POWER BALLAD premiere Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, John Carney at SXSW - March 14, 2026 4K

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-27

[00:00:19]piece of bread.

[00:00:35]It's exciting. I mean, it's such a great festival and uh I'm thrilled that we're finally here. You know, you film something and it's time goes on and you kind of your life uh life goes on and and then I was like, "Oh my god, now it's edited. It's done." and you get to kind of see it in a setting like this where everyone's so jazzed about seeing movies is really fun. That was the interesting thing when I read this script for the first time. You know, the song is such an important piece of this.

[00:01:02]It's the piece. And so I remember thinking, boy, I wonder what that song is going to sound like. I it kind of has to be good. It isn't the kind of thing that you can fake. And so, uh, when I finally heard it after a while, I know they'd been working on it for a while, I was like, "Oh, yeah. I completely believe that this song would be that big. Uh it's a great song. You John's a great musician and Gary Clark who wrote a good you know he's one one of John's John's kind of musical collaborator in many of his films. Um but he guy's an incredible musician and he was also in a band Meet Danny Wilson uh back in the day. Mary's Prayer.

[00:01:43]That's Gary. And uh that's a great that's another great song. People might not realize that's the guy. Man, working with Nick Jonas was really great. And I'm I I you know, I hadn't ever met him.

[00:01:55]Um certainly knew who he was. And I He's such a good actor. Um and a really good guy. Like I really enjoy his company.

[00:02:04]He's so generous. Um he's obviously very musically gifted. I after this we filmed this movie I went and saw him you know on Broadway doing Sanheim and um he's really talented but I mean he really is kind of I saw him in this movie and I was kind of knocked out just how good he is man you know the thing I love about John's movies are every one of them I always feel good after I see him and you know what I hope people take away or I I just hope people are moved by it and that it puts them in a good mood not in my normal gig. So, uh, it was a little nerve-wracking, but really fun. And, uh, it's fun to do, you know, you do something for such a a long time. I've been acting now for a while, longer than I I kind of can believe that to get to do something that's like, oh, this is a new thing, uh, is fun.

[00:03:19]Uh it's so exciting to show this movie here at Southby Southwest. U my first time here with the movie. Been a couple of times just to hang out and be a part of the great energy. But um how special to to kind of launch this film this way uh here in the US and um the crowd already the reception outside the theater is just phenomenal. Danny Wilson is my character in this story and uh he is you know an incredibly ambitious young creator who's trying to find his own feet and find his way through you know what what can be a very challenging transition from uh you know a a group project to a solo project. And um I think it's it's reflective of my own life in some ways, but but a totally new story. And I think John Carney, our director, did an incredible job of crafting a story that I think audiences are going to love. Paul Rudd is just what an icon and and uh it's been a dream mine to work with him for a long time. So to get to to to share in these scenes with him and and uh be on this promo run with him now is just so great. You couldn't ask for a better teammate in this. There's a lot of great themes in this movie. Um, I think ambition and and you know what it means to to be a creative person and what that looks like and you know once once you've had success and when you're chasing it. Uh, family is another great theme in this film and and uh, you know, finding yourself and I think that whether it's a date night or or uh, a night out with your friends or your family. This will be something you be able to connect with and and really be able to dive into and enjoy. We'll see.

[00:04:42]Maybe if there's a a Power Ballad too, Paul Rudd and I will write some songs together.

[00:04:48]Is there any upcoming artists in your life that you want to shout out right now?

[00:04:51]>> A dream come true. Uh, you know, it's such an amazing festival and because it's a music festival as well, and this film is about musicians and songwriters, um, it's just like the perfect place.

[00:05:02]It's for us to be. And if we told ourselves this is where we'd be at the start of this project, we'd have been, you know, we wouldn't have believed you.

[00:05:11]We wanted to make a film about a middle-aged musician who hadn't made it but still felt he was a rock star underneath it all. Um, and then we came upon the idea, what if something that he had written got stolen at that stage?

[00:05:29]And once we hit on that, we realized so many themes that we would love to write about just poured out of it. John and Gary wrote the song, but they kept sending me what they were writing and asking for my opinion on it. Um, and one of the tests we had myself and John was I would play to like a niece or a nephew or a sister or a friend with another song. And then half an hour later without telling them I was going to do this, I'd say, "Can you hum either of those songs?" And they could always hum to write a song about you. And that's that's a that's a hit song. Something that stays in your brain. Well, he was always there because he's Rick's best mate. But um He's really about the loyalty part of the film and people who stick by you through thick and thin, but also without Sandy there, the film could get quite dark because Rick would be on his own.

[00:06:23]So, he needs that confidant and that guy who'll always be there for him. So, that's kind of the role he played. But then we know loads of guys like Sandy.

[00:06:33]So, the humor of that guy would just came very quickly to us. that the most important things to someone in their life aren't monetary or career based uh based or um success based. They're the decisions you make about those you love.

[00:06:59]>> Once we had Paul Rudd in place, there's two men in this film and they're fighting over a song. And so we had Paul Paul came on board cuz I knew Paul a little bit from talking about another project. So he fitted in and then once he came in you had to then sort of think about well what's this what's the ying who who's the person to oppose now that we know this guy and I spoke to a few actors and there were a few actors kind of who who who were really good who wanted to do the role but it became quite apparent that we should get a musician and I don't know why that is I think it's cuz we were asking Paul to play a musician if we got another actor to play it might just seem Um, I don't know, there'd just be an interesting chemistry if we got somebody who had really been in the music industry and just knows the feel of that. Um, and so when I met Nick, uh, he he was that guy immediately like he he he didn't try too hard to get the role or he didn't try and tell me. He was cool and calm and I was like, "That guy's done this. He's been around." I hope they're singing the song and I hope that uh I don't know the there's an interesting message in the film in a way. It's kind of like when all is said and done at the end of creativity, we die and we leave our bones behind us for a while, but then the bones fade.

[00:08:20]Hopefully, something that doesn't fade is what you do on the earth. You know, whether it's you create or you write something or whatever it is, that will outlast you. And ultimately, you're not going to care. Nobody's going to care who wrote it or who did it. It becomes a kind of a a free thing. Do you know what I mean? like that bird song going past there. Nobody can copyright that.

[00:08:42]And that's what happens to all art in the end. You know, there's nobody cashing in from Shakespeare. Um, and I don't know what the story is with like Gershwin now or but eventually that's going to go out of copyright. All all art eventually becomes free. And so this movie is about two guys disputing who owns this song. But what the main character, I think, overcomes and learns in it is that, you know, this is a battle for now. But it but there's a bigger battle which is uh takes the philosophical sort of uh wisdom that he gains throughout the movie.

[00:09:26]What was the best part about