Yahoo News Margot Robbie Would Have Loved to See Greta Gerwig Get a Best Director Oscar Nom for ‘Barbie’
Margot Robbie is expanding on her thoughts and feelings about the fact that she and Greta Gerwig did not receive Oscar nominations for best actress and director, respectively.
In a conversation with the Los Angeles Times, Robbie explained that she and Gerwig set out to make a film that would “break through cultural norms, bring audiences together and entertain and engage them on a profoundly emotional level,” and they did just that.
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The actress-producer shared that Barbie‘s success is more than they ever could have imagined and is the greatest reward they could have gotten, despite the Oscars snubs. But she does admit she wishes Gerwig would have been recognized further.
“As a producer and her actor, would I have loved to see Greta nominated for directing? Of course,” she told the Times. “But she did become the first director to have their first three solo directorial efforts nominated for best picture, which is pretty historic. She cracked the code on this film, as only she could. It is such a singular vision, and Greta brought so much humanity, creativity, inspiration, magic and joy to Barbie. And it’s because of her we’ve all received such acclaim.”
Robbie also reflected on the possibility that, to the outside world, Barbie seemed like it was an easy project to bring to life, which was not the case.
“It truly was a miracle to even get this made and to get it made in the way that we wanted to make it,” the actress said. “And to have Greta and Noah [Baumbach’s] script be the version of this movie, I still cannot believe it got made.”
She continued, “There were a million terrible [possible] Barbie movies and maybe one perfect one, and it was such a tiny target that it felt exhilarating to go after it and to hope that we could actually hit that tiny, tiny target. And it felt like, if we could, that it would be really, really impactful. And I’m so happy that it did prove to be.”
Robbie explained she wasn’t even thinking about the film from an actor’s perspective until a couple of years into its development. When it finally hit her that the movie was going to be made and she was going to star in it, she admitted she had a minor crisis, during which she could not figure out how she was going to play the part.
She revealed this happens to her ahead of all of the movies she stars in, where she feels that each one is going to be the one that shows everyone that she doesn’t know what she’s doing, and she enters a stage of “sheer panic” that is “palpable and debilitating.”
With this role specifically, Robbie shared that she felt she had nothing to hold onto because the Mattel doll doesn’t have childhood trauma or other things she typically latches onto as an actress for her roles. But Gerwig was able to point her in the right direction, and she got through it.
While Robbie and Gerwig didn’t receive Oscar noms for acting and directing, they did pick up nods for best picture and best adapted screenplay, respectively. Barbie garnered six other nominations, including best supporting actor for Ryan Gosling, supporting actress for America Ferrera, costume design, production design and two best original song nods.
Many found it ironic that Gosling received recognition for his work in a movie about men trying to take over Barbie Land when they discover the patriarchy, while two of the women at the helm of it did not.
Gosling, himself, called out the snub in a statement following his nomination being announced. “There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally celebrated film,” he said. “No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius. To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.”
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