Hugh Grant recalls his hatred of learning the Love Actually dance: "It was hell"

29 November 2022, 13:54 | Updated: 23 December 2022, 14:45

By Hannah Lovejoy

@HanLovejoy

Love Actually is a cult Christmas film for many and one of the most memorable scenes is Hugh Grant’s awkward Prime Minister dance.

Hugh Grant has been vocal about his struggle with the scene and has described the iconic Love Actually moment as “excruciating”.

The British actor recalled his experience during a television special titled Hugh Grant: A Life on Screen - the show is set to air in the coming weeks.

“I thought, that’s going to be excruciating, and it has the power to be the most excruciating scene ever committed to celluloid,” Hugh explained via Variety.

• Love Actually star Keira Knightley says she knows who Juliet really chose
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Hugh Grant's hilarious dance scene in the movie "Love, Actually"

Colin Firth also weighed in on Hugh’s displeasure of the Downing Street dance scene. Colin mentioned that he remembers Hugh making a “terrible fuss” while on set.

“I do remember him making a terrible fuss about the dance,” Colin said.

Love Actually’s writer and director Richard Curtis added that Hugh kept making excuses during each day of filming to delay shooting the iconic dancing prime minister scene.

Hugh had a long list of things that stopped him from filming - these include a fake ankle injury and making claims that he needed extra time to learn his lines.

Love Actually - trailer

The delays were so frequent that Hugh didn’t record his Love Actually dance until the final day of production.

Speaking of the scene, Hugh referred to himself as “grumpy” and described filming the scene as “absolute hell”.

Hugh explained: “Imagine you’re a grumpy 40-year-old Englishman, it’s 7 o’clock in the morning and you’re stone-cold sober…it’s absolute hell.”

Love Actually is a favourite holiday movie for many and Hugh isn’t the only cast member to speak about their time on the film. Keira Knightley confirmed that she knows where her character Juliet ended up.