Featured Image Credit: Universal
Topics: TV And Film
Jess Hardiman
Love Actually fans are obsessed with a resurfaced deleted scene from the popular Christmas movie, which features some unexpectedly impressive stunt work.
Many of you may have already caved and watched the 2003 festive rom-com for this year, but there’s one scene you won’t have clocked in the ensemble saga:
The deleted sequence shows young Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) as he chases through the airport to reach his true love Joanna (Olivia Olson) before she jets off to America.
Of course, you’ll have seen a version of this in the final cut, but it turns out that wasn’t the full story.
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It turns out that Sam is actually a skilled gymnast – mentions of which existed in earlier drafts of the film script – which puts him at a huge advantage as he fends off airport security, eventually managing to get away through a series of flips, forward rolls and dives.
Posting the clip on Twitter a few days ago, user Patrick Fisackerly wrote: “It is your holiday duty to make sure everyone you know is aware of the deleted subplot in Love Actually where the little boy is a trained gymnast.”
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Someone commented: "I’m crying. This is actually the funniest thing i’ve seen in my entire life. Who thought this was a good idea? And why is his stunt double literally 6 ft tall?"
Another added: "It would be even better if they cut the earlier gymnastics references but still kept the airport scene exactly as shot."
A third said: "I'm actually crying why tf would they cut this."
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Someone else said: "Idk what’s more unrealistic the gymnastics routine or that a child would be able to navigate a giant airport that successfully as far as finding the correct gate."
Another agreed: "The way he, as a child, knows his way around all the gates and winding hallways of the airport is even more impressive to me."
A very good point, to be fair.
The scene made more sense when earlier hints to Sam’s love for gymnastics were included in the screenplay.
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In the film's commentary, Love Actually director Richard Curtis explained: "We're a bit torn as to whether we were to put this bit in - there would have been some effects and polish done on it. We didn't in the end, and I thought it was fun.
"In the original draft of the movie, there was lots of mentions about the fact that Sam, the little boy, was a brilliant gymnast and when it was sad you'd just see him casually being brilliant at gym.
"So when it came to an airport scene, he brought his gymnastic prowess into play. This is a very rough edit..."