'Love Actually' director reveals even more regrets about the film

Love Actually writer and director Richard Curtis has opened up about ways he regrets how certain aspects of the beloved 2003 Christmas romantic comedy were handled.

In a recent podcast interview with London Love Stories, Curtis reflected on his debut film, which featured an iconic ensemble cast including Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, and Emma Thompson.

The filmmaker acknowledged he failed the film on a cultural level by not making it more diverse and inclusive.

He said: "We were meant to have an LGBTQ story [in Love Actually] but it got cut and I feel as though I let myself down there. And the diversity issue is very different now. It would’ve been lovely to make the film more culturally rich. To have had Hanukkah, to have had Diwali in there. So I do think if I did it again it would have a broader spread to it than the film now does."

Earlier this year, he expressed regret over jokes in the script that fat shamed Martine McCutcheon's character. He told The Times: "I remember how shocked I was five years ago when Scarlett said to me, 'You can never use the word "fat" again’… Wow, you were right. In my generation calling someone chubby [was funny] — in Love Actually there were jokes about that. Those jokes aren't any longer funny.”

Addressing his shortcomings with diversity, Curtis said he was "just stupid and wrong" to not make more of an effort to write inclusive roles.

“I wish I'd been ahead of the curve… I think because I came from a very undiverse school and bunch of university friends, I think that I hung on to the feeling that I wouldn't know how to write those parts. I think I was just stupid and wrong about that. I felt as though me, my casting director, my producers just didn't look outwards,” he said.