As soon as it hits December 1, the world goes absolutely mad. Public transport is iced out in tinsel, shopping centres blast Wham! and every weekend is booked with at least three different Christmas obligations. But the most insane of all, is what happens to popular culture. If Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas is the soundtrack for December, then Love Actually is its movie equal. Must we watch it for the umpteenth time and spend the whole month lambasting Alan Rickman's (rip) character Harry about that adulterous necklace. Do we need to see Richard Curtis to explain what the hell was up with the line, "to me you are perfect"? Yes, actually, we do.
Although, this time around, it's not the frazzled Englishwoman aesthetic or questionable workplace relationships that we're talking about, but a certain deleted scene. Remember at the end of Love Actually, when titchy Sam is devastated that Joanna, the kid with good hair and an incredible voice, is leaving for America, so much so he has to resort to the cliché of running through Heathrow airport to stop her? Well, Richard Curtis originally had much more dramatic plans for that scene, if you can believe it.
While the deleted scene in question first surfaced on the internet in 2013, our collective amnesia around Love Actually means it's once again doing the rounds. It turns out there was an alternate reality where Sam was a skilled gymnast and the cast would drop hints at it throughout the movie, with it all culminating into the pièce de résistance shared below.
It is your holiday duty to make sure everyone you know is aware of the deleted subplot in Love Actually where the little boy is a trained gymnast. pic.twitter.com/Za2pzGVn6H
— Patrick Fisackerly (@fisackerly) December 3, 2022
If that's not the most absurd thing you've seen this month, then I don't know what to tell you. The flips, the parkour-inspired moves. More importantly, as many have pointed out on Twitter, I love that Sam grew about three feet every time the body double stepped in. I don't know if this would have made Love Actually, or derailed the whole film entirely but I think we can all agree that it's completely batsh*t. I love it. Richard Curtis' brain, everyone.
Still speechless? Let's let the last good folk left on Twitter do the talking, below.
I always switch from running to cartwheels when I need a burst of speed.
— OX .oO( parody ) (@HueSatLight) December 3, 2022
…and then she comes all the way back out to kiss him (after « last call » at gate)
— Norma Morris (@Normslaw) December 4, 2022
He’s virtually Olympic level! But not bright enough to use the moving walk away (or travelator, as he’d know it. Awooga!), leaping onto it to leave the chasers in the dust. pic.twitter.com/H71bWWo5DX
— Emlyn Jones (@emlyn_jones) December 4, 2022
jfc the body double is so blatantly a full grown adult
— Josh Clayton (@JoshClayton) December 3, 2022
they didn’t realize that “body double” does not mean “somebody with double the body”
— Elon Musk’s Hilarious Death Tube 🐀🆗 (@thetorpedodog) December 3, 2022
Interesting they thought this was too unrealistic but him leaning to play drums in two weeks was entirely plausible
— Roberto Valdes🇨🇺🎉 (@Rob36622) December 3, 2022
the uneven bars part is SENDING ME😭😭 whose idea was this??
— Jurnee Conway (@jurneemichaela) December 3, 2022
His idea. You see him get the idea when he sees the bar. A look of "oh I know what I'll do. Hee hee hee"
— Functional Reactive Discotheque Earth (@amuletofyendor) December 4, 2022
And then he grew up to be one of the best chess players in the world
— Pears the clown - they/them (@robotpinemarten) December 3, 2022
delete it again
— zaperrer (@zaperrer) December 3, 2022
That is a grown man doing cartwheels in the airport
— maddog (@madi_hewitt) December 4, 2022
