{"id":8210,"date":"2021-12-03T15:45:42","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T14:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1529050"},"modified":"2021-12-03T16:00:22","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T15:00:22","slug":"aml-ameen-on-the-influence-of-love-actually-on-new-film-boxing-day","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/aml-ameen-on-the-influence-of-love-actually-on-new-film-boxing-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Aml Ameen on the influence of Love Actually on new film Boxing Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Patrick Cremona\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 03 December 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Festive romcoms are never exactly in short supply, but one of the most enduring examples of the genre is undoubtedly Richard Curtis\u2019 classic Love Actually, which was first released back in 2003.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise, then, that Aml Ameen\u2019s new film Boxing Day includes some nods to that film \u2013 including one scene that riffs on the famous moment when Mark (Andrew Lincoln) turns up at Juliet\u2019s (Kiera Knightley) door with a message delivered on several sheets of paper.<\/p>\n

Speaking to RadioTimes.com<\/a> for the new film\u2019s release, Ameen \u2013 who writes, directs and stars in the movie \u2013 said that Love Actually was just one of many reference points when he was crafting the film.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 1940 classic The Philadelphia Story was an influence in terms of the banter and the wit,\u201d he said. \u201cThen My Best Friend\u2019s Weddings is like my favourite rom-com of all time and there\u2019s a bit of a borrow of the music there.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, of course, you know, Love Actually and Notting Hill. Thosee Richard Curtis movies have been done so well, and it painted a version of Britain that is very charming. And so you know, I just wanted to add my personal touch to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>The film is certainly a personal one for Ameen. He said he first came up with the idea while celebrating a Boxing Day party with his own extended family back in 2016, when there was \u201ca big dance-off going on\u201d and he found himself thinking it would make for a wonderful movie.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not sure how many people are aware of how black British people celebrate their version of Christmas,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very British, but we have to throw in a little bit of the culture of like Africa and the Caribbean. So that\u2019s where initially it came from. And then as I got really, really close to wanting to do my directorial debut, I wanted to do something that felt personal, and that was coming from the heart and something that was a love letter to London of sorts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boxing Day mainly focuses on a central love triangle between an author (Ameen) his new American girlfriend, (Aja Naomi King) and his former childhood sweetheart (Leigh-Anne Pinnock) \u2013 but several supporting characters also have their own love stories going on at the same time, and this was something that Ameen felt was very important.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI always said that it\u2019s a multi-generational love story,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the one that was really particularly important to me, was what happens when you are a woman that has children and get divorced, and you want to move on into the next chapter of your life, and how scary that must be.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo that storyline was an ode to my mother and my Aunties, and people that I know that started relationships at the next chapter of their life. And so that was really important.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then with Sheyi Cole, Josh\u2019s storyline. I was one of those kids that was very infatuated as kid I can actually remember the first time I ever felt the pangs of \u2018Oh, my God\u2019 , like it\u2019s a real thing for me. So I wanted to capture all of the versions of love.\u201d<\/p> <p>And something else that was important for Ameen was to depict a side of black British life that hasn\u2019t always had the opportunity to be shown on screen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that the collective black British story, in terms of its veering away from the street genre, is still in its infancy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt starts with my film, and it starts with Reggie Yates\u2019 film [Pirates] and it starts with I May Destroy You as a TV show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut the collective black story since the street genre \u2013 which by the way, I\u2019ve been part of those films, and I love them. But I can\u2019t recall, many of this type of film that have been of any profile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I think it\u2019s that moment in history where our music artists are like, super, super successful, and we get to know them and then they kind of champion this movement. That always happens, film always follows music. Music penetrates people\u2019s souls a lot faster. And so I think that\u2019s really amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Boxing Day is currently showing in UK cinemas. Looking for something else to watch? Check out our <a href=\""https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/tv-listings\/"\">TV Guide<\/a> or visit our <a href=\""https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/movies\/"\">Film<\/a> hub for all the latest news and features.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Patrick Cremona Published: Friday, 03 December 2021 at 12:00 am Festive romcoms are never exactly in short supply, but one of the most enduring examples of the genre is undoubtedly Richard Curtis\u2019 classic Love Actually, which was first released back in 2003. It\u2019s no surprise, then, that Aml Ameen\u2019s new film Boxing Day includes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":8211,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/aml-ameen-on-the-influence-of-love-actually-on-new-film-boxing-day.jpg",1920,1281,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/aml-ameen-on-the-influence-of-love-actually-on-new-film-boxing-day-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/aml-ameen-on-the-influence-of-love-actually-on-new-film-boxing-day-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/aml-ameen-on-the-influence-of-love-actually-on-new-film-boxing-day-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/aml-ameen-on-the-influence-of-love-actually-on-new-film-boxing-day-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/aml-ameen-on-the-influence-of-love-actually-on-new-film-boxing-day-1536x1025.jpg",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/aml-ameen-on-the-influence-of-love-actually-on-new-film-boxing-day.jpg",1920,1281,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Patrick Cremona Published: Friday, 03 December 2021 at 12:00 am Festive romcoms are never exactly in short supply, but one of the most enduring examples of the genre is undoubtedly Richard Curtis\u2019 classic Love Actually, which was first released back in 2003. It\u2019s no surprise, then, that Aml Ameen\u2019s new film Boxing Day includes…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/8210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}