Melissa McCarthy of Bridesmaids Responds to Surprise Oscar Nod

Sometimes the films that catch the eye of the Academy are of the gritty, foreign or art-house variety, which is why it’s sometimes a bit of a surprise when the comedic category nominations are announced- and this even goes for the stars, such as Bridesmaids‘ Melissa McCarthy.

McCarthy- who is sadly often marginalized as a “plus-sized actress”- made waves in the sleeper hit, even next to scene-stealing Kristen Wiig. But McCarthy’s portrayal of the character Megan has won her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and the star says no one was more surprised than she was. McCarthy admits to sleeping in, not expecting the massive news:

”I didn’t get up or anything,” McCarthy says. “I just did not expect that. AT ALL! Hopefully I’m not nuts.”

McCarthy also dished that the cast of the film really did get on as well as they appeared to on screen. The actress says that she didn’t know two of her co-stars, but the girls were friends within minutes:

“Rose [Byrne] and Ellie [Kemper] were new to me, and it took us about three-and-a-half minutes to all completely gel … It feels silly to call it a job – it was some weird adult playground. Anything you could think of, [director Paul Feig] would be like, ‘Yeah, let’s try it!’”

But, as McCarthy notes, success keeps her busy, so she hasn’t had much time to celebrate as of yet- but she plans to. She says:

“I have to go to work in an hour. I have to shoot today. But that’s not a bad thing — I love my job. Then I have a show tomorrow. At some point today, I’m having champagne dammit!”

Do you think that McCarthy deserves an Oscar for her role in Bridesmaids?