Music <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m always on the lookout for interesting characters that suggest a world,\u201d says John Carney<\/a>, the director behind music-driven films like Once<\/em> and Sing Street<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tHaving dedicated himself to being a cinematic chronicler of music and the people who make it, Carney has carved out a unique in-between space as a storyteller. A self-professed \u201cfailed band guy,\u201d he picked up a camera and focused it on his onetime creative passion. Carney is a musician\u2019s filmmaker; a bard for the bards.<\/p>\n \n\tAfter breaking out with indie Once<\/em>, a movie about an Irish busker and a Czech immigrant pianist recording music together that landed an Oscar for best original song, he made movies about the second chances made possible by music (Begin Again<\/em>), the triumph and torment of first bands (Sing Street<\/em>) and the therapeutic prospects of a guitar (Flora and Son<\/em>). Now, he is heading back to theaters with Power Ballad<\/em>, out in a limited release on May 29 before expanding nationwide on June 5.<\/p>\n \n\tThe character that inspired Power Ballad<\/em> was a 40-something dad in a Dublin suburb that the director happened to spot one day. He was wearing leather boots, carrying a guitar and semi-successfully loading his daughter into the backseat of the family car. Says Carney, \u201cHe had the walk of a rock star, but like a rock star for whom it hadn\u2019t happened.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe was just this guy who just kind of does what every writer is looking for, which is just throw a ton of questions at you that you need to answer,\u201d Carney <\/em>tells The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>. \u201cWhen did he say, \u2018I\u2019m okay with not being Bono?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWith this in mind, Carney, along with his co-writer Peter McDonald, created Rick, a onetime touring rocker who, on a stop in Dublin, met the love of his life, settling down with a wife and daughter and a new gig as the frontman to a modestly successful wedding band. Overall, Rick is content, if not fully satisfied with his life\u2019s trajectory.<\/p>\n \n\tCarney wanted to put Rick in conflict with a person who had the outward trappings of a life that Rick dreamed of for himself. Enter Danny, a massively popular former boy band-er having his own existential crisis, trying to figure out his next creative step as a solo artist. They come together during an alcohol-fueled jam session, after which Danny turns one of Rick\u2019s songs into a chart topping hit, setting Rick on a quest to track down Danny and claim the credit he feels is deserved.<\/p>\n \n\tThe storytelling potential of Rick and Danny\u2019s juxtaposing circumstances appealed to Carney. He says, \u201cI thought it was really interesting to meet a younger version of yourself and to give that person advice and to tell them what you had learned. But, the funny thing is, the person that you\u2019re talking to is doing better than you.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tEarly on, Paul Rudd<\/a> was attached to play Rick. When looking for his Danny, Carney was aiming for a certain level of real-life musical bona fides. He explains, \u201cPaul playing a singer in Ireland is already a slight push, but it\u2019s one that the audience will allow. I can\u2019t ask them to do it twice.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tTo Carney, it\u2019s a hard to find an actor that can convincingly play a musician who has reached the most rarified spaces of musical success. \u201cA film, which will remain nameless, came out and it had an actor playing a singer, and it was so bad. Clearly, this actor was acting out what it was like to be a boy-band guy. And he was a good actor! So, it wasn\u2019t that,\u201d the director says. <\/p>\n \n\tFinding an actor who also happens to have spent a fair amount of time as an uber successul musician is a difficult task. But, with this ultra-specific remit, the ideal casting became clear. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cNick Jonas<\/a> has an inner working that\u2019s going on all the time. He\u2019s inscrutable,\u201d says the director of the longtime singer-songwriter, whose acting credits include the Jumanji<\/em> film franchise. \u201cHe brings a certain kind of mysterious, enigmatic reality and truth to the character that we really needed.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tEven still, Carney was told it was a \u201cbad idea\u201d to cast Jonas, who came-of-age as one-third of the pop rock bank the Jonas Brothers. He explains, \u201cA lot of people in Ireland did think that there\u2019s something a little bit novelty about the Jonas Brothers. European audiences are a little bit more precious.\u201d Others warned the director that Jonas\u2019 presence could overshadow the film.<\/p>\n \n\tBy the time everyone was on set in Dublin, the filmmakers knew they had made the right casting choice. \u201cNick played this character really small. He didn\u2019t come in going, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m the boy band guy!\u2019 Then you realize that\u2019s what those guys \u2014 those superstars, since they\u2019ve been seven years old \u2014 have. It\u2019s quiet,\u201d Carney adds. \u201cHe wants to go and play golf and have a nice whiskey and talk about the part and go to bed early and call his daughter and his wife. That\u2019s what being a massive boy band star is like, really.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFilm critics at SXSW, where Power Ballad<\/em> had its U.S. premiere this March, took note of Jonas\u2019 performance. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be familiar with Jonas\u2019 actual career as a pop star to be dazzled by Danny\u2019s innate magnetism,\u201d reads The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>\u2019s review<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tWatching Power Ballad<\/em>, audience sympathies toggle back-and-forth between Rudd\u2019s Rick and his quest for credit and Jonas\u2019 Danny, with his desire for legitimacy. \u201cNobody is fully the person that they wanted to be in a way,\u201d says the director, who pauses before adding, \u201cActually, except rock stars.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tCheck out Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas as Rick and Danny in the latest trailer for Power Ballad <\/em>below.<\/p>\n \n