Richard Curtis Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has signed a first-look deal with London and LA-based Locksmith Animation to develop and produce animated features for worldwide distribution.

Richard Curtis I remember once watching an episode of “Game of Thrones” and thinking to myself: “My brother-in-law is right. My films are pathetic.” “Game of Thrones” have deadly dragons, I’ve got lukewarm cups of tea. They’ve got epic battles, I’ve got people being slightly off with each other. At the end of my films two people kiss – at the end of their episodes they cut each other’s heads off. So imagine my surprise and delight when I found myself on the phone to two of the stars of the show themselves: Kit Harington and Rose Leslie (who played Jon Snow and Ygritte). It wasn’t, alas, to talk them into appearing in “Notting Hill Apocalypse” or something juicy that would turn my career around. But on the other hand, it was about the gravest threat facing us all – not the Night King, but climate change.

in. Sam Fell, director of Laika’s incredible “ParaNorman” and a longtime Aardman vet, directs this time around.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Marc Maron has joined the cast of Universal’s untitled New York Christmas movie, written by Richard Curtis, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill” and “Love Actually.” Maron is starring alongside Melissa McCarthy and Paapa Essiedu in the film, a fairy-tale comedy about a workaholic man who enlists the help of a magical genie to help win his family back before Christmas. Sam Boyd, who wrote and created the Anna Kendrick-led HBO Max series “Love Life,” will direct. It’s set to premiere on the NBCUniversal-owned streaming service Peacock on a yet-to-be-determined date.

Naman Ramachandran Make My Money Matter, a campaign group founded by filmmaker and activist Richard Curtis (“Love Actually”), has launched a new short film starring “Game of Thrones” stars and real life couple Kit Harington and Rose Leslie, in a bid to increase pressure on U.K. high street banks to cease financing the expansion of the fossil fuel industry. The film, titled “Couples Therapy,” showcases how major banks continue to finance the industry, despite warnings from the International Energy Agency that doing so could trigger a climate catastrophe. In the film, Harington and Leslie personify the banks and their oil and gas clients, playing out an unhealthy relationship in a tongue-in-cheek couples’ therapy session.

Blackadder star Tony Robinson has teased a potential reunion to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the legendary show.The much-loved historical sitcom, which starred co-creator Rowan Atkinson alongside Robinson throughout, was last produced in 1999 for the film special Blackadder: Back & Forth. That followed just over a decade on from the last full season of the show, 1989’s Blackadder Goes Forth.Last month, Robinson reprised his role as Baldrick from the show for a Comic Relief special, though Atkinson wasn’t present.Rumours swirled of a fifth season of the show in 2019, and Robinson has now addressed the potential of new episodes.Speaking on Lorraine today (April 10), Robinson was asked about a potential reunion, replying: “All I’m gonna say is, everybody likes to celebrate a 40th anniversary, don’t they?“So there must be some fresh way we can celebrate our 40th birthday, wouldn’t you think?”In 2021, Robinson said that a reunion was “not on the horizon,” telling The Independent: “A lot of [the reason for the interest of a reunion] is because it has been incorporated into the curriculum,” Robinson explained.

Melissa McCarthy is going all out with her wardrobe for her upcoming movie, Bernard and the Genie!

Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day is back tonight, with a host of famous coming together to raise funds for some vital causes. The latest edition of the annual telethon will see Joel Dommett take on host duties as some of the biggest names in entertainment make viewers laugh while supporting those in need.

EXCLUSIVE: The Red Nose Day showrunner has urged crew on the iconic BBC charity telethon to “make a fuss” about misconduct as part of BBC Studios’ efforts to pre-empt inappropriate behavior on its shows.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Non-Londoners might think of the U.K. capital as a single city, the perceived interchangeability of its regions and locations evident in many a notionally London-set but geographically manic film where characters stroll from Chelsea Bridge to the heart of Soho in a matter of minutes. Residents know that its quadrants are so disparate as to be whole separate ecosystems, with the Thames River that separates north from south London a virtual equator running through the city. Those who have toured the Big Smoke via the movies — in particular, the idealized, exportable London of Working Title trifles and “Paddington” pictures — are largely familiar with the most leafy, genteel streets of the north and west, with the increasingly bourgeois east lately getting a look-in. But the diverse, dynamic neighborhoods of the south have received less than their due on screen, which is where Raine Allen-Miller’s delightful romantic comedy “Rye Lane” aims to set things right.

Nearly 30 years after the release of Four Weddings And A Funeral, Hugh Grant and his former co-star Andie MacDowell reunited at the Oscars 2023 when they presented the award for best production design. Hugh, 62, and Andie, 65, famously worked together in Richard Curtis’s 1994 romantic comedy three decades ago as Charles and Carrie.

Naman Ramachandran For a solid decade, the U.K. contributed some of the most iconic floppy-haired lotharios, airport dashes and front-door confessions in romcom history. Films such as “Four Weddings and a Funeral” (1994), “Notting Hill” (1999) and “Love Actually” (2003) basically invented such hallmarks of the genre. But in the last decade, the global-facing British romcom has all but disappeared from cinemas. Richard Curtis, the brains behind the aforementioned hits as well as the “Bridget Jones” adaptations, says the heavy lifting keeping romcoms alive has largely been carried out in the television ranks. The writer cites examples such as the BBC’s “Gavin & Stacey” and “Fleabag” and Channel 4’s “Catastrophe” as “blazing examples.”

Blackadder will be returning for a Comic Relief special this year – although lead star Rowan Atkinson will not be involved.Curtis, who created the iconic sitcom alongside Atkinson in the 1980s, shared the news during an appearance on BBC Radio 2 Breakfast show this morning (February 14).Admitting that he was “nervous” to make the announcement, the writer confirmed that new sketch will see Tony Robinson reprise his role as Baldrick.“For the first time in 20 years, Baldrick is going to be giving some kind of performance,” he said. “We’re just conspiring about it now, so I think there’s going to be a marvellous, turnip-based thing with Tony Robinson now back in action, so I’m excited about that.”Asked if Atkinson would also feature in the special, Curtis replied: “No,Rowan’s far too serious to do any of that!”Last year, Ben Elton, who wrote Blackadders seasons two, three and four, ruled out the possibility of a fully-fledged return, telling Radio Times magazine that he didn’t have an “appetite” to create further seasons of the sitcom.“We were a great team and I’ve talked so many times about doing something else.

Blackadder is set to return to our screens after a 20-year hiatus Richard Curtis has confirmed.

EXCLUSIVE: Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You) is set to star opposite Melissa McCarthy in the untitled New York Christmas movie from Universal and Working Title that we were first to report on.

EXCLUSIVE: The talent agency scene in the UK has been the talk of the town since UTA snapped up Curtis Brown Group last year.

EXCLUSIVE: Usually content to let their logo on the front end of films speak for them, Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner spoke to Deadline in a prolific moment and a series of anniversaries that go beyond the 20th for their holiday classic Love Actually. They reached 30 years together at a company that turns 40 next year. The duo scored a big hit in the George Clooney-Julia Roberts romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise, and have Matilda the Musical playing in UK theaters, and opening on Netflix elsewhere for Christmas, with the Lena Dunham-directed Catherine Called Birdy released by Amazon and The Swimmers by Netflix. After playing the Toronto and Zurich festivals, it has ranked near the top of Netflix’s most watched films globally since its release.

EXCLUSIVE: Universal and Working Title have set Melissa McCarthy to star in an untitled Christmas-in-New York movie that will be written by Love Actually scribe Richard Curtis and directed by Sam Boyd.

, the cast and crew of the beloved holiday romantic comedy revealed that the late Alan Rickman was enraged by his scene with Rowan Atkinson. Love Actually director Richard Curtis revisited the iconic scene that finds Rickman’s Harry sneaking away from , at the mall to purchase a gold necklace for Mia (Heike Makatsch), an attractive younger woman who works at his office. While at the register, he has to deal with Atkinson’s eccentric clerk, Rufus, who promises to have Harry’s gift wrapped “in the flashiest of flashes,” but takes a comically long time adding unnecessary flourishes like a gold ribbon, flower buds, lavender, a cinnamon stick, and a sprig of holly. This content can also be viewed on the site it from.While the scene is a comedic showcase for Atkinson, Rickman apparently didn’t find it all that funny at the time.

despises his iconic dancing sequence in . So much, in fact, that he recently it “the most excruciating scene ever committed to celluloid.”The quote comes from Grant's appearance in ABC’s freshly released Love Actually retrospective, The Laughter & Secrets of ‘Love Actually’: 20 Years Later. In the 2003 , Grant played a British Prime Minister who falls for one of his staff members.

One of the most remembered scenes from Love Actually is Hugh Grant’s dance scene. Although many remember this sequence with nostalgia, Grant recently recalled it was quite “excruciating” for him.

Ed Sheeran has said he’d already “started writing” the theme song for No Time To Die when he was replaced by Billie Eilish.Back in 2019, Sheeran’s manager revealed that the star had met James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli two years prior to discuss penning the official track for the most recent film in the hit spy franchise.Danny Boyle, who worked with Sheeran on Richard Curtis’ Yesterday (2019), was lined up to direct the 25th Bond movie at the time (he later quit due to “creative differences”, with Cary Joji Fukunaga taking over the role).“Obviously they changed directors but we’re still open to it,” Stuart Camp explained. “But they’re not even having those conversations yet.”He added: “It’s certainly something [Sheeran would] want to do though, it’s a box that’s still to be ticked, for sure.”But the No Time To Die theme ended up going to Billie Eilish, who went on to win her first Oscar for the song.During an appearance on That Peter Crouch Podcast this week, Sheeran explained: “I was within a fucking gnat’s pube of doing one [a Bond theme], but then they changed directors, changed scripts and that was it all done.“I had started writing it.

Rylan Clark has completely delighted Strictly Come Dancing viewers with his ‘perfect’ impersonation of Keira Knightly in Love Actually. Before Richie Anderson was eliminated after facing Fleur East in the dreaded dance off, the It Takes Two presenter appeared in a skit alongside his co-host Janette Manrara to promote the BBC Two spin-off show. The duo recreated the well-known cards on the doorstep scene from the 2003 Richard Curtis romcom, made famous by Keira’s Juliet and Andrew Lincoln’s Mark.

Olivia Colman, Luke Evans and Jessie Buckley are to lead Netflix’s animated adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol from Stephen Donnelly (Lost in Oz).

The partner of famed British screenwriter Richard Curtis has shared shocking photos of their home being ravaged by a house fire.The 18th century property in Walberswick, Suffolk, is the home of the Love Actually director and partner, broadcaster Emma Freud, and caught fire on Sunday, July 10.The fire took hold of the ground and first floor of the property, as well as the attic, with 14 fire crews needed to tackle the blaze, now revealed to be 60 firefighters in total working for eight hours. At one point, firefighters had to rip the tiles off a section of the roof to dampen down hotspots which would stop the fire spreading further through the house.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentPart of what it describes as a bold and rapid expansion of its long-form animation department, London-based Oscar winning Passion Pictures has appointed Nicki Cortese as head of development for animated features and series.Cortese joins Pixar veteran David Park, a production manager on “Coco” and animation department manager on “Toy Story 3,” who was himself hired as Passion head of production for long-form animation in 2021, as well as executive producer Debbie Crosscup.Joining Passion ahead of Annecy, Cortese served as head of development for Elisabeth Murdoch’s Locksmith Animation, where she worked on Disney’s “Ron’s Gone Wrong” as well as the just-announced Netflix feature “That Christmas,” based on children’s books by “Four Weddings and a Funeral’s ”Richard Curtis. Cortese had a first-look deal with Brian Robbins’ studio, Awesomeness Films, and, prior to that, oversaw the “Divergent”franchise at Red Wagon.

K.J. Yossman In the run up to Annecy festival, Netflix has unveiled a powerful slate of talent-driven animated films and series, including “That Christmas” based on BAFTA winner Richard Curtis’s children’s books, and “Ember,” Sergio Pablos’ follow-up to the Oscar-nominated “Klaus.” Netflix’s roster of animated features also boasts the musical “Scrooge: A Christmas Carol” which features songs by Leslie Bricusse; an untitled animated film by Steve Box, the Oscar-winning “Wallace & Gromit” alumni.

An animated Christmas Carol, follow-up to Academy Award-nominee Klaus, adaptation of Richard Curtis’ That Christmas and untitled project from Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit’s Steve Box feature on an eight-strong slate of Netflix animated films and TV series.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran BBC producer Esther Springer has left after two decades to join fledgling creative indie Creators Inc.’s TV and film division.

Fox is developing Felonious Monk, a one-hour drama based on William Kotzwinkle’s novel, from writer Michael Brandon Guercio (Treadstone) and Fox Entertainment.

Mary Coleman has been named as chief creative officer at Locksmith Animation.Coleman joins the company from Pixar Animation where she was head of creative development.Coleman worked closely with Pixar’s directors from original concept through final draft, supporting their vision. During her tenure, Pixar created a legacy of modern classics including “Monsters, Inc” and  “Finding Nemo.”“Having someone of Mary Coleman’s professional stature come on board Locksmith as Chief Creative Officer is a milestone in our company’s journey,” said Locksmith CEO Fischer.

Viewers of The One Show were left confused and angry after millionaire filmmaker Richard Curtis told the public to switch their pension to a more sustainable one. He appeared on the show this evening (May 18) to discuss how pensions could be causing deforestation.

Hannah Gadsby delivers a warning up front to the audience for her new show, “Body of Work,” particularly those who are expecting the raw confessional tone of her breakout 2018 Netflix special “Nanette” or its follow-up “Douglas.” “It’s going to be a feel-good show,” she says, “because I feel like I owe you one.” What’s striking is that unlike in her previous two shows, the Australian comic delivers a far more conventional routine on two fronts — not only is her material less emotionally charged than in her previous shows, but it’s also delivered mostly straight, without the meta framework and exploding-the-conventions-of-comedy mindset that marked her as such a strikingly original voice. In her first performance at Brooklyn’s BAM Howard Gilman Opera House on Wednesday, Gadsby seems to acknowledge her changed circumstances — including the fact that she’s hobbling about the stage with a large castlike boot on her left leg after a bad fall in Iceland.

As the Oscars are rolling into town on Sunday, the annual conversation of the biggest snubs inevitably comes around.

Oscar nomination for his role in Christmas film comedy, Elf.He made the comments ahead of this year’s Oscars ceremony and went on to say that he didn’t think comedy was represented enough in the nominations.The Love Actually director, who is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said at the Oscar Wilde Awards in Los Angeles: “I always get very antsy about the fact that Will Ferrell didn’t get nominated for Elf.”“Or that Peter Sellers didn’t get nominated for Inspector Clouseau.”He added: “But it’s the price you pay, as it were. Comedies tend to make a bit of money, and then you don’t get the prizes.”Curtis went on to say that had Ferrell been nominated, he would have voted for him but that he “wasn’t given the chance”.He said that comedy is overlooked as a genre, “particularly the actors”.He continued: “I think it’s a real issue that comedy isn’t respected as much…but I do try and push for comedy performances whenever I can.” The 2022 Oscars takes place this Sunday (March 27).

Red Nose Day is back. Comic Relief’s flagship fundraising event returns today with the aim of generating millions of pounds to help people live free of poverty, violence and discrimination.