20 Things You Didn't Know About High Fidelity

16. The Fourth Wall-Breaking Was Inspired By Alfie

High Fidelity's memorable narrative conceit sees protagonist Rob frequently breaking the fourth wall to talk directly to the audience, in turn detailing his feelings and basically softening the edges of an otherwise quite prickly character.

This wasn't originally part of the plan, though, with Cusack adamantly insisting that having Rob talk to the camera would result in "too much" of him, even though his co-writers were keen on the idea, citing the Michael Caine-starring 1966 classic comedy Alfie as an exceptional use of fourth wall breaks.

Ultimately Cusack was swayed when Frears came aboard as director and agreed that the meta angle would best serve the material. The rest, as they say, is history.