It’s Christmas, so naturally it’s time for an annual Love Actually viewing.
Because the film is, quite simply, what one would call “Christmas perfection” (sorry, in my humble opinion this is not up for discussion), fans from all over the world eat up every piece of information – whether or not they’ve heard it all before.
This year, an “annual” tweet has gone viral again, and it’s blowing people’s minds.
Madeleine Lloyd-James posted two pictures side-by-side of actors Keira Knightley (Juliet) and Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Sam), now 34 and 29, in their respective roles from the flick.
“Yearly reminder that there is only a five year age gap between Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Keira Knightley in Love Actually.”
Yearly reminder that there is only a five year age gap between Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Keira Knightley in Love Actually pic.twitter.com/ciC4v75ZPO
— Madeleine Lloyd-Jones (@madelexne) December 14, 2019
At the time of publication, the tweet has had over 19k retweets and 107.8k likes.
Brodie-Sangster was 13 when he played the role of Sam, a young boy who had lost his mum to cancer and learned to play the drums to impress a stunning girl at school.
However, fans have long since said that the Maze Runner actor, looked much younger than that.
Knightley, on the other hand, was 18 at the time and was made to seem a lot older than that, with fans commenting she looked closer to 25 – but if you think about it, it could be put down to the fact that she was playing someone who just got married.
Juliet married Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor), however, his best friend, Mark (Andrew Lincoln) was actually in love with her – prompting the very famous white card scene.
But it’s here that the actual insane age gaps took place.
While Knightley was 18, Ejiofor was 26 – eight years older than the woman who was playing his wife.
As for Lincoln, he was already 30 – making him 12 years older than his love interest.
Shook.
In an interview with News.com.au last year, script writer Emma Freud said that it was possible Knightley wouldn’t have been cast if the film was made now.
“I know Richard [Curtis] would cast either Saoirse Ronan or Lily James as the young bride,” she admitted.
“Lots of them would be the same, Hugh was a surprisingly young Prime Minister, but would be searingly realistic now.
“And there will never be a better Karen than Emma [Thompson], even when she’s 90.”
Amen.
WATCH: To me you are perfect – the most romantic Love Actually scene.