Check out The Secret of Kells in the 2010 AWN Oscar Showcase!

The Secret of Kells has taken nearly everyone by surprise with its Oscar nomination. Soon viewers will get to discover it as well when Tomm Moore's lovely and exquisite ode to Ireland's most cherished artifact opens in New York on March 5 and Boston on March 19 and other markets throughout the spring.

Bill Desowitz: How was the nominations luncheon?

Tomm Moore: It was pretty amazing -- talking to people like Quentin Tarantino and Sandra Bullock.

BD: And have they seen the movie?

TM: Some of them, yeah. And a lot of them were asking about it, so I want to make sure that all the Academy members get a screener. They're all curious, and that's the most interesting thing. They're all wondering what it is, so that's pretty good.

BD: Did you get into any interesting conversations about it?

TM: No, it was just more of a social event. I was chatting with John Lasseter and Bob Peterson. We know some of the guys from Pixar, meeting them at different events, so we had a good chat with them. They really liked our underdog status and were glad to see us on the list. And, of course, we got the picture taken with all the nominees, which is fun, too.

BD: So what is your theory for why you got nominated?

TM: I think it was really just word of mouth. People were kind of curious about it and some people in the academy championed it and then everyone was so excited to see something so different. It wasn't like anything else that had been released in the States in the last year. So I think they were excited to see a different take on what animation could do.

BD: The combination of the beautiful look and the homegrown quality?

TM: I think people liked the artsy quality -- it looked really nice but also wasn't like a corporate shiny piece and there was a taste for that this year.

BD: But the storytelling was also very accessible.

TM: That's it: I think people thought the look was very interesting yet different but that the storytelling was unusual. They were surprised that we took such difficult material to jump into to make an animated movie about the manuscript. A few people said there was so much depth to the history.

BD: The other nominated directors have been impressed as well, including Henry Selick who had an obvious interest in composer Bruno Coulais' work.

TM: Yeah, I had no idea what Bruno was working on in Portland. And we were a little bit worried that Coraline would sound like Kells, but they sound so different. I think it's because we worked with traditional Irish musicians and he had a very different feeling for Coraline. But Henry was very kind and it's very exciting for me to have him say such nice things -- it's pretty amazing, you know?