On Oscar nominations morning in January, fans of Barbie were stunned when Margot Robbie‘s name was not on the Best Actress list. There was outrage on social media and media outlets wrote think pieces on the glaring omission, but nobody had heard from the 33-year-old actress until now.
Fans might be surprised to hear that Robbie isn’t really upset about not making the cut this time around, even though without her performance as Barbie there would be no movie. “There’s no way to feel sad when you know you’re this blessed,” she explained at a SAG-AFTRA screening of the film on Tuesday night, per Deadline. Robbie seems more upset about Greta Gerwig’s lack of a nomination in the Best Director category.
“Obviously I think Greta should be nominated as a director because what she did is a once-in-a-career, once-in-a-lifetime thing, what she pulled off, it really is,” she added. “But it’s been an incredible year for all the films.” But the success of Barbie is not lost on Robbie, and that’s why she’s celebrating all of the movie’s wins instead of being sad about her snub — plus, she still earned a Best Picture nod as a producer on the film. “I just suspect it’s bigger than us,” Robbie noted of the $1.4 billion earnings in a film directed by a woman. “It’s bigger than this movie, it’s bigger than our industry.”
Robbie hopes that fans turn their focus to how Barbie achieved its goal to “shift culture, affect culture, just make some sort of impact.” She considers that “the biggest reward that could come out of all of this,” not the Oscar nominations. “I’ve never been a part of something like this. Not like this,” Robbie continued. “I’ve done comic book stuff and that gets a big reaction, but this felt very different. It still feels very different. And I can’t think of a time when a movie’s had this effect on culture. And it’s amazing to be in the eye of the storm.”
The Suicide Squad star might not be upset about missing out on that Best Actress nomination, but her costar, Ryan Gosling, sure is. He earned a Best Supporting Actor nod for playing Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken, in the movie, but as his post-nominations statement pointed out, “There is no Ken without Barbie.” He let the Academy voters know that “there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally celebrated film.” Gosling noted his disappointment for them while reminding everyone that “against all odds with nothing but a couple of soulless, scantily clad, and thankfully crotchless dolls, they made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture, and they made history.”
Before you go, click here to see Oscar-nominated movies that center women and where to stream them.
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