Say it ain’t so!
The Holiday star Jude Law just dropped a huge bombshell about the iconic holiday movie. More specifically, that dreamy country cottage Cameron Diaz’s character, Amanda Woods, swaps her Los Angeles pad for.
During an appearance on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on the U.K.’s BBC Radio 2 on Friday, November 22, Law, 51, was asked if the Surrey-based cottage is available for fans to rent on Airbnb. And, well, brace yourselves.
“That cottage doesn’t exist,” the British actor said to shocked gasps from host Zoe Ball and fellow guest, comedian Kerry Godliman.
“What?!” Ball and Godliman expressed their shock, prompting Law to reveal the behind-the-scenes trickery used to shoot the scenes between Amanda and his character, Graham Simpkins, in the cozy cottage.
“So, the director [Nancy Meyers], she’s a bit of a perfectionist,” Law explained. “[She] toured that whole area and didn’t quite find the chocolate box cottage she was looking for, so she just hired a field, drew it, and had someone build it.”
Law continued to crush fans’ dreams by revealing that the wintery scenes weren’t even filmed in the U.K.
“But here’s the funny thing, if you watch it … so we were shooting it in winter here [in Britain],” the actor said. “And every time I’d go in that door, we cut and we shot the interiors in L.A. about three months later.”
It was one revelation too far for Ball and Godliman, who urged Law to stop speaking. “We can’t bear it!” quipped Ball.
“Just burst the bubble. Sorry!” Law responded.
First released in 2006, The Holiday is a seasonal staple for fans around the world. It stars Kate Winslet (who plays Law’s sister, Iris Simpkins) and Diaz as two women who swap homes for the holidays after experiencing heartache. Jack Black costars as Miles Dumont, Winslet’s love interest.
Earlier this year, Winslet revealed that Robert Downey Jr. auditioned to play Law’s role and recalled he had a “dreadful” English accent during his audition.
“It was a hotel room somewhere on the Upper East Side, and Robert Downey did an English accent, but I thought he was doing Australian,” she said. “I thought, ‘That’s bad. That’s not going to work and who’s going to tell him that sounds dreadful.’ … It wasn’t actually that great.”