Prague - Jiří Menzel and his latest film I Served The King of England will not be competing for an Oscar next month when the annual film awards are given out in Hollywood, but another Czech will.
Singer and songwriter Markéta Irglová, who shot to fame after an unexpected success of Irish musical movie Once at a festival circuit, learned yesterday that the song Falling Slowly which she and her acting partner Glen Hansard (of the Irish group Frames) wrote for the film is among the five nominations in the category Best Song at the 80th annual Academy Awards.
The same song has already been nominated for the Best Song category at Grammy Awards, scheduled to be presented only two weeks before the Oscars.
Unsolicited stardom
"I was surprised. It doesn´t happen every day that a film song from a tiny country gets this kind of recognition. I mean, Oscars are just about the most important prize in America and I wouldn´t even dare to hope," the 20-year old nominee said when Aktuálně.cz caught up with her via phone in her native town of Valašské Meziříčí in Moravia, where she is enjoying a rare break in her otherwise tight schedule.
The whole Irgl family will get to accompany Markéta for the two gala nights. "I´m actually taking them for a trip, since my parents have never been to America. We´ll be there for the whole month of February, first going to Grammys, then Oscars," she explained.
While she says getting awarded would be "amazing", getting nominated allegedly feels just as great. So, does she feel like a star now?
"No, certainly not. I can´t get used to it and I don´t even want to. It´ll be over before we know it and then I´ll go back to my music," she said.
