When it was announced that most of the Love Actually cast would be reuniting for a sequel sketch for 2017’s Red Nose Day, the initial delight at seeing what happened to everyone after that fateful Christmas was followed by a wave of sadness due to the loss of Alan Rickman. While his character, Harry, was a cheating bastard who made Emma Thompson cry while listening to Joni Mitchell (we’ve all been there), the thought of returning to that storyline following his passing felt too soon.
Apparently, writer/director Richard Curtiss felt the same way, because he wrote to Emma Thompson telling her that they wouldn’t be covering her story in the sequel. Thompson told the Press Association,
“Richard wrote to me and said, ‘Darling, we can’t write anything for you because of Alan’, and I said, ‘No, of course, it would be sad, too sad.’ It’s too soon. It’s absolutely right because it’s supposed to be for Comic Relief but there isn’t much comic relief in the loss of our dear friend, really, just over a year ago. We thought and thought [about it] but it just seemed wrong. It was absolutely the right decision.”
Thompson and Rickman worked together on a number of films, building a strong personal and professional relationship over the years. Thompson wrote a beautiful tribute to her friend following his death, saying:
“What I remember most in this moment of painful leave-taking is his humour, intelligence, wisdom and kindness. His capacity to fell you with a look or lift you with a word. I couldn’t wait to see what he was going to do with his face next … He was the ultimate ally. In life, art and politics. I trusted him absolutely. He was, above all things, a rare and unique human being and we shall not see his like again.”
(Via The Guardian)
