Richard Curtis has only seen 'Love Actually' twice since it was released.

The 68-year-old filmmaker's 2003 film has become a festive must-see for many households but the director admitted it isn't something he looks back on very often, and one of the only times he has seen it was a "ghastly" experience.

He recently told new! magazine: "One time was ghastly, Emma (Freud, wife) told me there was a sing-along version - which it wasn't - at an American cinema.

"All the kids went with us. There were six other people in the cinema - two of them were there for warmth, two of them were there for sex. They said it was going to be like 'Rocky Horror'."

Fortunately, the second screening holds much happier memories for Richard.

He said: "The second time was with a live orchestra at Drury Lane and that was wonderful.

"I made a speech beforehand and said that my mother-in-law and daughter had made cameos in the film and had never received applause.

"Surreally, 1,500 people all cheered when they came on screen. It was a very sweet moment."

Richard has written and produced new animated festive movie 'That Christmas', which is on Netflix, and he was amused when director Simon Otto slipped in a joke at the expense of 'Love Actually', when someone is talking about the "old" Christmas film.

Richard said: "They sprung that on me, by the way. I thought it was a reference to 'Miracle on 34th Street' - grainy stuff with American men in bow ties.

"But when I watched it, they'd put in 'Love Actually' and I thought, 'I deserve that.' "

Simon added: "It was a great moment when we showed that sequence to Richard - I studied his face so closely.

"Something we both have to accept is that some movies we worked on are very old films to kids today."