love© Photo: Rex

Love Actually child actress looks barely recognisable as filming for the sequel begins: see picture

Deputy Online Editor
February 16, 2017

Following the announcement of a Love Actually sequel, the cast and crew have come together to start filming the highly-anticipated project. Emma Freud, the partner of the film's director Richard Curtis, took to her Twitter page on Thursday morning to treat fans to a few behind-the-scenes photos from the upcoming special. One of the snaps sees her partner posing with a grown-up Olivia Olson, aka Joanna who sang All I Want for Christmas Is You at the school concert. "Oh hello #rednosedayactually cast member looking slightly older than she did in the original film....," tweeted Emma.

Olivia, now 24, played the crush of Liam Neeson's stepson Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), who learned to play the drums in order to impress her, and famously chased her at the airport towards the end of the film to declare his love. Following the film' success, the American-born actress has since gone on to perform on The Tracey Morgan Show and on The Ellen Degeneres Show, where she sang alongside Hollywood star Jack Black and Broadway's Kristin Chenoweth.

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Meanwhile, the one-off special, appropriately called Red Nose Day Actually, will see the return of some of the much-loved characters, made famous by Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley and Colin Firth. "I would never have dreamt of writing a sequel to Love Actually, but I thought it might be fun to do ten minutes to see what everyone is now up to," said writer Richard in a statement on Wednesday. "Who has aged best? I guess that's the big question… or is it so obviously Liam?"

© Photo: Rex

Love Actually was released 14 years ago

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The original film was released 14 years ago and has gone on to become one of the most watched romantic Christmas films of all time. "We've been delighted and grateful that so many of the cast are around and able to take part – and it'll certainly be a nostalgic moment getting back together and recreating their characters 14 years later," he added. "We hope to make something that'll be fun - very much in the spirit of the original film and of Red Nose Day - and which we hope will help bring lots of viewers and cash to the Red Nose Day shows." The ten-minute movie, which will centre on what the characters are up to now in 2017, will be shown on 24 March on BBC One as part of the Red Nose Day appeal.

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