Margot Robbie, the lead actress in the highest-grossing film of 2023, Barbie, has finally spoken out about her Oscar snub for best actress. Despite the film receiving eight Oscar nominations, including best picture, best supporting actor, and best supporting actress, Robbie was not nominated for her leading role. However, the actress and producer of the film stated she was not upset by this.
During a SAG-AFTRA discussion with her co-stars, Robbie said, “There’s no way to feel sad when you know you’re this blessed.” She explained that the film’s goal was to “affect culture,” and that this has been the “biggest reward” from its success, as reported by Variety.
Robbie expressed more disappointment over Barbie director Greta Gerwig not receiving an Academy Award nomination for directing. Gerwig was nominated for best adapted screenplay. Robbie praised Gerwig’s work, stating, “What she did is a once-in-a-career, once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
Barbie grossed $1.38bn (£1.1bn) globally at the box office, surpassing industry predictions that the Super Mario Bros Movie would be 2023’s biggest film. The film’s supporting actors, Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera, also expressed their disappointment over Robbie and Gerwig not being nominated.
Gosling stated last week, “To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement,” adding that “there is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie.”
In addition to its other nominations, Barbie received nods for best original song, best costume, and best production design. Robbie concluded by saying, “We set out to do something that would shift culture, affect culture, just make some sort of impact. And it’s already done that and some, way more than we ever dreamed it would. And that is truly the biggest reward that could come out of all of this.”
