Ferdia Walsh-Peelo was already a singer/songwriter before Once director John Carney cast him as an 80s kid who forms a band in his new film, Sing Street. In town earlier this year for the film’s TIFF Next Wave premiere, Walsh-Peelo explained how he found himself starring in a movie at age 15.
What’s your musical background?
I was playing in a few different bands. We were just kind of busking in town, and we were playing lots of blues, a lot of bluegrass kind of skiffle music – we were very inspired by the Beatles. At that age, you discover the Beatles and your world’s kind of changed. [Music] just drove me, and that’s the direction I was heading until I got Sing Street and discovered this acting thing – which I probably would have discovered even if I hadn’t done Sing Street, because I just love it so much.
Was it an easy transition? Is performing any different when there’s a film crew present?
I’d been performing from a really young age, so that was kind of in my comfort zone, doing the musical performances. Obviously the challenge for me was getting those 80s moves, like the Talking Heads moves at the end of the film, and all those kind of different vibes that I wasn’t used to.
Oh, of course. That’d be a totally different kind of adjustment. Were you familiar with 80s pop before this?
I was into 60s skiffle music before I did the film. When I just jumped into this 80s stuff, I was like, “Whoa, what is this?” I just dived straight into it. I got really into Hall and Oates and all that stuff. It was all so great, but just a huge learning curve.
Your character picks it up a lot faster, I noticed.
People were saying, “How come the band is so good so quickly?” But imagine if the band weren’t good! You’d be bored! [laughs] You just want to capture their growth: if they get too good too quickly it’s not believable, but if they’re still shit at the end it’s gonna be boring. You know, their performance of Rio at the start is just appalling, but it’s a great moment for the film: anybody who’s played music has had those moments where you just sound awful. It takes practice.
The Sing Street band goes through phases where they’re inspired by acts like Duran Duran, Queen and David Bowie. Were you similarly inspired by anyone?
Bowie’s thing was just “It’s cool to be yourself.” You can be really weird and gawky, and it’s cool, you know? I suppose it’s the same with Freddie Mercury and Queen, as well. In the Bohemian Rhapsody video, he’s got big goofy teeth and he’s bent over the piano, and it’s really cool. I mean, the 80s was just such an interesting time. I think it was the last time people went really original, really pushed to do things that nobody else had done. And I think now we’ve been kind of reliving stuff.
Get Toronto movie showtimes here and read the review of Sing Street here.