Paul Rudd has revealed that the lure of working in Ireland again was a key reason for agreeing to work in new Irish music comedy, Power Ballad.
The US actor made these comments while speaking about the upcoming project which is directed by Dubliner, John Carney, and sees Rudd play a has-been wedding singer, Rick Power, who meets fading boyband star Danny during a gig. Danny is play by Nick Jonas.
However, Danny soon manages to turn one of Rick's songs into a hit which reignites his career, leading to Rick to seek to reclaim the recognition he deserves.
"I play a guy who was in a band when he was younger. He was on tour, stopped in Dublin for a show, met a girl, things happened and as it turns out, his rock `n' roll days are not as he predicted they would be . . .", Rudd said. "Cut to fifteen years later and Rick is now living in Dublin and singing in a wedding band".
On why he chose to work on this project above all other script offers he gets, Rudd explained: "I am such a fan of John’s and I love all of his films and I loved the idea of being able to work in Ireland, which I have done previously but never for this good, long stretch of time".
"I loved the script and the idea of doing something I hadn’t done before, that was a little intimidating and I wanted to give it a go".
"Plus, he thought I was John Crowley, the guy who directed Brooklyn," Carney chimed in. "On the first day, Paul said to me, 'I loved Brooklyn!’ and I said, ‘that’s John Crowley".
"I was so nervous on that first day, I’d completely forgot about that conversation," Rudd said.
John Carney co-wrote this musical alongside Peter McDonald, who also stars in it alongside Beth Fallon, Rory Keenan, Keith McErlean, Jack Reynor, Sophie Vavasseur and Naoimh Welton, as well as Carney's wife, Marcella Plunkett.
"I’ve made a couple of films which are basically boy meets girl," Carney stated. "But I’ve found that if I want to keep making musical films it can’t just be ‘boy meets girl, they put on a show, they have a setback and they triumph at the end".
"You’ve got to get past that but I still want to do musical stories so I push myself a little bit and think, ‘there are so many different singer songwriters and musicians in the world. It’s not always A Star is Born. What about the guy who’s the wedding singer? And what about the guy from the boyband, who is now failing?’
"They are still really interesting and valid stories but I get to put songs in them, which is the key for me".
Elsewhere, Paul Rudd was asked if Power Ballad could be construed as a bittersweet revenge movie.
"Yes, I think so. Everything Rick does is coming from a very real place. Whenever you put yourself out there in some way and people respond, it’s an incredible feeling, people tell me", he said. "The frustration of people not knowing it’s you, it’s not even a question of ego; it’s identity and to have that happen after years of frustration, I can only imagine how painful that could be".
At this point, Carney added: "To be told ‘no’ and to be disappointed after a decade is sooooo good for you! I have small kids now and anytime they’re disappointed, you’re heartbroken for them and you want to blanket over the disappointment or fix it and then you look back at your life and you think, I’m so glad the door got slammed in my face so many times".
"It’s not even big things - it’s not being picked for the team and you’re standing there in your shorts. That’s good for you! It makes you figure things out. It’s character building".
Power Ballad is to hit cinemas this Friday.
Paul Rudd has spoken of his love of Ireland before, having enjoyed working with Carney during production for this movie. More on this from Nova here.
