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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

For filmmaker Marc Lawrence, writing and directing “Music & Lyrics” was a way to explore a world he’s always been interested in—the world of writing music. “Even though I’ve been in a band, I’m a really bad musician,” he laments, “but I’ve always been fascinated by songwriting. I liked the idea of doing a film about a writer, but if I were to write about a screenwriter, it would get too close to my own personal agony,” he jokes. “So this was a way to write about the creative process, which I’m very familiar with, and also to write about my other great love: music.”

To create the fledgling writing team of Fletcher & Fisher, Lawrence researched legendary duos like the Gershwins and Elton John and Bernie Taupin. “I read a lot of books and watched a lot of documentaries,” he says. “In many of the more famous teams, one person writes lyrics and the other writes music. I knew the conflict of a team, where each person had a specific role in a creative process that is ultimately collaborative, could yield some good comedy.”

To add to the humor, Lawrence’s music writers would have to be an unusual fit. “Alex was part of a Wham-like band known as ‘PoP,’ and his partner went on to great solo success; however Alex’s career went absolutely the other way. Now, his only reliable gigs are state fairs and small local amusement parks, but even those are starting to look like long shots.”

Luckily for Alex, fortune smiles on him when the music industry’s current “It Girl,” Cora Corman, decides she wants him to write her next song. “Alex gets the opportunity to write a duet for this Britney Spears-like artist,” states Lawrence. “At first, all she has is an idea for the title, which she calls ‘Way Back Into Love.’ Now she wants someone to write the song, and sing it live onstage with her at Madison Square Garden, when her album comes out in a few days. Cora seeks out Alex to write the song because his music inspired her when she was a little girl. She thinks he’s retro, which is fine with Alex, as long as he gets a job out of it.”

Although, as a member of PoP, Alex produced several hits in the ‘80s, he has never written lyrics. He also faces a tight turnaround time to write the song, and knows that he is going to be competing against other artists for the one available spot on Cora’s album. Alex has only days to come up with a hit and reclaim his career.

Enter Sophie Fisher, a former writing student who has never attempted to write lyrics and, due to a bad break up with her writing professor, believes she’ll never write anything again. “As it turns out however, she has a natural ability to write lyrics,” reveals Lawrence.

Sophie and Alex only meet by chance when the directionless Sophie comes to Alex’s apartment to water his plants, a job she’s doing temporarily to help a friend. “Alex wasn’t unhappy with his life when he meets Sophie,” says Lawrence. “He’s had to downsize and he’s no longer a big star but he’s comfortable and he thinks he’s figured out who he is. But then he opens his door one day and this exotic bird flies in and flaps around and flies out and he has this very strong reaction. He says, ‘What was that?’ Meeting Sophie gradually begins to change his life.”

The director continues, “Sophie is similar in that she doesn’t want to rock the boat. She had her heart broken by her former professor and boyfriend, Sloan Cates, who betrayed her by writing a thinly veiled fictional account of their relationship, which is now a bestselling book. It’s a very unflattering portrayal that calls Sophie an ‘imitation of a writer who had no real talent or ability.’ Naturally this crushes Sophie, and she finds it impossible to write again.”

“When Sophie meets Alex, they’re both sort of running on a treadmill and not moving forward at all. Both have lost the belief that they can create something beautiful and meaningful,” notes Drew Barrymore who plays Sophie in the film. “So here are these two lost souls who come together to write a song, and they do open each other up again to the fact that they have something to offer the world, to themselves and, ultimately, to each other.”

Hugh Grant, who stars as Alex Fletcher, also enjoyed playing a character who has fallen on tough times. “Alex was a world famous pop star and is now doing school reunion concerts. He handles his undignified position with great good humor, but in a sense with too much good humor. He’s convinced himself that this is all he’s really worth in life. He’s scared of trying to be too creative again. He needs to be reminded that he’s talented and passionate about his music. This is what Sophie does. She reawakens him both creatively and romantically. And he does the same for her in the end.”

But before they realize they can make great music together Alex tries to work with another lyricist and the collaboration fails miserably. Sophie, who happens to be tending to Alex’s plants at the time, suggests a lyric or two, and Alex seizes on it, asking her to come up with more phrases. Sophie is reluctant but Alex realizes that he must drag the song out of her or put the final nail in the coffin of his career. Suddenly, these two people who don’t know each other at all are thrust into a situation where they have to work together, intensely, for entire days at a time.

“These are two artists with very different styles, and suddenly they’re locked in a room together. Their individual quirks begin to emerge and they really get to know each other the way you can with somebody in an intense period,” notes the director. “They’re constantly writing and arguing and walking and eating, and writing and re-writing and trying to force out the song. And for anybody who’s ever had that experience with someone—trying to accomplish something creative— or even traveling for a long period of time, you know you can get on each other’s nerves… and develop a very intimate relationship.”

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THE CAST AND CHARACTERS
As he began writing 'Music and Lyrics,' Lawrence had only one actor in mind for the role of Alex Fletcher, Hugh Grant, with whom he had previously worked on the romantic comedy 'Two Weeks’ Notice.'