Out of all of the Love Actually character storylines, the would-be romance between Laura Linney’s Sarah and Rodrigo Santoro’s Karl is one of the most memorable and not just for moviegoers.
During a 2019 appearance on The Graham Norton Show alongside Wonka lead Timothée Chalamet, his Little Women co-star Saoirse Ronan and British comedian Stephen Mangan, Linney proclaimed that “hands down” her character got the best kiss in the beloved 2003 Christmas movie, even though Sarah and Karl sadly don’t end up together in the end:
In the British romantic comedy, the American actress plays Sarah, an employee at a London-based graphic design company who is crushing on the creative director, Karl (Santoro), to the point where even her boss (Alan Rickman) knows and jokes about it. Though the characters’ near-love scene proves that Karl reciprocates Sarah’s feelings, a complicated situation with her mentally ill brother ultimately gets in the way of their romance.
In the resurfaced Graham Norton clip, you can hear the studio audience whoop it up for Linney’s hunky Brazilian co-star. (But funnily enough, despite being a self-proclaimed Love Actually fan, Chalamet had to question whether her onscreen smooch was with his fellow Wonka actor Hugh Grant or not.)
The Tales of the City star revealed that, behind the scenes, she and Santoro were actually both “very broken-hearted” in real life, which added “a sweetness” to the much-loved scene of their characters finally getting together after their office party in the holiday rom-com.
Love Actually has endured as a fan-favorite flick in the two decades since it premiered—CinemaBlend has dubbed it one of the 100 Best Movies Of The 2000s—and Linney spoke to that lasting legacy during the talk-show appearance.
Thankfully, it seems like both Linney and Santoro have fared better romantically than their on-screen characters did: the Ozark star has been married to Marc Schauer since 2009 (fun fact: her Love Actually co-star Liam Neeson walked her down the aisle at the wedding!) and Santoro got hitched to Brazilian actress Mel Fronckowiak back in 2016.
But though Sarah and Karl didn’t get their own happily ever after, at least the performers have happy memories of that smooch!