Every once in a while, there's a little indie film that breaks out of the art houses to do big business in the mainstream. Fox Searchlight is betting that this year's contender is Once, a quirky, melancholy Irish musical that the studio is hoping will do big business and, possibly, garner some nods come Oscar season.

Stars Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are hitting the road on a seven-city mini-tour to promote the film; they also played The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and NPR. In addition, it's been announced the pair will be covering "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," the Basement Tapes-era Bob Dylan classic, for I'm Not There, Todd Haynes' unconventional Dylan biopic starring Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, and Heath Ledger. Dylan apparently dug Once enough to invite Hansard and his band, the Frames, to open for him on his forthcoming Australian tour.

Since winning the Audience Award at this year's Sundance, Once has been showered with enthusiastic reviews (at 97 percent on the Tomatometer, it's one of the best-reviewed films of the year, and we here at Rotten Tomatoes thought it was pretty cool as well.) It's also done decent box office -- it's currently playing in 140 theaters and has made $6.5 million, easily turning a profit on its $150,000 budget.


Glen Hansard, John Carney and Marketa Irglova in Once
Once tells the tale of a Dublin street musician (Hansard) who meets a young Czech pianist (Irglova); together, they share an easy musical chemistry and an uncertain personal relationship. Hansard and Irglova have performed together for years, and director John Carney said he felt their musical chemistry would translate better onscreen than hiring actors to play musicians.

Check out our interview with Once director Carney here.

Source: USA Today