Richard Curtis has revealed that the lack of diversity in his 2003 holiday rom-com Love Actually now makes him feel "a bit stupid".
The 66-year-old British screenwriter made the remarks on The Laughter and Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later - a one-hour ABC special ahead of the ensemble comedy's 20th anniversary.
The beloved film follows several storylines about people in love. However, apart from the interracial marriage between Keira Knightley and Chiwetel Ejiofor's characters, the cast is predominantly white.
Although Love Actually has remained a Christmas staple, Curtis admitted that certain elements hadn't aged as well as others, namely the lack of diversity in the main characters.
Check out the trailer for the program below:According to People, Curtis was asked by host Diane Sawyer if parts of the film made him "wince," and he replied: "My film is bound in some moments to feel out of date. The lack of diversity makes me feel uncomfortable and a bit stupid."
Within the film, the relationships are exclusively heterosexual and Curtis mentioned that it also includes a proclivity for workplace relationships
Check out the trailer for Love Actually"There is such extraordinary love that goes on every minute in so many ways [in life], all the way around the world, and makes me wish my film was better," he said, per the outlet. "It makes me wish I'd made a documentary just to kind of observe it."
The director, who also appeared on the program with Hugh Grant, Dame Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy, Laura Linney, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster, later said that films can "act as a reminder of how lovely things can be".
"And how there are all sorts of things which we might pass by," he said to the 76-year-old host, "which are in fact the best moments in our lives."
The ensemble festive flick cast also starred Olivia Olson, Alan Rickman, Andrew Lincoln, Colin Firth, Rodrigo Santoro, Lúcia Moniz, Martine McCutcheon, Martin Freeman, Kris Marshall, Joanna Page, Heike Makatsch, Abdul Salis, Gregor Fisher, and Liam Neeson.
While the screenwriter regrets not having more diversity in the film, he did say in the movie's DVD bonus footage that he lost a particular storyline that had been filmed but didn't make it into the final cut.
It followed the school headmistress, played by Anne Reid, who was in a lesbian relationship with a terminally ill woman, played by Frances de la Tour.
"The idea was meant to be that you just casually met this very stern headmistress... [but] later on in the film, [we] suddenly fell in with [her] and you realize that no matter how unlikely it seems, any character that you come across in life has their own complicated tale of love," he said, per People.
The Laughter and Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later - A Diane Sawyer Special is available to stream now on Hulu.
