Love Actually is one of the most popular romantic comedies of our generation. The 2003 hit was so massive, in fact, that it even made its way into Saturday Night Live's 2016 election coverage and is often referenced when people talk about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal engagement. What can we say, good things can withstand the test of time.
But there's one thing that even the film's most devoted fans may not have realized until now: Keira Knightley (Juliet, the fresh-faced bride) and Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Sam, the darling British kid who developed a huge crush on an American girl) are way closer in age than they appeared on screen.
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According to BuzzFeed, a fan recently decided to dig into the film's casting and shared the findings on Tumblr. Are you ready for it? During production, Knightley was 18 (she's now 32) and Brodie-Sangster was 13 (he's now 27). One Twitter user found this post and had to share it with the universe in what's now become an incredibly viral (and unsettling) tweet appropriately captioned, "HOW THE FUCK."
HOW THE FUCK pic.twitter.com/LjTzuyOmZZ
— ju saw tdc (@reyespidey) February 9, 2018
As BuzzFeed points out, their physical differences really boil down to puberty; however, that's not stopping commenters from freaking out. Many noted that Brodie-Sangster looked far more like an elementary school kid than like someone about to enter high school, and that Knightley legitimately looked like she was in her mid-20s.
no kidding, my sister and I were talking about him today and I genuinely said “yeah he was like 6 in Love Actually” ........
— caro (@tempestbws) February 10, 2018
she was 18 ???? holy shit
— zula 114 (@lovesmyway) February 10, 2018
Keira Knightley and Thomas Brodie Sangster are only FIVE YEARS APART and this is them in LOVE ACTUALLY pic.twitter.com/f5c4hWljiR
— Claire Patton (@clary_claire) February 12, 2018
What's funnier still is that neither Knightley nor Brodie-Sangster seem to have aged over time. You might remember the boyish actor from his more recent role in Game of Thrones as Meera Reed's brother, Jojen, who died a pretty brutal death at the skeletal hands of a Wight. He's since gone on to star in Godless, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Maze Runner: The Death Cure.
As for Knightley, she's still living her best life and portraying brave, young women in period pieces like her upcoming film, Collette.
Maybe one day they'll reveal their secret to eternal youth. Until then, we're going to keep staring at their Love Actually photos and wondering how we never knew their real ages.
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