Hugh Grant Makes Romantic Comedy Comeback
"Music and Lyrics" is Hugh Grant's first comedy in seven years after he threatened to end his days as a romantic comedy leading man.
The reason he chose to star in "Music and Lyrics" was simple: it was too funny to pass up.
"I get quite a lot of romantic comedies and they are very often charming but seldom truly funny, and this one was funny," he told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm.
Grant said writer and director Marc Lawrence creates a great banter between himself and costar Drew Barrymore, reminiscent of older romantic comedies.
In the movie, Grant plays an aging '80s pop star named Alex Fletcher who was the front-man of the group Pop. He meets Barrymore's character, who ends up helping him pen a new song. Romance ensues. Grant said he and Barrymore are "ridiculously opposite."
"She's pure Californian, sunshine, joy, laughter, positive thoughts and I am a cloud of London gloom," he said.
But somehow, their differences came through as good onscreen chemistry. They played off each other and created an awkward sexual tension that the audience can enjoy.
"Actually weirdly on the screen it's not one of those couples where you think well they are bound to get it on," Grant said. "I think in a way you think the reverse, oh, no, I hope they don't. He's much too old for her. But actually, it kind of makes it more interesting that halfway through the film you start to think actually, I think I do want them to splice."
Click here to see photos of the "Music and Lyrics" premiere in London.
In the movie, Grant is actually singing and dancing and he appears on the soundtrack, which makes him, he said, an actual pop star. He said he was trained like a performing seal and had the help of great producers and computers that could straighten out a flat note — but it wasn't always easy.
"To be up there at 7 in the morning feeling like a 47-year-old grumpy Englishman wearing tight trousers and high heels and people saying, 'Go be snaky,' " Grant said. "I don't have it in me. For me to dance at all, it's got to be really late at night and I have to be drunk and usually I have gotten back from the party and standing alone in my underpants, so it's hard under those circumstances."
Appropriately, the movie opens on Valentine's Day, a day Grant said can reap huge rewards if a man knows how to play it right.
"I remember one Valentine's Day ago sending a huge bunch of flowers to this girl and instantly regretting it," he said. "But ... it worked so well. Girls are easy. Really easy."
