can't wait to see Swell Season next week

'Once' Star Prefers Music to Acting

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova will perform as The Swell Season in Seoul, January. / Courtesy of Private Curve
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

Despite the success of the indie film ``Once," Irish singer Glen Hansard says he still prefers music to acting

``Acting was a great experience, but not something I feel a need to pursue. Although having said that, if a script came my way that I really felt I could give myself to, I'd be happy to act again," Hansard said in an email interview with The Korea Times.

Korean fans will have a chance to listen to music by Hansard and his ``Once" co-star Marketa Irglova, who will perform as The Swell Season in Seoul in January.

``We're very similar people to the characters we played, so there will be some familiar ground I'm sure, but we'll simply play it as we feel it," he said.

Interestingly enough, Hansard, who is also frontman for the Irish rock band The Frames, was not the first choice for the lead role of a struggling street singer. His friend and ``Once" director John Carney, had originally asked him to write the songs for the film, which was supposed to star Cillian Murphy, who played Scarecrow in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

Carney was having problems casting the female lead, so Hansard suggested Irglova, who eventually got the part. However, 10 days before the shoot, Murphy dropped out of the project and the producer pulled out.

``So John was left with a script, Mar(keta), no lead male character, a bunch of songs, no money, and no way of doing it. One evening, he called me up and asked me if I would like to take the part. I hesitated for two reasons _ I don't consider myself an actor on any level, and I didn't want to let John down. But I said yes. What became exciting for me in an abstract way was the fact that suddenly there was no money. It felt like we could now see this project through without interference from anybody from the outside," he said.

While making the film, Hansard said they improvised a lot to make it more ``real." ``What people have said to us is that they find it to be an authentic film, and this is great because we made it in a natural way, and maybe that makes it believable," he said.

Music played a central role in the film, but they were still surprised when they won Best Original Song at the Academy Awards for ``Falling Slowly."

``We found it hard to believe that this tiny film we had made as friends had come so far and captured so much attention and warmth. When we won, it became about so much more than us and our film. It was a great success for all independent filmmakers and music makers," he said.

For the 38-year-old Hansard, writing songs is a ``search for truth in a melody or lyric." ``It can be simple or smart as long as it has truth, even if the truth is ugly and often it is. It's hard to say what makes a good song, as it's different for everyone. `Beauty is in the ear of the behearer'," he said.

Hansard loves writing songs with Irglova, who is also his real-life partner, because she has a ``natural gift for editing.'' They met when she was only 12, through her father Marek, who invited The Frames to perform at a music festival in the Czech Republic.

``When two people are close, it's sometimes important to try things out and see what fits and what doesn't. We are very close friends and I think that our friendship makes us be more true to who we both are," he said.

Success has not dramatically changed his life, and Hansard doesn't take fame too seriously. ``Being famous is only ever useful if you want to get a table at a busy restaurant, everything else about it is based in false ego and pretence. My life is different now but in subtle ways. I have more money and that's great because it means I don't have to worry so much about that, for now. I'm a little more self-aware. … Fame is fleeting and so why invest in it," he said

The Swell Season will hold concerts Jan. 17-18 at the Grand Theater of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Gwanghwamun, downtown Seoul. Tickets cost 99,000 won, 77,000 won, 55,000 won and 33,000 won. Call (02) 563-0595 or visit ticket.interpark.com. For ticket reservations in English, send email to info@privatecurve.com.

cathy@koreatimes.co.kr