Actress and TV host Joanna Page, 45, on filming naked scenes in Love Actually, the chances of return and jigsaw joy.
How do we get free cinema tickets to see Love Actually?
The National Lottery basically wants to thank its players for raising more than £30million every single week, with that money going towards some fantastic causes.
So they’re giving away 50,000 free tickets to see Love Actually on December 23 in cinemas all across the UK. It’s a way of encouraging everybody to meet up together, on what’s a difficult Christmas for a lot of people.
Remind us who you play in Love Actually?
Well, me and Martin Freeman play John and Judy. We are stand-ins on a film set and it’s a love scene. Obviously, it’s not a p*rn thing, because you don’t need stand-ins for that because the people just do it themselves, don’t they?
But we end up in the all-together – so when we filmed it, there were actually little bits of tape and stuff, covering all our, you know, bits, which weren’t allowed to be seen – but it looks like we’re completely naked. And our characters are very, very shy, but have obviously taken a shine to each other.
So they are chatting away and being quite conservative and polite with each other and then eventually he asks me out. And what’s so funny is the complete and utter contrast between what we’re doing and the way that we are with each other. In a weird way, we are one of the sweetest love stories throughout the film.
What are your other memories of doing the film?
Arriving for the read-through was just huge. I mean, I must have been about 23 and I walked into the door and there was Martine McCutcheon opposite me, Hugh Grant was next to her, then there was Liam Neeson and Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson. I was just like, oh my god, this is a room full of everybody who I admire and I can’t believe I’ve got to open my mouth and speak to them.
Then Richard Curtis said to me, ‘The American girls can’t be here, so can you read their lines at the end of the film?’ So I was like, ‘OK, yes, I’ll do that.’ And then I spent the next two hours absolutely panicking. Should I do an American accent? Should I not? Oh, my God, is it going to be awful? So it came to the lines and I attempted the accent. Everybody laughed.
And I remember Richard saying, ‘Well, that’s the oddest American accent I’ve ever heard!’ And I was like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe this is all in front of Liam Neeson!’
What else are you up to today?
I’m on my way to the Loose Women studio. I’m so looking forward to it because I moved house on Friday with ten years’ worth of stuff, four children and two dogs, and I’m borderline on the edge.
I said to Loose Women that I’m probably going to arrive with a bottle of prosecco and just start drinking, I’m so over the moon to just get out of the ruddy house just for five minutes.
I don’t know why I bothered labelling where every box goes because they’re all piled up in the living room. I’ve been feeding the kids everything from little milk jugs because it’s taken me three days to find anything else.
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Four kids sounds like a lot of Christmas shopping…
Well, it is. I’m an only child, so I always got sacks and sacks full of toys because everything was centered on me. Whereas my husband is one of four, so everything was a bit more pared down.
Every Christmas we have the same bust-up, with me wanting to go absolutely berserk with the presents and him going, ‘Oh, for goodness sakes, stop it!’
What do you want this Christmas for yourself?
I quite fancy getting some sort of video game like The Legend Of Zelda or any sort of Harry Potter-type game where you’re a little character who’s got to go and discover the treasure and stuff.
When I was about 43, I asked for a Nintendo Switch for Christmas, because after feeding all of the children and settling them I just want to zone out. Also, and this shows how middle-aged I’m getting,
I’ve recently bought myself a jigsaw table with a lovely felt back, which is quite wonderful – so maybe a new jigsaw puzzle?
I’ve also requested Jennifer Grey’s autobiography. What I’d really love is somebody just giving me a non-stop foot rub.
Will there be another Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special?
Well, I don’t know, because they never tell us anything at all. But, oh my gosh, it would be lovely to do.
You’re a successful TV host but what show would you like to be a contestant on?
If they ever brought back Survivor, I would love to do that. And I’m loving The Traitors at the moment. What I love is the trials that you’ve got to do. Though I could never do I’m A Celeb, with eating the guts and all of that.
I’d also like to have a go at SAS: Who Dares Wins. I think I’d have the mental ability and determination to get to the end.
To apply for free cinema tickets to see Love Actually on Dec 23, visit nationallotteryhosts.com
MORE : Love Actually’s Joanna Page reveals Judy role wasn’t her first choice amid worries over the part
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