It’s exactly as one imagines Dublin ’s famed

How easy was it for you to pick out the tone of the film? As a musician yourself? Did you discuss it with the director?

GH: Yeah, we talked a lot about it before we actually shot. We got excited about cinema. I guess, in a way, that was the thing we went into when making the film. We hired a bunch of DVDs, we sat and drank and drank coffee and we talked about cinema. We did our homework. We watched “400 Coups” by Truffaut, “Umbrellas Over Cherbourg”, “Stranger Than Paradise” for the malapropisms, for the language barrier between the two characters. We watched “Elephant” by Gus Van Sant for the camera work. So we just got excited about filmmaking, and we talked about cinema and about what we could try and achieve with a Handy cam, a few songs and a story. And so that set the tone.

Why did you use handheld cameras?

GH: It was a necessity because we had no permits, so we had to do it handheld. There were certain aspects that weren’t choices; they were necessities. The sound quality was awful because we only had a radio mike on our lapel. A lot of what happens on the screen was necessity, not decision. And also, I think we all liked French cinema, so we liked the idea of making a very simple story, like a good French film, set in Dublin with some songs.

Did you watch any musicals?

GH: We didn’t watch any musicals, we didn’t talk about musicals. The film became a musical while we were making it. We never decided it to be a musical.

I rather view it as a movie that has a lot of music in it.

GH: Exactly. And I think the term musical is wrong.

Did you improvise in the movie?

GH: A lot.

MI: We improvised within the script. There was a script…

GH: Yeah, a really good script that we were very happy with.

MI: John, if he had an idea for a scene, he would want us to get to that idea but he didn’t lead us up to it, except for a few lines that he thought should be very important in the scene. He gave us great freedom at trying at different ideas and improvising, which is great.

Which is easier: acting or making music?

MI: Making music!

GH: Making music, yeah for sure, but acting in “Once” was very easy. I could imagine acting in some other film would be more difficult. But because it was me and M – we’re very close, we’re old friends – and John, who was the bass layer of my band for years, the making of the film was very, very intimate. It didn’t feel intimidating. There were moments – the first day or two it felt like, OK there’s a crew of people. But it felt very, very intimate. We felt that any of us at any point could suggest him something else and it was OK.

MI: You find that in acting you’re trying to get into the head space of a character, so you have to try to see things from a different perspective almost. It can be hard if it’s a character that’s very hard from your own personality, but the closer you are to the character the easier it is to imagine yourself being in that situation or being that person.

GH: With all due respect, that’s probably not even true because we’re not actors – we don’t know. Maybe for Anthony Hopkins it’s much easier to play Hannibal Lecter than to play an English gentleman. For us it was definitely easier to play these two people. We don’t have any perspective because we don’t have any history.

Marketa, I understand your part was originally written for a 35-year-old woman. Why did John change it?

GH: He actually didn’t change it.

MI: Well, he didn’t want to change to from a 35-year-old to a 17-year-old. I was 17 at the time but I was supposed to be 20. The reason it changed like that was because in the early stages of the making the film, he was casting an Eastern European actress who was I her 30s. He was talking to Glen about it and Glen said, “I know this girl because I’ve played with her. But she’s nowhere near 30. She’s 17.” John didn’t think it was a good idea at all but he said, “I’ll meet her anyway and see. Maybe it’ll see like a good idea when I meet her.” So I came to Ireland , played some piano to him, I hung around in Ireland for a while and we chatted about the film and about different things. And somehow, he seemed to think it was a good idea to cast me. But he didn’t change anything about the script. So it stayed in the perspective of a 35-year-old.

GH: Which gave her character more weight in a way. My character was meant to be 21 so the woman was meant to be much older than him. So Cillian was playing a 21-year-old and when John asked me to do it, I said, “I’m way too old for this character.” He said, “Fuck it, we just leave it.” So my character’s much more naïve than I would be, but it kind of makes sense. My character’s a pretty simple guy, lives with his father, writes a few songs, hasn’t really got any real ambitions, and he meets this girl half his age who’s full of balls and life experience. She kind of knocks him into shape. The whole drive of “Once” is: sing a song to your girlfriend and you’ll get her back. It’s not go and become a rock star. I love the idea that that’s how simple it is. It’s not about this guy making his demo, getting a record contract and becoming James Blunt! (Laughs)

Did you write songs that weren’t included in the film?

GH: We write a couple of songs that aren’t in the film that we ended up putting on our record that we released a few months after the film came out. We released a record of the songs that we’d written for the film so that has a few other songs on it that aren’t in the film. It was an enjoyable experience to write music for the film. The whole thing was very intense. We worked all day and then at nighttime, we write songs for certain scenes that were coming up in a day or two and we had to finish. What’s that line? “Lack of imitations is the true enemy of art” makes a lot of sense because when you have to have a song written, you write a song. When you can write it in a few songs, you don’t write it – you just don’t. With “Once”, we had to have the song finished. So there was a lot of necessity. I guess what makes a person good or what makes a person bad is when they’re under pressure and they have to come up with the goods. I think everybody on the set had to do it. So there was a great sense of urgency.

Doe sit help if you’re friends when you’re working on a movie like this?

GH: It’s vital. Cillian Murphy was meant to play the role of the guy.

I don’t see him in this role.

GH: He was up to two weeks before they shot the film and then he pulled out at the very last minute and I had to do it ‘cos no one else would do it! (Laughs) I think Mar could’ve worked with Cillian and I think that Mar and Cillian could’ve had a great connection, but I think the fact that we are friends just made it much more relaxed. I guess that made the connection onscreen probably a bit more authentic we actually know each other. For a lot of the film, we were too tired to act, too tired to pretend anything else. John kept on saying, “Just be less familiar ‘cos it’s almost like you’re too familiar with each other.” I’m too tired…  

Why is Ireland such a musical country?

GH: Because it rains so much. Everybody stays in and learns an instrument! (Laughs)

Marketa, how did you end up in Ireland ?

MI: Through Glen ‘cos we met in the Czech Republic and we started playing there. In time, Glen also brought me over to Ireland where he had a few gigs. So that’s how I was introduced to it. I stayed for four weeks and then I would come back and visit. Also, for the film, I spent a whole month there during the shot of the film and also before the pre-production. I visited quite a lot and now I live there. And I knew I would live there from the very first time I came over because there’s something about the country that just resonates with me really well and I like it very much.

What resonates with you? The whole musical aspect of the country?

MI: It’s hugely inspiring, beautiful nature. The air is different. Whenever I’m in Ireland , it’s a very creative time.

GH: And magic. Ireland ’s full of fairies.

And leprechauns!

GH: Well, not leprechauns so much! Who invented leprechauns? I know they’re very much an American idea of Ireland , whereas we have a very different view of them. But Ireland definitely has a belief in all of that stiff so there is a certain magic in the people. They’re much more willing to suspend their cynicism.

MI: They’re pretty open-minded, which helps. When you believe in magic, it appears in your life. When you don’t believe in it, it doesn’t exist in your life.

GH: Life is quite gray on the when you’re a cynic.

Who do you think put Ireland on the map – U2 or Van Morrison?

GH: Van, of course. Obviously because of the historical – he was there before U2. But I think Rory Gallagher put Ireland on the map and just as much Thin Lizzy. U2 are, of course, the great rock export from Ireland . But I think the Irish critics would say U2 are probably more an American band than they are an Irish band because they embrace Americanism so much that Irish people find it hard. Even though U2 are so proud of being Irish, their whole aesthetic is American. Not to say that an Irish aesthetic is a guy dressed in green with a red beard dancing. That’s not true either.

Are you both going to record another album together?

MI: When we have a bit of time.

GH: We’ll do it in April. We’ve already talked about April as the time to do it. I think that because we’re so proud of this film, we’ve allowed ourselves to really get behind it.

Did you imagine it being such a success at Sundance and other festivals?

GH: Not at all. That’s why there’s a whole sense of blessing around the whole experience. We’re rolling with it and enjoying every minute of it. It’s fantastic! It’s gone way past our expectations.