Richard Curtis
Birthday:
8 November 1956, Wellington, New Zealand
Birth Name:
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis
Height:
180 cm
Richard Curtis was born on November 8, 1956 in Wellington, New Zealand as Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis. He is a writer and producer, known for Love Actually (2003), Bean (1997) and About Time (2013).
You won't find many people who've had an easier ride in movies than I.
You won't find many people who've had an easier ride in movies than I.
I didn't decide to be a writer. I wanted to be an actor and I turned out to be very bland, so I would always get cast as a character from Tw...Show more »
I didn't decide to be a writer. I wanted to be an actor and I turned out to be very bland, so I would always get cast as a character from Twelefth Night called Fabian, who hides behind the hedge and doesn't have any funny lines. So I decided I would have to write my own lines. Show less «
Anything that is wrong with a film will come back to haunt you forever, so I take a long time writing, fix everything, underline bits that I...Show more »
Anything that is wrong with a film will come back to haunt you forever, so I take a long time writing, fix everything, underline bits that I thought were funny when I first thought of them because they won't be funny when I look at them later. Oh, and I put the word 'fuck' in a lot. Show less «
Never, ever in any of our films have we thought 'we'll do this for the American market', Sometimes we'd change a song or a name or the word ...Show more »
Never, ever in any of our films have we thought 'we'll do this for the American market', Sometimes we'd change a song or a name or the word 'arse' but on the whole we try to make movies for home and then just hope they'll work in the US. Show less «
I think I had a very lucky break when we asked Mike Newell to do Four Weddings. Mike is a very serious, beautiful person, a wonderful direct...Show more »
I think I had a very lucky break when we asked Mike Newell to do Four Weddings. Mike is a very serious, beautiful person, a wonderful director. What he succeeded in doing was to hide the fact that the original script read much more like a series of sketches. Show less «
I like to work with people who are fond of me, who really know me.
I like to work with people who are fond of me, who really know me.
I think it's a responsibility of people who have had very lucky lives indeed to try to spread some of that around.
I think it's a responsibility of people who have had very lucky lives indeed to try to spread some of that around.
The worst moment of my life was when I watched Notting Hill and thought: 'Oh, God, it's exactly the same as Four Weddings and a Funeral.' I'...Show more »
The worst moment of my life was when I watched Notting Hill and thought: 'Oh, God, it's exactly the same as Four Weddings and a Funeral.' I'd been working on it for four years and it never occurred to me... Show less «
If you write a story about a soldier going AWOL and kidnapping a pregnant woman and finally shooting her in the head, it's called searingly ...Show more »
If you write a story about a soldier going AWOL and kidnapping a pregnant woman and finally shooting her in the head, it's called searingly realistic, even though it's never happened in the history of mankind. Whereas if you write about two people falling in love, which happens about a million times a day all over the world, for some reason or another, you're accused of writing something unrealistic and sentimental. Show less «
I might have one more sit-com in me before I die.
I might have one more sit-com in me before I die.
I am very interested in time travel for some reason or other. I am writing a film about it but on a low budget with no spectacular special e...Show more »
I am very interested in time travel for some reason or other. I am writing a film about it but on a low budget with no spectacular special effects. Maybe it's a desire to get out of being old. Sometimes you do just love the idea that you could go back in time and change things. Show less «
These days the things you can watch together as a family are much fewer so when you get something like Doctor Who (2005) or The X Factor (20...Show more »
These days the things you can watch together as a family are much fewer so when you get something like Doctor Who (2005) or The X Factor (2004) it is such a pleasure to sit down as a family. Show less «
My films are not really written in a formulaic way, even though some people might think they are. They take a long time to develop.
My films are not really written in a formulaic way, even though some people might think they are. They take a long time to develop.
I was really interested in the fact that Van Gogh (Vincent van Gogh) was one of the few great artists in history who got no praise at all in...Show more »
I was really interested in the fact that Van Gogh (Vincent van Gogh) was one of the few great artists in history who got no praise at all in his lifetime and I thought maybe if we apply time travel to that we can put that right. (On Doctor Who: Vincent and the Doctor (2010)) Show less «
[on writing the script for War Horse (2011)] I remember Steven [Spielberg] phoning me up one day and saying 'Which bit are you working on?' ...Show more »
[on writing the script for War Horse (2011)] I remember Steven [Spielberg] phoning me up one day and saying 'Which bit are you working on?' and I said, 'I am the horse'. He said, ''What do you mean?' and I said, 'Well, unless we are clear what the horse is thinking all the time, it is going to be tougher for you'. I remember thinking very hard about what the horses would feel when they were first taken away by German soldiers and first saw dead horses by the roadside, and how frightening that would be. Show less «
[on Philip Seymour Hoffman] I don't think there is any doubt or argument that he was the greatest character actor of our time.
[on Philip Seymour Hoffman] I don't think there is any doubt or argument that he was the greatest character actor of our time.
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