Hugh Grant Reveals He Doesn’t Know Why Love Actually Is ‘Still So Popular’

Fans are still crazy about Love Actually 15 years after its initial release, but Hugh Grant doesn’t quite understand the secret to the film’s evergreen appeal.

“I don’t know why Love Actually is still so popular,” the 58-year-old actor revealed, according to Bang Showbiz, although he admitted it’s “nice” that “everyone watches it at Christmas.”

Grant went on to reflect on the fan-favorite scene where his character dances along to the Pointer Sisters’ “Jump (For My Love).”

“I suspect that was the most excruciating scene ever committed,” he remarked. “It wasn’t easy for an Englishman in his 40s to do at 7 in the morning, stone-cold sober.”

As the holiday season approaches, Grant isn’t the only one reminiscing about the holiday classic.

Martine McCutcheon, who played Natalie — a member of the prime minister’s staff who falls head over heels for him — shared a throwback photo of the pair on Friday, as she fondly looked back on that special time in her life.

“Me & Hugh at the French premiere of Love Actually,” she captioned the sweet image on Instagram. “We were staying at the Ritz and we were treated like royalty – Even our dressing gowns and slippers had our names beautifully embroidered on them. The cast had a wonderful dinner in Paris after the film was shown and we all talked and laughed into the wee small hours… I felt like I was living in a fairytale.”

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Over the years, Grant has spoken out about how reluctant he was to do the infamous dancing scene in Love Actually.

“I never understood it technically,” he told PEOPLE’s editor-in-chief Jess Cagle in January. “I kept saying to Richard [Curtis, the director], ‘Okay look, I got the radio on in my bedroom and I’m dancing fine but then I start to dance through the whole 10 Downing Street. Where’s the music coming from and how does it cut off at the end?”

Although Curtis told The Paddington 2 star not to get too hung up on the technicalities, when it came to rehearsing the scene, Grant said he continually delayed it.

“They kept saying to me during the week leading up to shooting that scene… Here we’re going to rehearse the dancing now and I’d say, ‘Oh, it’s not a good day, I’ve got a bad ankle.’ So we never did. I just did it,” he remarked.

Luckily, it turned out to be a big hit and Grant revealed he is now proud he was able to pull it off.

“People do like it,” he shared, adding, “I’m proud of the fact I did it without any stimulants.”

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