Oscar glory

Oscar the crowning glory for ‘Once’

Michael Duffy

IT’S 11.40am in Los Angeles when Martina Niland returns The Mayo News’s call. The Aughagower native is still on cloud nine and who could blame her? In the early hours of Monday morning, no less a Hollywood star than John Travolta announced to the world that ‘the Oscar goes to Once’.

The low-budget film, which Martina produced for under €100,000, has officially gone global and the world is the oyster for lead actors Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, whose performance has been hailed in many quarters as the highlight of Oscars night 2008.

“Their performance on the night was just amazing, I suppose you could call it our ‘Riverdance’ moment,” said a still elated Martina in Los Angeles yesterday evening.

“To be honest, I didn’t get much sleep last night, it was just amazing. I did a short interview on Morning Ireland this morning live from the after-show party and I can’t even remember what I said. It will take a while for it all to sink in but I’m very proud. I suppose it’s the ultimate commendation a film can get. It’s just great to have your work held in such high regard.”

The sky really is the limit now for Martina Niland as a film producer as ‘Once’ is now certain to reach an even wider audience.

“Winning an Oscar will certainly open up even more markets for the film, and because it is a musical, the music is obviously so important and the soundtrack is sure to reach an even wider audience. The show itself is watched by close to a billion people.”

Martina didn’t actually get to attend the ceremony as Director John Carney accompanied Glen and Marketa on the night, but the company who distributed the film, Fox Searchlight, held a party just beside the Kodak Theatre – and that was where the ‘Once’ contingent partied the night away.

They had also celebrated well into Saturday night when the film scooped Best Foreign Film at the Spirit Awards, which are generally described in the industry as ‘the Indie Oscars’.

“It was brilliant to win that award too. It was such a cool ceremony and a lot of the stars who love independent film, like Brad [Pitt] and Angelina [Jolie] and Cate Blanchett, were all there. It was pretty chilled out there compared to the glitz and glam of the Oscars themselves.”

Meanwhile, back in Garrew in Aughagower, another after-party of sorts was taking place on Monday night as the Niland family got together to watch the highlights of the show on RTÉ.

Martina’s younger sister Imelda told The Mayo News that there had been great excitement all day in the house.

“We don’t have Sky here so we are all getting together tonight (Monday) to watch again. We really can’t believe it, but Mam and Dad (Patsy and Mary Niland) are just really proud. Martina rang at twenty past four in the morning to tell us all.

“Winning an Oscar is something everyone involved in the film industry dreams about and now Martina can always say she produced an ‘Oscar-winning movie’. She deserves it though. She worked really hard to get where she is today and we all can’t wait to see her later this week to offer our congratulations,” said Imelda.

Martina flies back from LA today and she has promised to bring ‘Oscar’ on a tour of Westport some time soon.

“I expect it will be hard to prize the awards away from Glen and Marketa, but I’ll have to bring the award to Westport. It’s still hard to believe that we actually won it. It’s been an amazing few months alright.”