How was Marc Lawrence as a director?
I think that unique personality is Marc. He's written some very successful films before, but this one really distills his particular personality better than any of the others. I think it comes more from his heart. He's crazy about music. He's crazy about New York. He's crazy about romantic comedies. And all those things work together in this film. He's properly charming and a special personality.
Did you learn to sing and play the piano?
Because I play a pop star I have to sing and dance and do all kinds of things, which are anathema to Hugh Grant normally. It was an incredibly brave thing to do, and I want full credit for that. Ultimately, I did enjoy that part of it. I was amazed.
I thought I would hate it, but learning to play the piano, or learning to at least play the piano for those pieces, learning to sing, or at least learning a little bit how to sing was an amazing experience. I also realised what a massive cheat it is now in terms of pop music, and how it's made. You can bark like a dog and by the time they've tweaked enough buttons on the computer it comes out sounding great.
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