Richard Curtis has commented on criticism steadily levelled at his work, from Notting Hill to Love Actually, reflecting on how his worldview could have led to oversights in his writing.
For all of Richard Curtis’ success within the romcom style, it must be mentioned that components of his scripts have aged badly. Not a Christmas goes by, for instance, with out copious articles and movies printed which decide aside the questionable ethics and gender stereotyping in Love Actually.
Speaking on the Cheltenham Literary Festival, the place he was in dialog together with his daughter Scarlett, a feminist activist, writer and podcaster, Curtis was questioned concerning the remedy of ladies and the dearth of variety in his movies, particularly Notting Hill.
The director mentioned that, “I believe I used to be unobservant and never as intelligent as I ought to have been”. On the dearth of variety, he commented, “I believe as a result of I got here from a really un-diverse college and bunch of college pals, I believe that I held on to the sensation that I wouldn’t know easy methods to write these components. I believe I used to be simply silly and incorrect about that. I felt as if me, my casting director, my producers simply didn’t look outwards”.
Podcast | Bad Santa (2003) and Love Actually (2003)
Curtis then recalled, “how shocked I used to be 5 years in the past when Scarlett mentioned to me, ‘You can by no means use the phrase ‘fats’ once more’. And, wow, you have been proper. In my era, calling somebody ‘chubby’ […] in Love Actually, there are countless jokes about that. I believe I used to be behind the curve and people jokes aren’t any longer humorous”.
The variety controversy raised its head final 12 months, when comic Omid Djalili claimed he was lower from Notting Hill for being, in his phrases, “too brown”.
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