‘Love Actually’ Turns 10: How the Rom-Com Led to Hobbits and a ‘Pirate Thing’

TV's most popular show. The biggest movie of the holiday season. The most acclaimed drama of the year. There's one thing ties them all together: the stars of each all broke out 10 years ago in "Love Actually."

Yes, Andrew Lincoln (now known as Rick on "The Walking Dead"), Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins in "The Hobbit" trilogy), and Chiwetel Ejiofor (a sure-fire Oscar nominee for "12 Years a Slave") were all mostly unknown when the Christmas-themed romantic comedy from writer/director Richard Curtis opened on November 14, 2003. And when Curtis — who also wrote "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Bridget Jones' Diary" and "Notting Hill" — sat down with Yahoo Movies to discuss his new film "About Time," he recalled that the actors themselves had no idea what heights they were about to achieve.

"I remember having lunch in an Italian restaurant with Keira [Knightley] and saying 'What are you doing next?' and her saying 'Oh it's a dreadful mistake.'" Curtis recalled. "I said 'What?' She said, 'It's some pirate thing. But at least I get two months in the Caribbean. It will probably be okay but I've got to learn how to fight.'"

Of course, that "pirate thing" turned into a worldwide hit that made Knightley a household name. And many other actors in the film found entirely new careers for themselves after the international success of "Love, Actually." Bill Nighy, who played aging rocker Billy Mack (and later joined Knightley as Davy Jones in the "Pirates" sequels), told Yahoo, "There's probably not a day goes by, wherever I am in the world, where somebody doesn't come up to me and say, 'Thank you for 'Love Actually.'"

Read on to see why Curtis didn't feel "Love Actually" was really a success upon its release a decade ago, how he feels young people today experience movies like his generation consumed music, and which TV creator he feels is a "real genius."

When people recognize you, what movie of yours do they ask about most?

Richard Curtis: It doesn't happen very often. In America people talk about "Love Actually" a lot and that is quite an interesting thing. I think the way that some of the films live is quite interesting now, the way people watch movies. I’ve got this new theory that the way people watch movies today is the way my generation listened to LPs. If a friend came round you'd listen to a Leonard Cohen album or listen to "Blood on the Tracks" and listen to all of the tracks.

Now what my daughter or sons will do is say "Let's watch 'Despicable Me' or 'Mean Girls' and they talk through it and all that stuff, so I think that people who watch the films a lot is something they talk to me about. Back in England I get a lot of talk about this TV show I wrote called "Black Adder." I don’t know what you'd make of it, but fathers watch with their sons. It's a historical show and hasn't dated since it was a period piece.

With regard to "Love Actually," it's hard to believe it's been ten years since its release…
RC: Well, you can if you see Thomas Sangster in "Game of Thrones" [the now 23-year old plays the telepathic Jojen Reed] It better have been ten years or he's been taking some kind of drug.

What’s your most prominent memory? Did you know it was special when you were making it?
RC: Not particularly. It was my first film. Mainly fear, I would imagine, because it was a strange film. There were ten people, ten plots. I had to know what I was doing we didn't have ten weeks to all be together and get to know each other. It has become more popular with time, I don't remember feeling it was that successful when I released it.

Did you have any sense with your actors like Chiwetel Ejiofor ("12 Years a Slave") or Andrew Lincoln ("The Walking Dead") that their careers would then skyrocket?
RC: No, that's the problem with the film now. It was meant to be mixed casting. Remember, the naked guy now is the Hobbit [Martin Freeman], the girl in the bar is January Jones. Liam [Neeson] is the world's greatest action hero instead of the world's gentlest dad. It is quite odd. The were really, really wonderful young actors.

Do they all want to work with you again when you see them? Do they bother you to write stuff?
RC: I think people have now picked up on the fact I don’t do much. Oddly enough I get more from pop people who say, "Put one of my songs in your movie," but actors tend to know that you know who they are, and the advantage of people being busy is that they don't need your work. "Don't ask me to be in anything you'll just complicate my life."

You could probably give a class on writing romantic comedy/dramas for the rest of Hollywood:
RC: I don’t know that I need to. I thought "500 Days of Summer" was an amazing film, I thought "Like Crazy" was amazing, although not that funny [it] has a sense of humor. "Lost in Translation" is an amazing film. These are all masterpieces about love, and there are jokes in them. Maybe getting stuck in genre might be a problem now.

With ["About Time"] you might notice there's not that much conflict. What I was interested in, many of us when we meet the person we love we like them a lot, very few of the relationships start with, 'Ugh that’s the person I most hate in the world.' There’s amazing stuff on TV as well, "Girls" and "New Girl."

You've seen "Girls"?
RC: I think its wonderful. I'll tell you what’s sometimes quite complicated is watching it with my 18-year-old daughter. She is absolutely obsessed by it — and the fact that that's the information she's receiving it from and a not very "princess" version of love — that things may turn out that way that is quite interesting. I think [Lena Dunham] is a real genius.

"About Time" is playing in theaters now and the 10th Anniversary Edition of "Love Actually" is available on Blu-ray.

Watch the Stars of 'About Time' Talk to Yahoo Movies: