Fury is mounting on social media after Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig were snubbed for Oscar nominations for their film Barbie. The Academy Award nominations were announced to fanfare in Hollywood on Tuesday morning – but the two most prominent women involved in last year’s billion-dollar blockbuster were notably left out.
Greta failed to secure a nomination for best director this year, and Margot, who played the title character, was also passed over for best lead actress. The omissions attracted extra attention on account of the fact that Ryan Gosling, who played Ken, did get nominated for best supporting actor.
Some social media commentators leapt to point the finger at sexism – despite the fact America Ferrera was nominated for best supporting actress for the same film. Ryan’s big musical number in the film, I’m Just Ken, is also up for an award. with the nomination honoring songwriters Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt.
Further, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell landed a nod for What Was I Made For?, another song written for Barbie. ‘Ryan Gosling, while deserving, got an Oscar nomination for Barbie while Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie didn’t?’ wrote one outraged fan on X.
‘Completely proving the point of the movie in 20 f***ing 24 you cannot make this up,’ the social media user added, referring to the movie’s feminist themes. ‘Wait Ryan Gosling got nominated for his role as Ken, but Margot Robbie didn’t get nominated for Barbie?! And Greta got snubbed for Best Director?!?! Way to justify the literal plot of the movie,’ wrote another X user, echoing the theme.
A third groused: ‘If Ryan deserved a nom, then Margot certainly did, the fact she wouldn’t have won isn’t the point. It almost feels like the Academy deliberately played into the theme of the movie to get people talking. #Oscars haven’t been about who actually deserves it for a long time.’
Although Margot is not in the running for best lead actress, the movie itself is up for best picture, meaning she has in fact been nominated as a producer. Greta and her husband Noah Baumbach are also nominated jointly this year for having written the adapted screenplay of Barbie.
Margot has previously been nominated for two Oscars – best lead actress for her 2017 film I, Tonya, a biopic of Tonya Harding, and best supporting actress for the 2020 film Bombshell, which dramatized the story of the Fox News sex scandals.
Meanwhile Greta was previously nominated for the best director Oscar for her 2017 film Lady Bird, which marked her first time solo at the helm of a feature film. She was also nominated for that film’s screenplay, as well as the script of her follow-up feature, the 2019 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel Little Women.
In a recent interview, Margot revealed that she harbors an ambition to one day follow in Greta’s footsteps and become a director herself. ‘I really do want to direct,’ she told Deadline. ‘I’ve felt like I wanted to direct for about the last seven years. But I’ve always seen it as a privilege, not a right.’
She reflected: ‘I’ve been slowly working towards the feeling that I’ve earned the right to direct, and I feel I’m getting close to that feeling now.’