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10 Reasons Richard Curtis Rocks
Love him or loathe him (and there are plenty of people in both camps), there is no question that The Boat That Rocked writer-director Richard Curtis is among the most influential figures in the British cultural scene. Cynics can’t abide his romantic, often sentimental vision of middle class England, and increasingly it seems like the critics have their knives out for him. On the other hand you would be hard pressed to find anyone in the country more in sync with his audience – his commercial track record speaks for itself – and his work with Comic Relief has raised 80 million pounds for the poorest people on the planet. Still, even his most ardent fans wouldn’t call Curtis hip. That is, until now… 
1. Rowan AtkinsonPut it this way: without Richard Curtis, there would be no Rowan Atkinson. Or at least, not as we know and love him. More than anyone (except maybe Rowan’s mum and dad) Curtis shaped and moulded the putty-faced comic actor. Their association goes back as far as Not The Nine O’Clock News (and beyond), and includes Atkinson’s two indelible characters, Blackadder and Mr Bean. 
2. BlackadderDeserves it own separate entry. After all, this was hysterical romp through the best bits of British history was voted the second best British sit-com ever. It’s worth noting that for a writer so often targeted for his idealism and sentimentality, Curtis (in collaboration with Atkinson) created one of the most devious, selfish and cynical comic anti-heroes ever to grace the small screen. It’s also worth pondering the impact of this series on the careers of Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Without Curtis, maybe there wouldn’t have been House. 
3. Four Weddings and a FuneralIt’s easy to snipe about it, but there is a reason this middle budget romantic comedy became a smash hit – it’s very, very funny. A medium budget British picture with an imported American star (Andie MacDowell), Four Weddings surprised everyone when it became the most successful British film at the US box office, and went on to earn Oscar nominations and Bafta wins. Among other things, this is the movie that bequeathed us blockbusters in May (before this film’s success it was supposed to be a graveyard month for releases), Wet Wet Wet’s biggest hit (Love is All Around was number one in Britain for 15 weeks), and which propelled WH Auden onto the best seller lists. 
4. Kristin Scott ThomasBefore Four Weddings, KST did Under The Cherry Moon, A Handful Of Dust and Bitter Moon. But after her scene-stealing performance as Fiona she found herself on the A list, working with Tom Cruise, Robert Redford and Robert Altman. Without Richard Curtis, no The English Patient? 
5. Working TitleThe most successful British production company of the last 20 years was struggling in the early 90s, with duds like Chicago Joe And The Showgirl, Drop Dead Fred and London Kills Me. Along comes Four Weddings, and the company’s fortunes are transformed. Fargo. Elizabeth. The Big Lebowski. High Fidelity. Billy Elliot. Shaun Of The Dead. Curtis wasn’t directly involved in any of these, but the money his movies generated – Four Weddings, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary and Bean were all huge hits – supported some of the Coen brothers’ best work, as well as the first feature from one Sacha Baron Cohen. No Richard Curtis, no Borat? 
6. Hugh GrantUndoubtedly the biggest beneficiary of Four Weddings was Hugh Grant, and by extension English public school boys everywhere. According to Grant he was on the verge of giving up acting when the movie turned him into an international sex symbol and had critics comparing him to that other Grant, Cary. Even though he would be accused of always playing himself, Charles and William, the parts he played in Four Weddings and Notting Hill, are said by those in the know to be much closer to Richard Curtis than Hugh. 
7. Liz HurleyNo Richard Curtis = no Four Weddings And A Funeral = no premiere to showcase that dress, the black Versace safety pin number that turned la Hurley from a C-list gf to a B-list actor into one of the most photographed women in the world. 
8. Women PriestsAn idea that threatened to tear the Anglican Church apart – that sex has no bearing on the qualifications of the priesthood – was thoroughly neutralized by the appearance of cuddly, saucy Dawn French in Curtis’s miraculously popular The Vicar of Dibley (which came in third in the best British sitcom poll). If only. 
9. Bill NighyObviously Bill Nighy was well on his way to being Bill Nighy before Richard Curtis cast him as Billy Mack in Love Actually (the actor was 53 at the time). But that relatively small, BAFTA winning part was generally agreed to be far and away the funniest thing in the movie and it seemed to crystallize everything that was ripe and unruly about him. Not surprisingly, Nighy seems to have replaced Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Grant as Curtis’s favourite actor – he starred in The Girl in the Café and returns in The Boat that Rocked. 
10. Pop MusicPop stands for “popular” and Curtis gets that. His soundtrack choices wouldn’t impress Nick Hornby – they’re too obvious. But like Noel Coward, he understands the potency of cheap music (unlike Coward, he would never be snobby about it). You can point to Wet Wet Wet, or to All You Need is Love in Love, Actually, or to the dozen of tracks applied so effectively in Comic Relief broadcasts, but let’s just list some of the bands who ensure the boat rocks in The Boat That Rocked: The Who, The Kinks, The Supremes, Dusty Springfield, Otis Redding, The Beach Boys, Smokey Robinson, Martha and the Vandellas, Leonard Cohen, the Rolling Stones. Now try to tell me that Richard Curtis doesn’t rock…. Tom Charity Titles related to this articleRelated/similar articles
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