British charity Comic Relief is getting the Love Actually band back together for a short film that will revisit the characters from Richard Curtis’ 2003 romantic comedy and see what they’re up to in 2017. The short, Red Nose Day Actually, is being made in support of Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day fundraiser, which airs March 24 on BBC One. It also will be broadcast as part of NBC’s Red Nose Day Special on May 25.
Universal Pictures
From an original script by Curtis, the film will reunite Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Martine McCutcheon, Andrew Lincoln, Lucia Moniz, Olivia Olson, Marcus Brigstocke and Rowan Atkinson.
Created by Oscar nominee and Emmy-winning writer-director Curtis, the idea of Red Nose Day was built upon the foundation that mass media and celebrities can help raise money and awareness of poverty to save and change millions of lives.
“Over the years I’ve enjoyed doing Red Nose Day specials of TV things I’ve worked on — Blackadder, The Vicar of Dibley and Mr Bean,” Curtis said. “It seemed like a fun idea this year to do a special sketch based one of my films, since Red Nose Day is now in both the UK and America. I would never have dreamt of writing a sequel to Love Actually, but I thought it might be fun to do 10 minutes to see what everyone is now up to. Who has aged best? I guess that’s the big question … or is it so obviously Liam? We’ve been delighted and grateful that so many of the cast are around and able to take part — and it’ll certainly be a nostalgic moment getting back together and re-creating their characters 14 years later. We hope to make something that’ll be fun — very much in the spirit of the original film and of Red Nose Day — and which we hope will help bring lots of viewers and cash to the Red Nose Day shows.”
The original Love Actually, from Working Title, Studiocanal and Universal, was a holiday hit in 2003, grossing $247M worldwide and scoring a BAFTA for Nighy.
Comic Relief has raised over £1B to help lift kids out of poverty since 1985. The showcase Red Nose Day is also celebrating its third year in the States.
