Prontissimo! Rowan Atkinson spied on Love Actually 'sequel' set

Here’s the first look at Rowan Atkinson reprising his brief but excruciating cameo from ‘Love Actually’ in its ‘sequel’ for Comic Relief.

The actor was snapped on the set in London playing Rufus, the immaculately turned out shop assistant with a penchant for going overboard with his gift-wrapping.

In the original movie, he appears opposite Alan Rickman, who is discreetly trying to buy a necklace for his secretary Mia, with whom he’s having an affair, without his wife Karen, played by Emma Thompson, finding out.

But Rufus’s persistent fussing over the gift’s wrapping, which involves flowers, decorative bags, ribbons and additional boxes, threatens to scupper his plans.

Now, though, rather than an upscale department store, he appears to be working in Sainsbury’s.

Emma Freud, partner of director Richard Curtis, also tweeted a few shots of Atkinson on set too.

‘Comic Relief Actually’, which will be just a 10-minute short, is reuniting a host of stars from the original movie, including Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Bill Nighy and Liam Neeson, in a catch up to see where their characters are now.

However, Thompson has ruled out appearing in the short, saying that ‘it’s too soon’, following the tragic death of her friend Rickman, who died from pancreatic cancer in January, 2016.

“It’s absolutely right because it’s supposed to be for Comic Relief but there isn’t much comic relief in the loss of our dear friend really only just over a year ago,” she told PA.

“We thought and thought but it just seemed wrong but to revisit the wonderful fun characters of Bill Nighy and Hugh Grant and Liam (Neeson) and all of that, that’s fantastic but obviously what would he have done?”

Director Richard Curtis has broached the issue of a Rickman tribute too, and when asked if there would be one in the new short, he said: “You know dealing with Alan is very complicated so not really.”

The short will air on Red Nose Day, March 24.

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