Let’s be real, there’s some absolute bangers in Love Actually that help make the film even more iconic – Hugh Grant dancing to The Pointer Sisters’ “Jump”, “All You Need Is Love” blasting at Kiera Knightley’s wedding and Sugababe’s “Too Lost In You” pulling at our heart strings.
Well now it’s been revealed that there could have been another song on the famous movie’s soundtrack.
In line with the 20th Anniversary celebrations of their acclaimed debut album ‘Hopes and Fears’, English rockers Keane have unveiled a very special, unreleased single “Love Actually” to coincide with the re-release of the classic British film.
Originally written for 2003 Christmas romantic comedy, it’s been revealed that director Richard Curtis wishes he had taken the then-unknown band up on their offer of the song.
“In 2002 we were an unsigned band; and our friend and manager Adam was working for the producer of Love Actually,” keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley explains.
“While they were making the film, Adam suggested we should quickly write a song and he’d see if he could get it into Richard Curtis’ hands…and maybe we could sneak onto the soundtrack and get our big break!
“Needless to say it didn’t turn out that way, but Richard always very graciously said he loved the song and wished he’d put it in the film. We all loved the song too, but having called it ‘Love Actually’, it was very hard to do anything with it!
“In fact, for 20 years whenever I’ve played a new demo to my mum, her response has usually been “Hmm…when are you going to record ‘Love Actually’?” Well, the film Love Actually is 20 years old now, which at last gives us a perfect reason to record our song properly.”
But what does Richard make of it? Well, it turns out he realised he’d made a terrible mistake six months after the boys approached him with the track when they suddenly had a number 1 album in the charts.
“Everyone makes mistakes - even if they’re understandable ones. When I first listened to ‘Love Actually’ by this totally unknown combo called Keane, I thought it was beautiful. I tried really hard to put it in the film - but in the end it was a little melancholy and, dare I say, a bit DEEP for the film I’d made,” the film’s writer and director Curtis said.
“Of course, I realised what a dreadful mistake that had been when 6 months later ‘Hopes & Fears’ was Number 1 in the charts. It is SO wonderful that the song is now being released for everyone to hear. I’ve listened to it a lot over the years and love it even more now than I did then. And this time, myself and my son Spike have made a little edit of the whole film to go with the song. I think I actually prefer that 3 minute version of “Love Actually” to the long, chaotic film that’s been doing the rounds now for 20 years.”
You can listen to the track below: