Robert Arkins is used to singing in the pubs and clubs of downtown Dublin, so he finds it strange to be spending the night among the well-heeled tourists at Jurys Hotel and Towers.
But such are the trappings of stardom, as the 22-year-old lead in the movie "The Commitments" is starting to learn."It's like, this isn't normal. It's not normal for me, it's not normal for them, either," he said, gesturing across the hotel bar to the table occupied by several fellow cast members from Alan Parker's film.
If so, he's going to have to get used to a lack of normalcy. The fifth of seven children, the Dublin-born Arkins makes an auspicious screen debut as Commitments' manager Jimmy Rabbitte.
One minute, he's the earnest voice of an economically dispossessed generation, the next he's urging his all-white troupe to let rip like the great black entertainers the band reveres. Given to interviewing himself, and with a father who fancies himself an Irish Elvis, Jimmy decides to form a group devoted to what he terms "Dublin soul."
Before Jimmy can say "Try A Little Tenderness," the Commitments are born. Not that Arkins and Jimmy Rabbitte are the same person.
"People keep pushing that," said Arkins. "They're trying to get me to say, `You are Jimmy Rabbitte, and you are from a working-class background."'
"Yes I am," he continued, "but not from the slummy areas. It's more - what would you call it? - a middle-class neighborhood."
He pauses: "Is working-class middle-class?"
Arkins heard about the film from his older sister, who gave him the Roddy Doyle novel on which the film is based.
Seven auditions later, Arkins had the part, and the responsibility of carrying the film.
"I'd spoken to Alan (Parker) a couple of times, and he said he doesn't like actors because they're too cool and always late," said Arkins.
"I wanted to make sure I learned my lines properly, was together, had enough sleep. I had to be on time all the time and be available," he said. "I was trying to prove a point there."
Although Jimmy is the one Commitment who doesn't perform in the film, Arkins in real life supports himself as a musician, singing, composing, and playing trumpet, bass and piano.
He left school at 17 to perform with his band, Housebroken, and spent two years at Dublin's College of Music before his commitment to the movie cut his studies short.
Now, Hollywood is singing its siren song. Three days after the interview, Arkins was off to Los Angeles to discuss a record deal with MCA. Strangers call to volunteer themselves as agents.