It’s one of the most popular Christmas movies of all time, but Actually love Didn’t exactly warm Hugh Grant’s heart when he first saw it.

The British actor played the role of British Prime Minister “David” in Richard Curtis’ 2003 festive romantic comedy alongside Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Keira Knightly, Martine McCutcheon, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman and Billy Nighy.

The film follows 10 different stories that portray love in different ways, with many of the characters interconnecting as the plot unfolds in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

In a 20th anniversary special that aired in 2002, Thompson, who has worked with Grant several times, revealed how he reacted after the cast saw the finished version.

“Hugh came up behind me as we walked out and said, ‘Is this the most psychotic thing we’ve ever experienced?'” she recalls.

A sheepish-looking Grant then asked: “Did I say that?”

In the end, during the interview, he repeated his first judgment and called Actually love “a bit psychotic” and “Richard (Curtis) on steroids”.

“But the thing about him is, you have to remember that when he writes about love, he’s serious,” Grant added. “And that’s pretty rare.”

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In the film, Grant’s character David falls in love with Downing Street employee Natalie, played by the former EastEnders Star McCutcheon.

The Paddington 2 The actor described filming an infamous scene in which David dances for number 10 to the Pointer Sisters’ hit Jump (For My Love) as “absolute hell”.

“There was this dance being written and I thought, ‘This is going to be unbearable and it has the power to be the most unbearable scene ever put on celluloid,'” he recalls.

“I was definitely nervous about filming it, and Richard (Curtis) kept saying, ‘Don’t think we’d better rehearse the dance scene,’ and I said, ‘Uh yeah, I just need to learn a few lines.’ …’ “My ankle hurts today.” So there was never any rehearsal.”

He continued: “Imagine you’re a grumpy 40-year-old English guy, it’s seven in the morning, you’re stone cold sober and you think, ‘Okay Hugh, if you just want to freak out now.’ It was absolute hell .”

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Meanwhile, his co-star Firth recalled making “a terrible fuss” about the scene, but confirmed: “It thrilled everyone and I think for a lot of people it’s the highlight of the film.”

In the same 20th anniversary special, when asked if there were parts of the film that made him “cringe,” Curtis replied, “There are things you would change, but thank God society changes.”

“My film inevitably feels dated in some moments. The lack of diversity makes me uncomfortable and a bit stupid.”

He added that the love he sees in people in real life makes him “wish my film was better.”

“I wish I had made a documentary just to observe it, so to speak,” he said.

Curtis recently released a new festive film, This Christmas, an animated feature film featuring the voices of Nighy, Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Guz Khan and Jodie Whittaker.