The Carlow teacher who wanted George Clooney to quieten down
The Oscar-nominated 'Granny O'Grimm' creator Kathleen O'Rourke is in Hollywood preparing to walk the red carpet with the stars, writes Deirdre Mulrooney
Kathleen O'Rourke must be the unlikeliest candidate to be hob-nobbing with the stars at tomorrow's Oscar ceremony in Hollywood. The 30-year-old junior-infants teacher turned comedian from Carlow will be on the red carpet, sparkling in diamonds worth a six-figure sum and a designer frock by Su Yung, courtesy of her ingenious comedic creation, Granny O'Grimm.
She'll also be hoping to run into George Clooney again, with whom she made sure to get her picture taken at the Oscar Nominee lunch last month.
Nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Short Film category, 'Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty' -- which was written, voiced, and created from an original idea by Kathleen O'Rourke -- tells the story of a seemingly sweet old lady who terrifies her grand-daughter with her dark version of the Sleeping Beauty tale.
The journey to Hollywood has been long and arduous for Kathleen. She graduated with a communications degree from DCU and finally took the plunge into stand-up comedy after a job as a presenter on a now-defunct Carlow radio station fell through.
"It was desperation, being at rock bottom, that brought me there," she says.
As a stand-up comedian, Kathleen discovered her talent for making people laugh and got herself a stint with 'The Funny Girls', run by Anne Gildea (of The Nualas).
Despite her growing success in the comedy world, O'Rourke signed up at the Froebel Institute in London to get her teaching certificate.
This was where the idea for Granny O'Grimm was born.
"We were studying the psychoanalysis of fairytales and I was fascinated by Bruno Bettelheim," says Kathleen.
"I was given the Brothers Grimm at the age of 12 and was traumatised by it. So I thought it'd be funny to do something about the dark, twisted, manipulative side of fairytales, to play on the fact that they are used to moralise and scare people into doing the right things."
Soon, O'Rourke got a day job teaching junior infants full-time in Lucan's Scoil Naomh Phadraig. By night, however, her character Granny O'Grimm hobbled on to the tiny stage of Focus Theatre in The Fallen Angels Cabaret.
"That was one of the best times of my life," recalls Kathleen. "It was all about being creative and trying things out. If they didn't work out, you weren't too humiliated because the theatre was quite small."
In that intimate setting, she created a host of characters, including that most unglamorous and unlikely of shooting stars, Granny O'Grimm.
Things were looking good for Granny, but Kathleen's schedule was punishing, as she was now double-jobbing.
"I would teach until 3pm in Lucan, then have a two-hour commute to rehearsals in Killiney, do two hours' rehearsal and usually get an earful for being late.
"Then, I'd hop on a bus back to Lucan and try to do some paperwork. I lost friends. I was teaching, while writing in between and trying to stay out of trouble with the inspector. But something had to give."
To the disapproval of many, she decided to take a career break.
Then, one night in The Spiegeltent, where The Fallen Angels Cabaret won best show in 2005, director Nicky Phelan of Brown Bag Films (with whom O'Rourke had worked before) spotted Granny hobbling across the stage.
Brown Bag Films is one of Ireland's top animation companies and it obviously has a good eye for talent. It was previously nominated for an Oscar in 2002 for 'Give Up Your Auld Sins', a short animation inspired by 1960s recordings of Dublin schoolgirls telling the story of John the Baptist.
Nicky Phelan suggested that Kathleen's routine would make a great short animation. Film Board funding followed and 20 animators came on board.
From there, Granny soon won an IFTA at the Irish Film and Television Awards and was set on a fairytale trajectory to the Oscars.
"I never imagined her going further than the bathroom, really," jokes O'Rourke, slipping into Granny-mode. "She's got a very bad knee. So Hollywood just seems ridiculous. I don't know how she'll manage it with her digestive system."
Granny O'Grimm's character comes easily to the young comedian.
"When I was seven, my nickname in the neighbourhood was 'granny'," says Kathleen. "It's just the way I was, there was a granny feel to me. I think I'm an old soul. I've been exhausted since I was born. So it's inevitable that the character who has become the biggest thing in my life is a granny character."
Financially, though, it has been a struggle for Kathleen.
"Having no proper income for three years has been difficult. I have no social-welfare entitlements because I stepped out of a paying, secure job.
"But I can't escape Granny. She will always be there with her stick, poking me. I won't need to chase her.."
Hollywood may be giving her the nod, but as for winning its highest accolade, "Granny would never approve of those high hopes!" laughs Kathleen. "She would be furious! Far from high hopes she was raised!
"Granny does want to be nice, to be a good granny, but she just has 78 years of simmering resentment that she doesn't have a lot of control over," explains Kathleen.
"Certain things (death notices, Swiss Roll, lots of sugar, Ballymulch FM), help her to keep a lid on it, but eventually it will erupt."
Unlike Granny, Kathleen is not giving up her dreams just yet -- and she doesn't regret the risks she has taken.
"The choices I made, the risks I took and hard work I did were really worth it. I'm so lucky that it paid off. Even if I am back teaching next year -- and I'm lucky that the permanent job is there waiting for me -- it has been an incredible journey."
As for that 'Brad Clooney', as Granny likes to call him, "I'll do it properly next time," vows O'Rourke, "I'll get a five-minute conversation in there. I feel I would let the country down if I didn't!"
But who's to say she won't get both? In true Cinderella style, Kathleen O'Rourke is going to Hollywood's most glamorous ball tomorrow night and "with the help of God" (to use Granny's somewhat sinister bedtime catchphrase), it might even be a case of "happy ever after".
How on earth will Granny cope?
See Susan Daly's Oscars special, page 14/15
Irish Independent
