A micro-budgeted musical about two lonely musicians who come together while working Grafton Street? They loved it enough at Sundance to give vote it the World Audience Award. Now John Carney's thoroughly charming and unpretentious Onceis getting an Irish release. Jim Carrolltalks to Carney and star Glen Hansard, who was lured back to acting 15 years after The Commitments.
The Ticket:Glen, how did you come to be involved in Once, having sworn never to do another film after The Commitments?
Glen Hansard:John initially came to me looking for anecdotes about busking for this film, which was to star Cillian Murphy as the busker. I told him a few and he was very happy with them and he put them in the script. Then he came back and asked me did I want to do a few songs for it and I said sure. Then, out of the blue, John rang me up and said he thought I was ideal for the part.
John Carney:When I talked to Glen initially about writing some songs, I never, ever expected that he would be in the film. When it didn't work out with Cillian, it was there in plain view that your man Glen, this guy I knew for years, was perfect for the role. Because he had written the music already and he was behind the project, it seemed like an obvious choice in a way.
Ticket:How much persuasion was involved?
Carney:It was more clarity about what was required from him than persuasion. Listen, it was a risk. He could have been crap, I could have made a rubbish film. There's risk-taking when anyone changes career and jumps ship, like 50 Cent making that film with Jim Sheridan. It's a difficult thing to do.
Hansard:My initial reaction was no fucking way and you shouldn't have asked me to do this because I feel really awkward about letting you down. Plus I was 36 years of age and my career was going alright. I didn't want to blow that.
I've done a few things over the last few years that I'm a little unsure about. I did that Other Voices TV thing and, while I enjoyed it, I'm not happy about it now. I really don't want to become that older guy who says yes to everyone who will have him. I don't want to be a DJ or a TV presenter. I've always wanted to be a songwriter and I've largely stuck to my guns.
But what made the project attractive for me was that it was being done for nothing. The less money involved, the more excited I get. I only would have to talk to John, there was no middleman or moneyman. There was no star so there was no money.
Ticket:Was it a deliberate decision to take that low-budget approach, or did it just come down to a lack of funding?
Carney:I wanted to do it like we did Bachelor's Walk. We had a little bit of money but we wanted it to appear like we didn't have any. That lack of money meant no one cared, which is why we had so much creative control over it.
The same applied with Once. I knew that if I kept the budget down to an absolute minimum, just to pay the cast and crew and be able to afford to feed them, that that would suit the film. The Film Board gave me €100,000 under their micro-budget scheme, and that basically funded everything.
Hansard:There was a lot of guerilla stuff. We didn't have permits. We used long lenses when we were shooting on Grafton Street or blagged our way into Bewley's and Robert Chamber's to shoot above the street scenes. We shot the opening scene at 4.30 in the morning, which is the only time now that Grafton Street is quiet.
Ticket:It must have been strange for you to return to doing a film after a 15-year lay-off.
Hansard:I was really nervous about it. If you remember The Commitments, Outspan Foster ends the film busking on Grafton Street and Once opens with my character busking on the same street. It's like Outspan 15 years later!
What I liked about the film was the biographical aspect. I did busk, I know what it's about, I didn't have to act, I knew Markéta Irglová, John had been the bass player in my band for years. So there were a lot of parallels between the film and my life. He knew all my stories because he was right in the middle of it. There was a safety net and it felt comfortable.
Ticket:The idea of pitching Once as a modern musical is quite novel. Was that always the intention?
Hansard:That was one of the things I reacted to most in a negative way. I didn't think people would sit through eight full songs. I said John should cut them down, have snippets, make it simpler, embellish the storyline a bit. He was totally against that, he wanted it to be all about the music, but he also wanted it to be realistic.
Carney:I had been struggling for a long time trying to come up with the perfect 90-page script, which I'm not great at doing. I felt a musical could allow me to do interesting things. It was always eight or nine songs and a 40- or 50-page script, so my intention from the start was to make a modern musical. But I didn't want people breaking into song; I wanted it very natural and unforced. Musicians are constantly singing to each other and practising tunes, and it cuts out a lot of dialogue.
Ticket:As with Bachelor's Walk, Dublin looks quite different in Once to what we're used to seeing on film
Carney:I think I used a lot of the techniques and knowledge I picked up on Bacherlor's Walk about where the light is good on certain days in the city. Many film-makers doing a Dublin film will want one shot of Grafton Street, one shot of O'Connell Street with the Spire, and one shot of a Luas going by. I hate film-making like that. I prefer letting the city to be a secondary character. Dublin is not all SUVs and property.
Ticket:Markéta Irglová had never acted before, so where did the decision to cast her come from? Did this lack of acting experience cause any problems?
Hansard: Iremember John said he was looking for a female character, someone eastern European who could play piano. I said I knew someone, that she could play piano and sing really well, but I didn't know if she could act. John came to see me and Markéta play a gig and he really liked her and he immediately cast her.
Carney:Yes, that's right. I never auditioned her. I saw that she was a great singer, a great piano player and had great presence. But I never actually sat her down to see if she could act. For two or three months coming up to the film, I asked her to get a camcorder and get used to being on camera but for God's sake not to take acting classes.
On the first day of filming, I thought it was going to be a disaster. They were nervous, the camera was right up their noses, they were self-conscious. It was ropey. But I'm good at knowing when to make a U-turn, and I realised it wasn't going to work with the camera in their face. I needed to be on the other side of the street and to use long lenses. There would be no clapperboards and no shouts of 'action'. It was about making them comfortable about being on screen.
Ticket:Just how important was the Sundance audience award win for Once?
Carney:For a little film like this, Sundance was ideal. We lucked out to a degree because most of the films on show are dark, they're all about Americans reacting to what's happened in the last few years. Our film was a breath of fresh air.
There's nothing political in our film. It's boy meets girl and a bunch of songs. It's a story you could write on the back of a postage stamp. It's a lovely piece of art. It is not trying to do more than it does, it has no pretensions. It's very easy to watch. But thanks to Sundance, it now has a life and a distribution deal and it will not end up on the shelf as an unwatched curiosity.
Hansard:I wasn't really keen on going because I was tired after all the touring last year with The Frames, and I wasn't sure if there was any point in me and Markéta going, I didn't think we would be needed. My expectations were completely wrong. After every screening, we got a standing ovation and we played a few songs. People kept asking where they could get the soundtrack, which we're going to release properly. The reviews started coming in and they were all positive. It was one of those wild, wild experiences.
Best of all, the film is now going to get shown in cinemas throughout America, which is amazing for me because it means all these people will get to hear my songs.
Once is released on March 23rd
