Keira Knightley admitted in a new interview with the Los Angeles Times that she told Love Actually director Richard Curtis that everything was “pretty scary” while filming the infamous cue card scene with Andrew Lincoln. Knightley was 17 when she filmed the Christmas romance. Both “Love Actually” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” were released in 2003 and made Knightley a global star.

In the “Love Actually” scene, Lincoln’s character unexpectedly shows up at Knightley’s door with clue cards expressing his love for her. The cards say: “Let me say, without any hope or intention, just because it’s Christmas (and at Christmas you tell the truth), you are perfect to me.” The moment is complicated by the fact that Knightley’s husband character (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) is inside. Many viewers now view the moment as stalkerish.

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“The slightly stalkerish aspect of it – I remember that,” Knightley said. “I remember (director) Richard (Curtis), who is now a very dear friend, filming the scene and he said, ‘No, you’re looking at (Lincoln) like he’s scary,’ and I.” I say, “But it Is pretty scary.’ And then I had to do it again to correct my face so he wouldn’t look scary.”

When asked if she felt there was something scary about the scene while filming, Knightley replied: “I mean, there Was A creep factor back then, right? Also, I knew I was 17. It feels like it was only a few years ago that everyone else realized I was 17.”

Curtis himself admitted to The Independent in 2023 that the scene actually reads “a bit strange” all these years later, although he added: “We didn’t think it was a stalker scene.” But if it is (now). is interesting or funny for other reasons, then, you know, God bless our progressive world.”

Hate it or love it, the cue card scene remains one of Knightley’s most memorable film moments. The Oscar nominee recently said on The Graham Norton Show: “I’ve been stuck in traffic for ages lately and a car full of construction workers next to me started holding up signs like in the movies.” It was scary and cute at the same time, exactly like in the movies.”

Visit the Los Angeles Times website to read Knightley’s full interview.

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