Despite the fact Keira Knightley stars in one of the most definitive romantic movies of the 2000s, Love Actually, she doesn’t actually know why people love the Christmas-oriented movie. In fact, when asked about it during a recent interview, she deferred, explaining that, yes, she’s only seen Love Actually the one time.
I have no idea. I’ve actually only seen it once, at the premiere. So I’m not the person to ask.
Speaking to the Toronto Sun, the actress admitted she hadn’t seen Love Actually since the premiere, which happened all the way back in 2003, when Keira Knightley was still a fresh-faced 18-year-old in Hollywood. Of course at that point, Knightley had already been acting since she was a young woman in the nineties and her role in Love Actually came the same year that she first portrayed Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. So it wouldn't be a shock if that's the movie from 2003 that really sticks in her mind.
However, clearly Keira Knightley is still asked about Love Actually on a semi-regular basis. The actress spoke out around this time last year about filming the movie as a teenager and why it was actually “horrible.” She said at the time her acne breakouts were bad and that’s why she had to where that big, black hat in one memorable scene.
Fans have fond memories of Love Actually thanks to that iconic scene actually involving Kiera Knightley in which Andrew Lincoln (of The Walking Dead fame) describes her as “perfect.” (Lincoln himself has called his character “a stalker.”) I also feel it's popular simply because of all of its interwoven stories acted expertly by its incredibly well-thought-of cast, not to mention its Christmas theme. However, Kiera Knightley is simply not in that boat with the rest of us.
She also talked about how surprised she is about Love Actually’s trajectory, given it seems to be more popular now than it was back in 2003, also noting that her North American fans really are the ones who are more obsessed.
It’s extraordinary the life of that film, because when it came out it didn’t actually do that well. It particularly didn’t do that well in North America. It wasn’t until four or five years after it came out that it started to get to be this Christmas thing. I mean, it’s big everywhere, but it’s weirdly now bigger in North America than it is (in England).
At the end of the day, Love Actually is still popular all these years later and has become a movie that gets brought up in interviews to the likes of Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson and, yes, Keira Knightley.
Related: Why Emma Thompson’s Love Actually Breakdown Was So Real
Even if she hasn’t seen the flick in 15+ years, questions about it probably aren't going to go away anytime soon. She’ll just have to wait it out until another romantic ensemble classic comes fans way and they forget about Love Actually (which might be a pipe dream). For now, if you want to stream Love Actually, you can catch it on HBO Go and Now.
