Sequels to twenty year old movies have not fared well at the box office. So writer-director Richard Curtis is setting out to have his cake and eat it, too. Instead of giving us a true feature-length follow-up to his 2003 romantic comedy favorite Love Actually, he’s giving fans a new short film sequel that will appease those wanting to know what happened to their favorite characters while not proving to be a box office disaster. Today, we have a poster for this comedy short, which is titled Red Nose Day Actually.
Red Nose Day Actually darn near managed to bring back the entire original cast of Love Actually, giving everyone the true sequel they wanted without any of the blowback of failure. In fact, this was, as the title attests, all done for a good cause. Richard Curtis returned to mastermind this epilogue of sorts to the 2003 rom-com that has become a holiday tradition in many homes across not only this country but around the world.
Love Actually 2 has a runtime of 15 minutes. It gets in and out quick, leaving fans wanting more. The short will have its U.S. premiere during the Red Nose Day 2017 special on NBC, airing May 25. For those not in the know, Red Nose Day is a spin-off of the popular annual HBO special from the 80s, Comic Relief, which had the biggest stand-up comedians of the time gather for one big show in the name of homelessness. Richard Curtis was one of the founding fathers for Comedy Relief.
So far, this organization has raised over a billion dollars to help fight poverty and shine a spotlight on social issues around the world. The new poster arrives courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. And it features the entire main cast reunited for the first time in fourteen years. And those who remember the original poster for Love Actually will see what they did here. It’s quite clever. Richard Curtis had this to say.
“It’s so gorgeous to be able to recreate the poster 14 years later, swapping the snow on the original for Red Noses this time, and with everyone looking only a tiny bit older, apart from Hugh Grant of course.”
You may notice one stinging absentee from the poster this time around. And that is Alan Rickman, who was a member of the core cast for the 2003 original, but passed away in early 2016. Over the past three years, Red Nose Day has become a huge tradition in the U.S. after proving to be quite successful in the U.K. Curtis has extremely high hopes for this year’s telecast, which will have quite a few surprises yet unannounced.
“It’s easy to take part, you can buy a red nose for $1 or get sponsored to do something funny, like impersonate Liam Neeson or wear turtlenecks every day for a week. And people can still enter our Love Actually Omaze sweepstake for a chance to be flown to London for a hug from Andrew Lincoln and have tea with Keira Knightley.”
Before the Red Nose Day festivities kick off on NBC, fans will be treated to a new Ninja Warriors celebrity special, followed by Julia Roberts running wild on Bear Grylls. It isn’t known at what time Love Actually 2 will premiere, but it will be sometime after host Chris Hardwick kicks off the proceedings at 10pm. Curtis says it was ‘delightful to revisit the characters from Love Actually and see the cast’ but claims it’s even more special because this entire effort will all help raise extra money for those in need on Red Nose Day.
