'?

The Scottish composer had already scored Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet for Baz Luhrmann.

The soundtrack album peaked at what position on the UK Albums Chart?

By Christmas 2018 it had racked up 348 weeks on the chart, roughly six and a half years in total.

Which French screen legend appears uncredited, entering a taxi at Marseille Airport?

The star of Jules et Jim shares her fleeting scene with Colin Firth's Jamie as he lands in France.

Who plays the swaggering visiting US President?

The same year he played a foul-mouthed mall Santa in Bad Santa, cementing his run of holiday-season villains.

Sarah's colleague Karl is played by which Brazilian actor?

Three years later he was almost unrecognisable as the towering, pierced Persian king Xerxes in 300.

Harry's flirtatious secretary Mia is played by an actress from which country?

Heike Makatsch had recently played Lisa Addison in the first Resident Evil film.

Before playing Natalie, Martine McCutcheon was famous as Tiffany Mitchell in which soap?

The film earned her the Empire Award for Best Newcomer, but a hoped-for Hollywood career never materialised.

Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Olivia Olson reunited voicing Vanessa and her love interest in which series?

Olson said the two of them joked about 'the whole Ferb-Vanessa situation' given their Love Actually history.

The actress who plays Aurélia had represented her country at which event in 1996?

Lúcia Moniz finished sixth with 'O meu coração não tem cor', still one of her country's best results.

Curtis told casting director Mary Selway to find an unexpected actor for Billy Mack; whom did she suggest?

The role turned a respected stage actor into an international star at 53.

Which actor auditioned for the role of Sam, reading scenes with Grant and Curtis?

He would later star in The Favourite and Conversations with Friends, and be name-checked in a great many Taylor Swift songs.

Curtis has said the film's sprawling multi-character structure owes a debt to which Robert Altman film?

He has called it his favourite film; Pulp Fiction was another influence on the ensemble approach.

Colin's chat-up of the wedding caterer was first drafted for which earlier Curtis film?

Curtis had a habit of recycling: even the Billy Mack song was a hit from that same film's soundtrack.

In 2014 Curtis described which part of making the film as a 'catastrophe'?

The film was rushed to be ready for Christmas 2003, a process he compared to three-dimensional chess.

Roughly how much did the film gross worldwide?

It spent its first five weeks in the US box-office top ten and made more in the UK alone than in North America.

The reunion short Red Nose Day Actually was first broadcast in which year?

It aired on BBC One as part of Comic Relief's fundraising night, with a slightly different US version on NBC two months later.

In Red Nose Day Actually, Mark introduces his new wife, played by which supermodel?

It pays off a throwaway joke from the original film, in which he claimed he was going to marry her.

In the sequel short, Billy Mack's charity single is a cover of which ZZ Top song?

He admits on air he is only doing it for publicity for an autobiography he has neither written nor read.

In Red Nose Day Actually, David dances through Downing Street again, this time to which song?

He keeps going even after falling down the stairs, and his wife Natalie offers to make him a cup of tea.

Which actor plays Sarah's husband in the US Red Nose Day Actually's added happy ending?

He tells her he loves the way she always answers her phone, a callback to the calls that wrecked her romance with Karl.

In the US cut of the sequel, Rufus's shop is relocated to Midtown Manhattan as a branch of which chain?

The scenes were reshot with the child customer speaking in an American accent and prices quoted in dollars.

Which cast member was cut from the sequel because 'we can't write anything for you because of Alan'?

Both agreed a Karen storyline without her on-screen husband, who had died the previous year, would be too sad.

Curtis's daughter Scarlett was offered the choice of playing an angel or what in a school show?

She took the crustacean part, so the film's much-mocked nativity 'Lobster number 2' is a Curtis.