As the brains behind most people's go-to Christmas movie, Richard Curtis is a busy man at this time of year. Not only do the Love Actually texts start chiming in around December 1 for the writer and director, but it’s hard to escape the endless dissection of the enduring classic that kicks off online as days grow shorter. But despite being synonymous with such a festive mainstay – as well as films like Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral – Curtis hasn’t been put off the holiday.
Instead, his new film Genie, starring Melissa McCarthy and Paapa Essiedu, is a Christmas comedy. Written by Curtis, it reimagines his 1991 TV film Bernard and the Genie for a new audience, updating the setting to New York City and switching up the storyline. When GamesRadar+ had the chance to speak to the acclaimed filmmaker recently, our wide-ranging conversation spanned everything from why he decided now was the right time to update it to what it is about Christmas movies that make them ever enjoyable. And, of course, we also touched on Love Actually as Curtis explained why he "can’t apologize enough" about one scene in particular.
The full conversation is below, edited for length and clarity.
GamesRadar+: This film is an adaptation of your previous film, Bernard and the Genie, what made you want to revisit it now?
Richard Curtis: I really wanted to make a movie set in New York and I really wanted to do a movie with people I liked. Actually, if we hadn't got Sam [Boyd] to direct it, I would have said, 'Let's not do it,' the same goes for Melissa [McCarthy]. But I think I have got a sort of slight obsession with the idea of how important the simplest things in the world are – that was the message of About Time. This is a movie about a person in a lot of trouble who gets a magnificent fireworks display of opportunities to change the world and do lots of hilarious and exciting things. But in the end, the best thing is just having dinner with your wife and child. I just like that idea of saying that, for all the magic in the world, the priority is something terrifically simple. So, that was the new version of that story: Christmas, New York, Melissa, Sam, and the simplest thing that I've got to say.
That reminds me of something else you’ve said about making this film, and other Christmas movies in general. You’ve previously mentioned that Christmas is the time we think hardest about love. Do you think that’s what makes films at this time of year so enduring with audiences?
Well I mean the thing about Love Actually is that Christmas is a very good deadline. So if you’ve got a problem in June, you can solve it in July or August or September, but if you've got a problem on the first of December, you can feel like you’ve got to get it sorted by the 25th. I think it is a time when you just kind of sum up, much more for me than New year where you're making New Year's resolutions that you never keep. But Christmas you want to say, 'Who loves me? Where am I? Who are the people who I want to spend the most time with?' So I think there is something definitive about Christmas as a date.
Unfortunately, at the moment, I think Christmas is also a focus for a lot of hardship. I think there are 4 million people in [the UK] that are living in poverty. So I think it's quite a tough time now when people realize just how little cash they've got. I deal with a bit of that on Comic Relief, but I’m also glad to provide something joyful at Christmas to get you through two hours.
I agree, and it can also be such a time of stress for people in terms of family dynamics as well. Do you feel like films like this can offer escapism?
Yeah, exactly. I mean, I have such great memories of watching White Christmas and Charlie Brown's Christmas, that was a favorite when I was young. Then I discovered It's A Wonderful Life and I watched that literally too many times and eventually decided I know what happens.
I think, for most people, their go-to Christmas film in that sense will be Love Actually. What’s your go-to Christmas film these days?
Elf, I love Elf. The moment I start it, I’ve got to finish it and I don’t watch films repeatedly. It’s a funny thing, I’m of the generation that listens to records repeatedly and I noticed my daughter just watches Mean Girls all the time. [Laughs] But I do find Elf irresistible.
Pivoting back to Genie, we’ve spoken about the decision to come back to this story but were there any huge changes you wanted to make to the original?
Well, the big change was that the original film was just about a sad singleton. I just wanted to cheer him up. So my first thought was that I wanted a family dynamic that goes completely wrong, and then it's the family that comes good in the end. That was the big one. But then, you know, we came up with this opportunity of having a female genie and setting it in New York instead of London.
And New York at Christmas too, it just feels so quintessentially festive.
I think they did a quiz the other day about, 'What is the definitive New York Christmas scene?' And I think the winner was Michael Corleone shopping [in The Godfather] while his dad is being killed. Do you remember that? He emerges from a store with Diane Keaton and you think, 'Oh, isn’t it all lovely, and they’re wrapped up in big coats'. Then you find out his dad is being slaughtered across town. But yeah, there are lots of great Christmas moments. I just wanted Times Square and the Rockefeller Center, and to have a wide shot of the Empire State Building.
We were speaking about the female genie and Melissa McCartney is really charming in this. What was that casting process like?
She was our one and first. I'm sure you always think, 'We couldn't have done the movie without her' and then you remember there are other wonderful people, but I'd been such a huge fan of Melissa and I do know a little bit about her working methods. Now that I'm getting older, I'm much more keen on other people improvising a bit around my script, I used to be very fussy about that. But Melissa is a great improviser and we spent a week together before the film, going through the script with her, making up stuff there. But even then, there were some very pleasant surprises when I saw the rushes.
One of my favorite jokes is her ongoing obsession with Tom Cruise…
Yes, Tom Cruise was in the script, but she lavished even more love on him. I can now say I've made a Tom Cruise film because there are three seconds of Mission: Impossible in this one.
And a bit of Top Gun as well.
And a bit of Top Gun, about two seconds of Top Gun.
I also really love the moment when she’s dancing while listening to music for the first time. Speaking of Cruise, it felt a bit Risky Business, and also a bit Hugh Grant in Love Actually. Was that deliberate?
There you go. Well, not particularly, but I think I was just obsessed with how lucky we are these days that we can hear music from any era at any time. In 1850, the only people you could listen to were the guys playing in your local pub. Now I can listen to Björk, who comes from Iceland, or Frank Sinatra who’s dead. So I love the idea of somebody just discovering music. There's even a tiny bit of that band Anvil. There was a documentary about Anvil, it's really about a pretty unsuccessful heavy metal band who go back to their jobs between tours. I was thrilled that we could pay Anvil for one cue.
Alongside the laughs, Melissa also brings a very emotional performance as well, especially in those scenes of Bernard. Were you surprised at all by what she brought to it?
When you meet Melissa, she is really warm and really emotional. With things like Can You Ever Forgive Me and Nine Perfect Strangers, I've just seen her give such extraordinary performances. In fact, the farewell scene in this movie was the first scene I saw cut together. I remember thinking, ‘We don't really have to do the rest of the movie, she's so gorgeous in that bit.’ I think everyone knows now that Melissa is a really wonderful actress at every level, and when you get that emotional capacity with the really extraordinary comedian that she is, that is a pretty magical mixture.
Finally, I couldn’t speak to you about a Christmas film without speaking about Love Actually. It’s a film that people revisit year after year, and I was wondering what's your relationship with the legacy of that film?
Well, I feel lucky as can be. You make a movie and you just think it'll come out and people might watch it for three weeks so it is a surprise and I am kind of puzzled. I mean, I have some odd things that I like about the film when I watch it: I like the fact that my mother-in-law is in it, that two of my kids are in it, and that I seem to be the only person who notices that Hugh Grant changes his tie 20 times in one scene because we put on the wrong tie after lunch. So from the side, he’s wearing one blue tie, and from the front, he’s wearing another.
Sometimes when you finish movies, when you watch them, they're like a very expensive diary. So when I watch it, I remember all the times, troubles, and fun of shooting it. But I just consider myself very lucky and I start getting texts around December 1 from people who have watched it and I just think, 'Well, I never dreamed that would happen'.
I can imagine, do you ever have to turn your phone off?
No, I’m perfectly happy. I was talking to someone yesterday who pointed out to me that they'd sat down last year with their kids to watch Love Actually, the lovely Christmas film, and then suddenly the naked couple came on. It never occurred to me - of course, it's a friendly family film but with some fairly graphic sex in the middle, which I can't apologize for enough.
Genie is on Peacock now in the US and on Sky Cinema and streaming service NOW from December 1.
For more festive favorites, check out our guide to the best Christmas movies of all time.
