Movie star Hugh Grant has theatre impresario Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's mother to thank for his new role as a fallen 1980s pop star - because she once gave him piano lessons as a child.

Grant called on those musical sessions to help him look like he knew what he was doing as songwriter Alex Fletcher in new film Music & Lyrics.

The actor simply wishes he'd continued with his piano lessons.

He says, "She taught me briefly when I was nine, and then I had a tantrum and gave it up. She was very nice. I remember distinctly going around to her house and I had to sit on three London telephone directories to reach the keyboard.

"We did it for about a month or two. I wish passionately I'd gone on with it. She was very keen that I should just go for it and just play."

His early lessons did provide one highlight - he got to meet his teacher's son.

Grant recalls, "I went to a dinner party and Andrew Lloyd Webber was there and, after dinner, he played and it was deafening. I've never known a man who hit the keys harder in my life. People ran screaming into the night with their ears bleeding.

"He's a very nice chap but he's too loud."