FILM · 2007
Music and Lyrics
25 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (25)
- #001
Hugh Grant took piano lessons as a child from Andrew Lloyd Webber's mother. He eventually quit the lessons and forgot what he had learned, so before filming he was taught to play the passages in which his hands would be visible on the keys.
- #002
Hugh Grant had to be persuaded to sing on his own and initially wanted nothing to do with singing roles. After rehearsing and performing in the studio he felt so comfortable that he announced he would stage the big concert scene live; when it was played back, he found the sound so terrible that he was amused and humbled, and was then happy to use the pre-recorded vocals.
- #003
Martin Fry, lead singer of the 1980s pop group ABC, coached Hugh Grant in his singing and dancing.
- #004
The character Alex Fletcher is a tribute to Andrew Ridgeley, a member of the 1980s British pop duo Wham!. Like Fletcher, Ridgeley wanted to repeat the success he had achieved with his bandmate George Michael (Colin Thompson in the film) and sought the same level of fame after Wham!, which disbanded in 1986. His repeated failures led Ridgeley to leave the music industry; he returned to the United Kingdom and moved to a restored 15th-century farmhouse in Wadebridge, Cornwall, with his then-girlfriend and later wife Keren Woodward, a member of another famous 80s group, Bananarama.
- #005
Hugh Grant learned to play the piano for the film, and both he and Drew Barrymore learned to sing. However, while the audience can see Hugh playing on screen, the piano performance heard is actually that of vocal coach Michael Rafter.
- #006
In a 2009 interview with Elle magazine, Hugh Grant was asked to give brief comments about various co-stars. Of Drew Barrymore he said: "Made her cry. Stunning film-star face. Hates me." He has since said that making the comments was "regrettable."
- #007
(At around 30 minutes) Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore appear in a scene in a record store. The store was actually a Tower Records located at 66th Street and Broadway, right next to Lincoln Center. Unfortunately, all Tower Records stores were to close in December 2006, months after the store scenes were filmed and before the film was released by Warner Bros. in February 2007.
- #008
This was Haley Bennett's first feature film.
- #009
A British band called Pop! used the same name as Hugh Grant's fictional entourage, complete with the exclamation mark. They released three top 40 hits before breaking up.
- #010
(At around 1 hour 5 minutes) Sophie mentions that her sister Rhonda is 7 years older than she is. Kristen Johnston is in fact 7 years older than Drew Barrymore. (Hugh Grant is 14 years older than Drew.)
- #011
Alex Fletcher and Colin Thompson grew up together, but in reality Hugh Grant (Alex) is almost 19 years older than Scott Porter (Colin).
- #012
The interior scenes of Madison Square Garden were actually filmed at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, a smaller venue in Uniondale, New York, on Long Island.
- #013
The doctor in the Pop! video is played by Danny Michael, the production's sound mixer.
- #014
In a recent interview with Drew Barrymore, Hugh Grant and director Marc Lawrence, the following exchange took place: * Drew Barrymore: "I wanted to be a part of this so I could watch that man (pointing to director Lawrence) nail that man (pointing to Hugh Grant)." * Hugh Grant: "And it's really a shame that with such an extensive acting career behind me I have to apply for something like this to get a job. (laughs)" * Drew Barrymore: "Okay. I'm going home. Now."
- #015
As of 2018, Hugh Grant had appeared in all four feature films written and directed by Marc Lawrence: Two Weeks Notice (2002), Music and Lyrics (2007), Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009) and The Rewrite (2014). Grant plays a romantic character in every film and is paired with a different actress each time.
- #016
In June 2021, Hugh Grant reunited with Drew Barrymore on her own talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show (2020), on CBS.
- #017
(At around 4 minutes) During his meeting with the 80s has-been performers of the Battle of the 80s, Alex Fletcher insists on performing two songs: a ballad and a "more up-tempo number". Alex will eventually perform these two songs with Cora Corman at the final concert.
- #018
This was the second film Hugh Grant and director Marc Lawrence worked on together that was shot in New York. Their first collaboration was Two Weeks Notice (2002), which starred and was co-produced by Oscar winner Sandra Bullock.
- #019
(At around 6 minutes) When Alex Fletcher's manager Chris Riley (Brad Garrett) introduces Haley Bennett's character, the pop diva Cora Corman, through a magazine cover, he states that she is "bigger than Britney and Christina put together". Cora Corman is based on Madonna, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears.
- #020
(At about 9 minutes) Cora Corman's track "Buddha's Delight," which closely resembles Britney Spears's "Toxic," was produced by Adam Schlesinger, Christian Karlsson (Bloodshy) and Pontus Winnberg (Avant). Bloodshy & Avant are the producers of "Toxic."
- #021
(At about 30 minutes) In the record store scene, Alex Fletcher's solo album is placed next to the Flying Lesbians section.
- #022
Although Cora Corman is based on Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, she references the latter more heavily, since both divas used religious imagery and settings in their music videos. Britney Spears's first hit single, "Hit Me Baby One More Time," had a music video set in a private Catholic high school, depicting her and her dancers in a racy version of typical Catholic school uniforms performing racy moves. Similarly, Cora Corman's "Buddha's Delight" music video featured a Buddha statue in a forest-like setting, with the character and her dancers performing racy moves while wearing racy and revealing outfits.
- #023
In Alex's apartment, a hand chart showing the ASL letter "G." could be seen. A similar chart could also be seen in Hugh Grant's apartment in Two Weeks Notice (2002).
- #024
(At about the 36th minute) Alex tells Sophie that Bob Dylan told him he was a terrible songwriter. Nine years after this film's release, Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his "new poetic expressions."
- #025
Jeannine Kaspar's debut.
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