Steve Smith as Harry (Alan Rickman)
If Steve Smith were to be any Love Actually character, it’s Harry. Much like Harry, Smith oversaw it all and was the man to be. He was captain of the Australian cricket side and adored by his nation. Both were likeable guys, who had a job they just wanted to crack on with. However, both Harry and Smith were attracted to the same prospect, the prospect of cheating.
Whilst Harry was drawn into the red web of his secretary Mia, flirting with her and buying her a necklace behind his wife, Karen’s, back, Smith was also cheating behind Australia’s back. Smith was part of a leadership team that were aware of plans to cheat in a test match by scuffing the ball with sandpaper to give it more reverse swing.
Harry and Smith’s worlds came crashing down once their dirty plans were rumbled. Karen confronted Harry about his necklace-giving antics at their children’s nativity play, leaving him unsure of his future with his family. Smith’s tampering colleague, Cameron Bancroft, was caught cheating on field, resulting in a press conference where Smith confessed to the world’s media about his team’s unsportsman-like antics. Both Harry and Smith experienced a massive fall from grace, making them the perfect combination.
Harvey Elliot as Sam
Whilst all the adults are trying to steal the spotlight with their heat-warming love stories in Love Actually, we all know the true stars of the the film are Sam and Joanna. Sam falls for his American classmate and learns the drums to impress her rockstar-style, before a last-minute iconic dash through the airport for a kiss on the cheek from his beloved.
Therefore, in a year when he became the Premier League’s youngest ever player at 16-years-old and 30 days, Liverpool’s Harvey Elliot must take the role. Playing for Fulham at the time, a last minute substitute appearance away at Wolves saw Elliot write his name into the record books. Since then he’s been snapped up by the Scouse side and in October got sent off to an education course with a ban after bad mouthing Spurs’ Harry Kane on social media. Elliot is hardly full of the charm that Love Actually’s Sam can claim. And where Sam learns to love, Elliot is just learning how to keep his mouth shut.
Coco Gauff as Joanna
Sam’s love interest, Joanna, is very much the classmate that everyone is after. Fellow compatriot and youngster Coco Gauff lands her role in The Courier’s casting.
2019 has been a fairy-tale for the 15-year-old. A few notable moments including a first WTA title in doubles and a WTA main draw debut as a wild card at the Miami Open kicked off the first few months of 2019 well. However, no one could have predicted what was to come next.
Another wildcard entry into Wimbledon saw Gauff in the qualifying draw and she proceeded to knockout 92nd rank and qualifying favourite Aliona Bolsova to enter the first round. In the main draw, the youngster claimed scalps against Venus Williams, Magdaléna Rybàrikovaà and Polona Hercog, before being eliminated in the fourth round by eventual champion Simona Halep. Unprecedented success taken with a smile and endearing charm, Gauff found herself in the hearts of tennis fans across the world – Joanna would be proud.
Jimmy Anderson as Natalie
If Alastair Cook is David then only one man can be the sporting equivalent of his love interest Natalie. Jimmy Anderson.
The parallels are obvious. In Love Actually David and Natalie meet on their first day of work, whilst Jimmy and Sir Alastair met in 2006 when they were both newbies in the England test setup having been called up from the England A squad for a tour of India. The similarities don’t end there. Natalie jokes throughout the film that she’s from the dodgy end of Wandsworth, and Jimmy is from Burnley, the dodgy end of Lancashire.
The most obvious similarity between the two couples is the obvious sexual tension between them. Cook and Anderson witnessed a complete change in the coaching and playing personnel during their time in the England team, but the one constant over that time was the romance between the two, with the pair rooming together on tour and wiling away the hours playing darts together.
Like David and Natalie, the pair were torn apart. Jimmy and Alastair due to Cook’s low batting average prompting his retirement, and Natalie and David due to a strange, fairly problematic, very pre-metoo incident in which Natalie was fired for being hit on by a sleazy American president.
Upon the split, Jimmy, like Natalie, declared his undying love for his friend. Whilst Natalie wrote “I’ll always be yours” in a card, Jimmy tearfully stated “he’s my best mate, it’s been so great him always being there for me” in an emotional Sky Sports interview following Cook’s last test.
Given the similarities between the two couples we can only presume that come Christmas Eve Sir Alastair will be knocking on doors around Burnley, desperately searching for his lost love.
Bradley Wright-Phillips as Chris
Chris from Love Actually leads a fairly depressing life in England as he works as a waiter and is perpetually unlucky in love. He moves to America where his fortunes change as he becomes a “sex God” and strikes lucky with a group of American girls enamoured by his Englishness.
Bradley Wright-Phillips, the ex-Southampton, Charlton and New York Red Bulls striker, has followed a similar footballing pathway, never really performing in England before going to America and becoming a hero.
The English striker started his career at Manchester City before dropping down the leagues, never really catching the eye during spells at Southampton, Plymouth, Charlton and Brentford. At the age of 28 he upped sticks and left for America to join the New York Red Bulls, where his fortunes changed.
Wright-Phillips scored 126 goals in 240 appearances during his six years with the club and won the MLS golden boot twice. An unremarkable career suddenly became littered with individual honours, as he made the MLS all star team twice, was voted New York Red Bulls most valuable player three times, and made the CONCACAF region’s best XI in 2018.
Upon leaving the club the Red Bulls’ sporting director Denis Hamlett described Wirhgt-Phillips as “one of the best forwards in MLS history” and, like Chris, whilst the mention of his name won’t have much of an impact upon the average English person, in America he is worshipped as a hero.
Zara Phillips as Juliet
Juliet, Keira Knightley’s character in Love Actually, is the original rah. If a 2019 remake was made of the film she’d almost certainly be dressed in a brightly coloured puffa jacket complaining about lower income students getting larger maintenance loans. Juliet is popular with both her husband Peter and his best friend Mark and so her sporting equivalent must therefore be a posh but popular sportsperson. Zara Phillips fits the bill.
Phillips is probably the poshest sportsperson of the century, her Nan’s the Queen and when she was born she was sixth in line to the throne. Zara Phillips competed in probably the poshest sport in the world, show jumping, winning gold medals in the 2005 European Eventing Championship and the 2006 FEI European Equestrian games.
Zara Phillips also shares Juliet’s popularity as she sprung a surprise to be voted 2006 BBC Sports Personality Of The Year, ahead of golfer Darren Clarke and gymnast Beth Tweddle, winning 32.5% of the public vote despite being considered an outsider by the bookies.
In 2011 Phillips had a fairytale wedding similar Juliet’s in Love Actually, tying the knot with England rugby player Mike Tindall in an exclusive ceremony at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh. Whether any of Tindall’s friends have turned up at the couple’s house to silently declare their love for Phillips using unnecessarily large placards is unknown, but even if this hasn’t happened the pair are similar enough for Zara Phillips to be considered Juliet’s sporting equivalent.
Sir Bobby Robson as Daniel
Sir Bobby Robson, a manager which any English football fan will hold dearly in their hearts, was a world renowned pioneer of modern management. He worked his way up from teams such as Fulham and Ipswich, all the way to giants such as Barcelona, where he even coached a young manager himself, Jose Mourinho. He was truly the definition of what a coach should be. He learned how to speak Spanish, so he wouldn’t require a translator for interviews, and could communicate easier with the players. He fought against his battle with lung cancer, even though the doctors told his he wouldn’t be able to manage again. He put everything on the line for the betterment of his players, and made every sacrifice possible. For anyone with an account, there’s a fantastic documentary on Netflix which came out a few years ago, called ‘More Than a Manager’. I think the title is apt.
No character from Love Actually can come close to representing the fantastic man who he was. However, if we take a look at Daniel, Liam Neesons’ character, we can see some similarities. Daniel fights through the loss of his wife, which we see early on in the movie, to try and give his son the best quality of life possible. However, when his son, Sam, says that he’s in love with a girl from his school, Daniel goes the extra mile to make it a possibility. He encourages him to play the drums, in order to woo her. He watches love stories with him. He goes the extra mile and, in helping his son find love, he achieves some sort of closure from the loss of his wife. Daniel manages his son to achieve what he wants, with the great words of: “Tell her that you love her. You’ve got nothing to lose, and you’ll always regret it if you don’t”.
This wise words of wisdom from Daniel, are somewhat mirrored by that of Bobby Robson, who in his conventional charm once said,
“The first 90 minutes of the match are the most important”.
While Daniel fought through the loss of his wife, to help his son find love, Bobby Robson fought through his battle with cancer, to implement stellar management across any team he managed. Both represent what it means to be a true manager.