At Christmas, you tell the truth.
And the truth is Hugh Grant didn't want to film his iconic dance scene in the 2003 holiday movie Love Actually.
"I think I saw it in the script," the actor, 62, recalled during The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special, "and I thought, 'Well I'll hate doing that.'"
And he did. So much so, in fact, that the movie's writer and director Richard Curtis shared that Grant "kept saying no" to the scene. Still, it was part of the job.
"He was grumpy," Curtis remembered of filming that day. "It was a contractual obligation, a bit of a contractual obligation acting."
So what did he think when the Notting Hill star finally started busting some moves? "I'm thinking, 'Oh, good he's doing it," Curtis continued. "Two, that's agonizingly embarrassing. He's just perfect."
However, Grant thinks his performance doesn't quite hit the mark. "I'm out of rhythm by the way," the Four Weddings and a Funeral actor told Diane Sawyer, "especially at the beginning when I wiggle my ass."
Another critique? Grant, who played a newly elected British prime minster in Love Actually, said there's also a moment when his "lips are out of sync" with the Pointer Sisters' song "Jump (For My Love)" playing in the background. However, even he admits it wasn't all bad.
"But I will give myself this credit," Grant shared. "It was my idea to have the secretary lady catch me. Genius!"
This isn't the first time The Undoing alum had expressed his loathing over having to film the scene. He also did so in the 2019 BBC Two documentary Hugh Grant: A Life on Screen.
"Imagine, you're a grumpy 40-year-old Englishman, it's 7 o'clock in the morning, you're stone-cold sober and it's, 'OK, Hugh, if you'd like to freak out now,'" he said, later adding, "It was absolute hell."
Still, Grant likely knows that the love for the scene actually is all around.
The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special airs Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. EST on ABC and will be available to stream the next day on Hulu.