Laois comedian set for Oscar glory
Laois native, Kathleen O'Rourke, will be walking down the Red Carpet at next week's Oscars, following her nomination for Best Short Animation for Granny O'Grimm.
The Ballyhide girl, who attended St Fiacc's National School in Graiguecullen, will be rubbing shoulders with fellow oscar nominees, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep in the Kodak Theatre, Hollywood on Monday night.
The six-minute film, which was written and performed by local the local comedian tells the story of a seemingly sweet old lady who terrifies her little granddaughter at bedtime with her dark version of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale.
"Granny is tries hard to be nice, but her 78 years of bitterness come through," Kathleen explains.
Unfortunately, Mr O'Grimm is not around to witness Granny's Hollywood success, according to her Facebook page, he died ten years ago. Leaving Granny his cat Priscilla and a clause in his will legally binding her to 2 vet visits a year.
The film is directed by Nicky Phelan, and produced by Darragh O'Connell for Brown Bag Films.
This is the Irish animation studio's second Academy Award nomination in 8 years. Brown Bag Films was previously nominated in 2002 for the short film 'Give Up Yer Aul Sins'.
"I'm so thrilled to receive the nomination," said Kathleen, who had just returned to Ireland after the nominees luncheon in Hollywood.
"This is the best thing that's ever happened to me," she added.
Kathleen, who is currently on a career break from teaching, said she had a good feeling about the nomination.
"Normally my gut instinct is bad, but on this occasion I had a really good feeling," she said.
Kathleen continued: "RTE news had cameras down in Brown Bag to do a news piece if we got nominated."
"If we hadn't been nominated they were just going to slip out the back door, and we wouldn't have even made the news. I think that would have been more humiliating."
Kathleen is the daughter of Denise and Hugh O'Rourke, Ballyhide and says her family have been a great support to her. She has three older brothers, Paul, Ciarn and Toms, while her younger sister Ruth studied animation in Ballyfermot.
"My family are delighted for me, our parents have always been very supportive."
"Mam and Dad are enjoying the celebrity status around town," she laughs.
Granny will now go up against French Roast, The Lady and the Reaper, Logorama and A Matter of Loaf and Death for the coveted statue.
Granny began life as a character in Kathleen's stand-up comedy show.
"I had about four or five Granny sketches which always stormed at gigs," she explained.
"When Nicky, who is an animator heard about it he thought it would make a good animation."
Granny O'Grimm is no stranger to accoloades since it's release in 2008.
Sleeping Beauty won Best Animation in the 2009 Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTF) for best animation, and best Irish animation at the Galway Film Festival. Granny has also won awards in Australia, California, Denver, Omaha and at the Montreal Film Festival.
Last month, Kathleen attended the nominees luncheon in LA.
"LA is a very exciting place," she said, "It's the kinda place where anything goes."
Kathleen had her picture taken with George Clooney, who is nominated for best actor in Up in the Air.
"I like to tell people I had lunch with George, we just weren't sitting at the same table," she laughs.
Adding: "I was in his eyeline, well at least I think I was."
But Granny is not as amused by the bright lights of Hollywood.
"The novelty of the Oscars wore off along time ago for Granny," Kathleen explains.
"The weather was too warm and she thought Brad Clooney was an awful eejit."
Granny recently posted on Facebook: "I have a lot of resentments to catch up on after my trip to Hollywoodland. Brad Clooney was an awful dose, jumping around like a bold child at the lah-di-dah lunch in LA. My stick was only begging to have a go at him."
"She's looking forward to softening their coughs," Kathleen adds.
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Friday 18 May 2012
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