This movie is an origin story: Richard Curtis

One of Britain’s most successful comedy and romantic screenwriters, Richard Curtis’ repertoire of films includes gems such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually, and Bridget Jones’s Diary. Although he’s directed a couple of films as well, the last one being About Time in 2013, the writer is not keen on directing any more films. “In fact, I’m just about to make a new movie in a few months’ time, which will be directed by a much better director than me. I’m really enjoying being in the back seat,” he tells us. Curtis has also co-written the upcoming sequel to Mamma Mia, titled Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. He tells us more about his new ventures and writing romance for the next gen...

You started your career with comedy films and then progressed to writing romantic films. Was it a deliberate move or an organic process?

When I was really young, I started writing situational comedies. Then later, more and more of my life became a part of it. Recently, I have started writing more about families and fathers and sons. I think it’s a natural progression.

While Notting Hill was different from Love Actually, About Time was very different from Four Weddings and a Funeral. Do you make comparisons in your head and try and make all your films look different?

(Laughs) I remember being slightly shocked when I finished Notting Hill because I realised it had exactly the same plot as Four Weddings and A Funeral. With every movie, the intention is to be different. With About Time, I wanted to deal with marriage and families and how you hang on to happiness, rather than how you fight it, which is what my earlier films were about.

Today’s generation is all about short flings and experimenting with relationships. How do you write about romance for them?

You can only really write for yourself. I would never say, I’m going to write a film which I hope will be a hit with people. You just have to assume that the experiences of your life are close to other people’s. So, I don’t worry too much about it. I just write about things and hope it rings a bell with others. It’s not my job to do market research.

Your next is Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, a sequel to Mamma Mia. What can we expect from it?

It’s very interesting. We watched the movie a lot of times. The original movie was set over a weekend. Here, half the movie is an investigation of how it was that Meryl Streep’s character slept with the three men in a month. We have kept it close to the story of the first movie but looked at it in a very different way. We have looked at the origin of how things started.

You have adapted a number of novels. What are the challenges with doing that?

I think you really have to, first, almost get the novel in your blood and then you start to do something which makes it a movie in your mind. I adapted Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot. In that case, I had to complicate it, that was the challenge in that. And then I did War Horse, where I had to uncomplicate it. So, with each one, it’s a bit different.

You have been in the film business for almost three decades. What, in your opinion, is the biggest myth about it?

(Laughs) Not a myth actually, but I would just say there is a difference between having a good idea for a film and actually making a good film. It’s as long a journey as seeing a pretty girl at a party and then being there when she gives birth to your first child. That’s the myth, that a good idea is all you need to make a good movie.

Watch Notting Hill as a part of Valentine’s Day special at 8 pm on February 14 on Sony PIX.