As new ‘Power Ballad’ trailer drops, director says he was told it was ‘a bad idea’ to cast Nick Jonas

We’ve got a new trailer for Power Ballad, Nick Jonas’ upcoming film with Paul Rudd. Nick plays Danny, a former boy band member turned solo artist. While it sounds like perfect casting, director John Carney says the idea of having Nick star in the movie was a hard sell.

In the film, Paul plays Rick, a musician who works as a singer in a wedding band in Ireland. Rick meets Danny, who steals his song and uses it to establish his solo career. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, John says he really needed an actual musician to play Danny, because he’d chosen a non-musician to play Rick.

“Paul playing a singer in Ireland is already a slight push, but it’s one that the audience will allow,” John says. “I can’t ask them to do it twice.”

John felt that Nick would bring “a certain kind of mysterious, enigmatic reality and truth to the character that we really needed.” But as he tells The Hollywood Reporter, he was told it was “a bad idea.”

“A lot of people in Ireland did think that there’s something a little bit novelty about the Jonas Brothers. European audiences are a little bit more precious,” John says.

Others warned him that putting Nick in the movie would overshadow the project, but once the movie began shooting, John says, Nick proved that he was the right choice.

“Nick played this character really small. … You realize that’s what those guys — those superstars, since they’ve been seven years old — have. It’s quiet,” John notes. “He wants to go and play golf and have a nice whiskey and talk about the part and go to bed early and call his daughter and his wife. That’s what being a massive boy band star is like, really.”