Posted in: Movies | Tagged: notting hiull, rhys ifans, richard curtis

Richard Curtis Wrote Return Of Rhys Ifans As Notting Hill's Spike

Published Sat, 25 Dec 2021 06:58:10 -0600

On the BBC Newscast podcast last night, Richard Curtis and Emma Freud popped by for a special Christmas episode to talk about pop and politics. And also to revisit the likes of Love Actually, and that Richard Curtis is currently working on an animated film version of his kids Christmas books set in Suffolk, The Empty Stocking. And that he is currently trying to cast a Father Christmas for the movie.

Richard Curtis Planned To Bring Back Rhys Ifans As Notting Hill's Spike — Rhys Ifans in Notting Hill, YouTube screencap

Might he choose Rhys Ifans? He probably owes him. Because when making the movie Yesterday, Richard Curtis brought Rhys Ifans back, reprising the role of Spike from Notting Hill. Only for Director Danny Boyle to cut the scene.

Curtis mentioned this on BBC's Newscast, when asked if his movies existed in the same reality, a Curtisverse if you will. He said that this wasn't the case – apart from that one reappearance of Spike in Yesterday as an older, slightly wiser figure. But it was not to be.

Anyway, this Christmas also sees the final release of The King's Man, which has been delayed for almost two years at this point, and stars Rhys Ifans as Rasputin, the Mad Monk of Russia as we were all taught.

As for Curtis' next film, The Empty Stocking is based on three books by Curtis, The Empty Stocking, Snow Day, and That Christmas, each telling a family story taking place in the run-up to Christmas, in a rural coastal town. And the film will chop the books up and layer them into one story, with different families. Hence Emma Freud, his wife, described the resulting film as "Love Actually for kids". Richard Curtis has written The Empty Stocking with Peter Souter. The animation house Locksmith is working on the film, with illustrator Rebecca Cobb.

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