Thank you so much to everyone that joined us for our festive screening of 'Love Actually with Wine' at The Crescent Theatre.
Read on for details on all the wines from the evening, our gallery of photos, and bunch of trivia.
As promised, these are the wines we enjoyed ...
Wine Actually
Graham Beck, Cap Classique, South Africa - Majestic £16.99 (£11.99 mixed six)
Known as 'The President's Choice' after it was served at Barrack Obama's presidential win and Nelson Mandela's inauguration, this Champagne style South African Sparkling is perfect for a Christmas morning.
Sturmwolken Dry Riesling, Pfalz, Germany - Sainsbury's £7.50
This fresh, zesty Riesling will stand up well to your Christmas Lunch. A perfect foil to cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets, turkey, veggies and rich gravy and a departure from the traditional Chardonnay pairing.
Bauer Mayr Zweigelt, Austria - Majestic £11.99 (£8.99)
If the traditional pairing for Christmas lunch is Pinot Noir then this is a fantastic twist. Another light red, slightly more body than Pinot Noir, the grape is also known as Rot-burger. It is a cross of St Laurent & Blaufrankish grapes. Red fruits on the nose, juicy black fruits and violet on the palate.
Bread & Butter Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California, USA - Majestic £15.99 (£9.99)
Enjoying beef or goose on Christmas Day? .. this is the one. Bolder, more intense than the last red but still smooth and easy drinking. Vanilla, and dark fruits on the nose, blackcurrant, black pepper and coffee on the palate. Smooth, mellow and juicy.
No.1 Reserve Tawny Port - Symington Family - Waitrose £13.99
Aged for seven years in barrel, then bottled for sale. Nectar in a glass, deliciously smooth, mellow and fruity with flavours of ripe figs, raisins, butterscotch and toasted nuts.
Great with Christmas pudding, cheese or even on its own!
Pictures Actually
Trivia Actually
Some highlights from our movie trivia ...
If you’ve only watched this movie at home you might be surprised to see an extra 20% more movie at the cinema. John & Judy's erotic movie stand in's are often cut.
So many celebrities in this movie .. parts written for some:
Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, and Martine McCutcheon to name but three. Richard Curtis was so sure he wanted Martine McCutcheon in the movie, the character’s name was "Martine" in early drafts. The script was changed to "Natalie" just before McCutcheon’s audition, "so she wouldn’t get cocky."
Laura Linney, Billy Bob Thornton & Denise Richards were sent personal letter invitations. Linney was especially flattered by Curtis's looking for ‘Laura Linney-type,’ when his wife Emma Freud said .. ‘Why don’t you ask Laura Linney?’"
Curtis wanted a blend of famous actors and up and coming actors .. it worked. January Jones went on to star in Mad Men, Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 years a Slave, Andrew Lincoln leading The Walking Dead. Keira Knightley told Curtis she'd signed on for some daft Pirate movie.
Celebrity Trailer park village – celebs on site named areas of the park Liam Neeson Way, Emma Thompson Rd, Hugh Grant Ave. All had the same size and type of trailer – great community.
In Four Weddings and a Funeral, another Curtis movie, there was a scene where Hugh Grant’s character Charles flirts with a woman at a wedding by mocking the terrible catering, only to discover that she is the caterer. The scene was cut from the film, but reshot with Kris Marshall acting out the flirtatious faux pas in Love Actually.
Every Curtis film contains a "Bernard," always the butt of a joke. In Love Actually, the son of Emma Thompson described as "horrid." The real Bernard stole Richard Curtis' girlfriend and is now a successful politician, namely Bernard Jenkin, MP in Essex.
Grant and Curtis worked together on Bridget Jones, Four Weddings & Notting Hill but had a disagreement over how the PM should be played. Grant wanted to play it more seriously, he absolutely did not want to do ‘the dance’ and refused to rehearse it. It was eventually filmed on the last day to 'Jump' by Girls Aloud. Grant loved it so much that he watched it being edited belting the song out at the same time.
In 2005 Prime Minister Tony Blair was facing criticism of his handling of the US, he referenced Love Actually when he said, ‘I know there’s a bit of us that would like me to do a Hugh Grant in Love Actually and tell America where to get off. But the difference between a good film and real life is that in real life there’s the next day, the next year, the next lifetime to contemplate the ruinous consequences of easy applause.’
Rufus the jewellery salesman played by Rowan Atkinson, was auditioned for by Simon Pegg.
When Thompson’s character realises her husband has been unfaithful, in the privacy of their bedroom, she listens to Joni Mitchell’s "Both Sides Now" and weeps. This was filmed 12 times for different lighting, sound and angles. Each time, Emma Thompson delivered the scene, composed herself and did it again, over and over identically with the same emotion each time. An incredible actress. It left her exhausted.
The movie has been remade 3 times .. Polish, Hindi and Japanese versions.
There was a 2017 sequel of sorts – you'll have to dig out the Comic Relief clips on YouTube to see what happened.
The moving scenes shot at Heathrow airport of families greeting each other are all absolutely genuine and shot with hidden cameras. When the production team found shots they wanted to use, they dashed out to get authorisation forms signed!
Thank you!
We look forward to welcoming you back to another of our events very soon but why not check out our website or sign up to our monthly mailing list to find out about new events first:
Merry Christmas from Tony and the Wine Events Co Crew