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Kilkenny's 'Fantastic four' at the Oscars
THE eyes of the world will be watching when the 82nd annual Academy Awards begin on Sunday and Kilkenny's 'Fantastic Four' emerge from their limo at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.
Representing The Secret of Kells, which is nominated for Best Animated Feature and was produced in Kilkenny by Cartoon Saloon, will be director Tomm Moore and his wife Liselott Oloffson, as well as producer Paul Young and co-director Nora Twomey.
While there is no doubt Kilkenny People cartoonist Paul will be resplendent in his trademark trilby hat and Tomm in a fine tuxedo, it will be their female counterparts who are sure to stand out in the Oscars crowd.
Prior to their departure, Nora and Liselott were bedecked with some of Kilkenny's finest fashions and will be walking advertisements for just some of what Ireland and the Marble City have to offer.
Both women will be adorned with stunning jewellery created by Kilkenny's master goldsmith Rudolf Heltzel. Liselott chose to wear Heltzel's incredible 'Butterfly Pendant', comprising tourmalines, sapphires, rubies and diamonds set in 18ct yellow gold to complement her Oscars dress, while Nora, who wanted to wear Irish green and have the jewellery as the centrepiece of her outfit, picked a striking green pendant made with uvarovite, peridot and diamond stones set in 18ct yellow gold.
Rudolf's son, goldsmith Chris Heltzel, helped the women choose their jewellery ahead of their date with the Oscars.
"I am over the moon that the pendants they both chose look so beautiful on them, and I am delighted that despite offers from international companies, they chose to wear jewellery made by Rudolf Heltzel," Chris said. "Both jewellery pieces were part of a collection two years in the designing and making.
"Liselott and Nora will probably be two of the very few women at the Oscars that are not decked in branded big company labels that they have been coaxed into wearing. Both are clothed and bejewelled by local talents and will be more than able walk tall and proud at the ceremony showing that Irish talent is up there with the best internationally as far as animation, jewellery, millinery, clothing."
Liselott will walk the red carpet in a beautiful purplely-blue gown by High Street-based dressmaker Joan Brennan and will also wear a pink handmade silk headpiece by milliner Rebekah Patterson, whose studio is in the Market Slip.
Nora, who is seven months pregnant, had a striking black dress from Goods tailored to fit after choosing her jewellery. Speaking to the Kilkenny People while she shopped for frocks, Nora said it still felt surreal to think she was actually going to the Academy Awards - the Holy Grail for filmmakers.
"It's not everyday you get to go to the Oscars. It still hasn't really sunk in," she said. “I should be sitting at home with my bump and a packet of biscuits watching it on TV.”
The Kilkenny contingent will be joined at the Kodak Theatre by one member from each of the production crews at Les Armateurs in France and Vivi Film in Belgium, which helped produce The Secret of Kells.
Nora said Cartoon Saloon were “incredibly lucky” to be given four seats at the awards ceremony, for which tickets are notoriously hard to come by.
“Originally, we were only given two but we applied for two more and were delighted to receive them,” she said. Dozens more of the 150-plus Cartoon Saloon crew who worked on Kells have been flooding into LA this week to soak up the atmosphere, celebrate their nomination and await the verdict.
Up against four huge studio films, including Pixar’s Up, in its category, Kells is a rank outsider to take home the Oscar, according to Nora, who said “just being there” was good enough for Cartoon Saloon. Kells was made on a budget of about f6.5million compared to Up, which cost f175 million.
“For us, the win is in the nomination and just being up there with those huge studio films. For an Irish film to even be nominated in a major category is incredible,” Nora said.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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