'Love Actually' stars to reunite for Red Nose Day short

Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Comic Relief says it has begun taping Red Nose Day Actually, a short film reuniting the stars of the iconic romantic comedy Love Actually.

The mini-movie will offer updates on the characters memorably played by Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Andrew Lincoln, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Martine McCutcheon, Lucia Moniz, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Olivia Olson, Marcus Brigstocke and Rowan Atkinson.

The press release announcing the project did not mention some other prominent Love Actually cast-members such as Emma Thompson, Laura Linney, Martin Freeman, Rodrigo Santoro and the late Alan Rickman.

The reunion will be shown as part of the Red Nose Day 2017 telethon on March 24 on BBC One.

"Over the years, I've enjoyed doing Red Nose Day specials of TV things I've worked on -- Blackadder, The Vicar of Dibley and Mr. Bean. It seemed like a fun idea this year to do a special sketch based one of my films, since Red Nose Day is now in both the United Kingdom and America," Love Actually writer-director Richard Curtis said in a statement Wednesday.

"I would never have dreamed of writing a sequel to Love Actually, but I thought it might be fun to do 10 minutes to see what everyone is now up to. Who has aged best? -- I guess that's the big question... or is it so obviously Liam?" Curtis continued. "We've been delighted and grateful that so many of the cast are around and able to take part -- and it'll certainly be a nostalgic moment getting back together and recreating their characters 14 years later. We hope to make something that'll be fun -- very much in the spirit of the original film and of Red Nose Day -- and which we hope will help bring lots of viewers and cash to the Red Nose Day shows."