‘Love Actually’ Director Says His Fat-Shaming Jokes Are ‘No Longer Funny’ 

Love Truly director Richard Curtis is expressing his regrets in regards to the movie’s a number of body-shaming jokes. 

“I bear in mind how shocked I used to be, like, 5 years in the past when [my daughter] Scarlett stated to me, ‘You possibly can by no means use the phrase ‘fats’ once more,’” Curtis, 66, just lately recalled whereas being interviewed by his daughter, 28, on the U.Ok.’s Instances and Sunday Instances Cheltenham Literature Competition. “And wow, you had been proper.” 

Curtis famous that whereas he by no means meant to be “malicious” in his intent, he was admittedly “behind the curve,” explaining that these jokes aren’t any “longer humorous.” 

“I feel I used to be unobservant and never as intelligent as I ought to have been,” he added. 

Within the 2003 vacation movie, which follows 9 intertwined tales that study the complexities of affection, Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) is the romantic curiosity of Hugh Grant’s Prime Minister David. All through the film, Natalie is consistently shamed for her physique sort, being known as “plumpy” by her father and informed she has “large thighs” by a fellow coworker. Throughout one in every of Love Truly’s most pivotal — and romantic — scenes, she’s even informed she weighs “lots” by David after leaping into his arms on the airport. 

Love Truly isn’t the one movie of Curtis’ with controversial selections. When requested why his 1999 rom-com Notting Hill — starring Julia Roberts and Grant, 63 – solid so many white males, the director admitted he was “kind of flawed and silly about that.” 

“I want I’d been forward of the curve,” he continued. “As a result of I got here from a really undiverse faculty and bunch of college mates, I feel that I’ve held on, on the variety problem, to the sensation that I wouldn’t know tips on how to write these components.”

Love Truly additionally featured a “lack of range” Curtis has commented on, sharing his regrets throughout a November 2022 interview with ABC Information. “There are stuff you’d change however, thank God, society is altering, so my movie is sure, in some moments, to really feel old-fashioned,” he informed Diane Sawyer on the time. 

With reference to Bridget Jones’ Diary, which premiered in 2001, Curtis has confronted scrutiny over the give attention to star Renée Zelleweger’s weight. The actress reportedly gained 30 kilos for the function, together with her character being consistently involved together with her physique picture. 

Following the movie’s launch, Zellweger, 54, mirrored on the general public’s obsession together with her physique measurement. 

“The query that I’ve been requested essentially the most, are you able to guess? ‘How did you lose that weight?’ Zellweger revealed in a just lately resurfaced interview clip. “However the factor is, it saddens me a lot as a result of it appears to suggest that a technique of being is suitable and the opposite means is invaluable and I don’t wish to reply the questions, as a result of it comes with a specific amount of [applause].” 

The Oscar winner added that she was informed whereas filming the film that her character was voted “essentially the most horny persona” on display in England. “I believed ‘Wow, that proper there utterly nullifies the notion that you simply’re imagined to be a measurement zero to be able to be thought-about enticing, don’t you assume?’” she quipped. 

Trying again on the function in 2016, Zellweger informed British Vogue that she stays mystified over why individuals cared a lot about Bridget Jones’ determine: “She’s a wonderfully regular weight and I’ve by no means understood why it issues a lot,” she stated.