Martine McCutcheon reminisces about THAT ‘magical’ kiss with Hugh Grant

They stole viewers’ hearts as the Prime Minister and his hapless assistant fell for each other 20 years ago in the iconic Christmas movie Love Actually.

And Martine McCutcheon reminisced about their memorable hug during the ABC special The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later hosted by Diane Sawyer, which celebrated the 2003 film.

The actress, 46, dished up in the big kiss scene at the end of the movie between her character Natalie and Hugh’s character David.

Natalie and David met at the beginning of the film when he was elected Prime Minister and she was introduced as a member of his domestic staff at number 10.

When they meet, Natalie refers to him as ‘David’ instead of ‘Sir’, she then says, ‘I mean Sir. S**t I can’t believe I just said that, I can’t believe I just said s**t.’

“And now I’ve said s**t twice — I’m so sorry.”

David jokes, “It’s okay, you could have said f**k and we would have been in real trouble.”

Natalie hilariously replies, “Thanks sir, I had a terrible premonition that I was going to screw up on my first day.”

David seems very amused and she says, “Oh p**s it!”

David wraps up their conversation and says, “Okay, I’m going to get my things and then we’ll fix up the land, shall we?”

David walks away, but not before looking back at Natalie. Their will, they don’t want the romance to play out throughout the movie before the viewers are surprised with a kiss at the end.

They finally lock lips when Hugh shows up at Natalie’s door to tell her how he feels about her.

However, Natalie and her family are on their way to look at her cousin’s nativity scene.

During a steamy moment backstage, David and Natalie kiss – only for the curtain to fall and their clinch to be revealed.

said Martine Sawyer that many in the audience were “ordinary people who had no idea they were going to see Hugh Grant kiss someone.”

She said, “The shock when they first opened the curtains and saw us kissing. Their reactions were just amazing. It just felt magical.’

During the reunion, Hugh commented on his famous scene where he danced around 10 Downing Street as Prime Minister to The Pointer Sisters’ song Jump before realizing someone was watching him and quickly stopped.

“I saw it in the script and I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to hate doing that’.” I didn’t feel like dancing at all, let alone rehearsing.”

“I think he was hoping I’d get sick or something and we’d say, ‘Oh, well, what a shame, we’re going to have to lose that dance sequence,'” director Richard Curtis joked.

Richard said he had reminded Hugh of his contractual obligation, and grumpily agreed.

Hugh said proudly that he came up with the idea of ​​having the Prime Minister’s Secretary catch him dancing.

And to this day there are many people – and I agree with them – who think this is the most excruciating scene ever committed on celluloid. But some people like it!,” Grant added.

Dianne also chatted with Emma Thompson, who was asked if she remembered what she thought when she saw the romantic comedy.

She said, “I do. I just sat there watching and thought, “God, this is, uh, it’s quite something out there, isn’t it?”

“And then Hugh came up behind me as we walked out of the theater and said, ‘Correct me if I’m wrong, but is that the most psychotic thing we’ve ever been in?'”

“I just thought… what is he talking about?” the actress added.

‘Did I say that? Well, it’s a bit psychotic,’ said Hugh

“Like I said, it’s Richard on steroids. But the point is with him, what you have to remember is that when he writes about love, he means it. And that’s quite rare.’

Written and directed by Richard, Love Actually premiered in November 2003 to mixed reviews from critics, but was well received by audiences and has since become a modern Christmas staple.

Diane noted at the beginning of the hour-long special that Love Actually has been watched over 4.6 billion minutes by viewers around the world.

The special also featured interviews with Bill Nighy, Laura Linney, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Olivia Olson.

Love Actually also starred English actress Keira Knightley, 37, who joined a table reading the movie before filming.

“I remember sitting down with Keira while we were shooting and saying, ‘What are you going to do now?’ And she said, ‘Oh, I don’t think it’s going to work. It’s a pirate movie and they always fail,” Richard recalled when a clip of Keria in the 2003 blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean was shown.

Richard acknowledged that the multi-layered story with British actors was a gamble at the time.

“I think the 20 years show what a youthful optimist I probably was when I wrote it,” said Curtis.

Diane told the audience that Curtis wants to continue writing happy movies.

“We get thousands of movies about serial killers and there have only been about nine. And yet a million people will fall in love, feeling that this is the most interesting moment of their lives. Good deeds within families and good deeds within communities.’