Filmmaker Richard Curtis has found his various films like “Love Actually,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “Notting Hill” coming under fire in recent years for being dated and lacking diversity.
This month he appeared at the Cheltenham Literature Festival where he was interviewed by his daughter Scarlett Curtis. During the chat, she asked him straight up about the increased criticism that his films had recently received regarding their treatment of women and people of color.
She pointed out a noticeable lack of people of color in “Notting Hill,” despite it being one of the birthplaces of the British black civil rights movement. She also took him to task for multiple accounts of inappropriate boss behavior in the films, and the overall negative commentary on women’s bodies.
He responded, via The Times, indicating that short-sightedness and upbringing were to blame for the lack of diversity in his work:
“I came from a very un-diverse school and a bunch of university friends. [With] ‘Notting Hill,’ I think that I hung on to the diversity issue, to the feeling that I wouldn’t know how to write those parts. And I think I was just sort of stupid and wrong about that. I feel as though me, my casting director, my producers just didn’t think about it, just didn’t look outwards enough.”
“Love Actually” in particular has been slammed for fat-shaming with a junior staff member for the Prime Minister character named Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) mocked for her weight throughout the film. Curtis says:
“I remember how shocked I was like five years ago when Scarlett said to me, ‘You can never use the word ‘fat’ again. And wow, [she was] right. I think I was behind the curve, and those jokes aren’t any longer funny, so I don’t feel I was malicious at the time, but I think I was unobservant and not as clever as I should have been.”
He defended himself on one front, saying “Four Weddings and a Funeral” did include a (barely hinted at) gay romance and Simon Callow played a gay character throughout which was still rare at the time.
His daughter rebutted by noting that the character is still a tragic one (he’s the one who ends up in the casket at the ‘funeral’). “Love Actually” is now available to stream on Netflix.
Source: Today
