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Love Actually Fans Freak Out Over Keira Knightley And Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s Age Gap

Love Actually fans are shocked over the age gap between Keira Knightley and Thomas Brodie-Sangster.
Credit: Universal Pictures

Love Actually fans are shocked over the age gap between Keira Knightley and Thomas Brodie-Sangster.

The hit festive film, directed by Richard Curtis, is a modern Christmas classic and is watched by fans every holiday season.

Upon its release in 2003, the movie grossed a whopping $246 million on a budget of around $40-45 million.

The film follows a number of intertwining plots about love and relationships in the build-up to Christmas.

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One of the movie’s storylines involves a bride named Juliet (played by Knightly) and how her husband’s best man from their wedding is crazily in love with her.

While another plot in the film follows Sam (Brodie-Sangster) as a student who has a crush on a classmate he has never spoken to.

From these descriptions, you’d think they’d have a huge age gap, but it turns out that there are only five years between them. 

Knightly was only 18 when Love Actually was made, while Brodie-Sangster was 13 years old. 

The Pirates of the Caribbean star was closer in age to him than she was to her on-screen husband Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave), who was 26 at the time.

Keira Knightley in Love Actually.
People are in disbelief over the age gap between Keira Knightley and Thomas Brodie-Sangster. Credit: Universal Pictures

Viewers are only just realising this and are expressing disbelief on social media.

One viewer shared: “The fact that Keira Knightley and Thomas Brodie-Sangster looked like this in Love Actually and they were only five years apart in age will never not amaze me.”

A second fan added: “Watching Love Actually (since it’s Christmas) and all I can think about is how there’s only a five-year age gap between Keira Knightley and Thomas Brodie-Sangster.”

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“I was today years old when I learned that there is only a five-year age difference between Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Keira Knightley in Love Actually,” said another viewer.

A fourth person mentioned: “I still can’t believe the age difference between Keira Knightley and Thomas Sangster in Love Actually was just 5 YEARS.

“I really thought Tom was like 8 years old and Keira was like, I don’t know, 22 back then? How clueless I was.”

A fifth viewer added: “Just found out that I’m the last person to learn there was only a five-year age gap between Thomas Brodie-Sangster (13) and Keira Knightley (18) when they filmed Love Actually.

“I will not be taking questions at this time.”

Alongside Knightly, Brodie-Sangster, and Ejiofor, Love Actually stars a number of huge names.

Hugh Grant (Notting Hill), Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List), Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee), Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Alan Rickman (Harry Potter), Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey), Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead), Martin Freeman (Sherlock), and Billy Bob Thornton (Fargo) all appear in the film.

Despite coming out to mixed reviews, the festive rom-com remains popular and is countlessly rewatched every year.

Allan Hunter, writing for Screen International, said in his film review: “A polished, fluid production with impeccable technical credits and a winning soundtrack, Love Actually is the very definition of entertainment and is guaranteed to bring joy to the world this Christmas.”

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Written by Rosario Monachino

Rosario is a former content editor at IGV who specialized in film, TV, and entertainment news. He has a degree in English and Film from the University of Salford and a master's in Journalism from Liverpool John Moores University.