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Margot Robbie addresses Barbie Oscar snub: 'There's no way to feel sad when you're this blessed'

The star and producer notes, however, that Greta Gerwig should have been nominated for Best Director: "What she did is a once-in-a-career, once-in-a-lifetime thing."

By

Jessica Wang

Published on February 1, 2024 01:19PM EST

Margot Robbie addressed the fervor surrounding her exclusion from the Best Actress category at the 2024 Oscars for her role as an existential-tinged Barbie, stating that there are no hard feelings.

“There’s no way to feel sad when you know you’re this blessed,” the Barbie star and producer, recognized in the Best Picture category, said at a SAG-AFTRA discussion alongside her fellow costars in Los Angeles this week.

She conceded, however, that director Greta Gerwig should have been included in the Best Director category. “What she did is a once-in-a-career, once-in-a-lifetime thing," Robbie said. "What she pulled off, it really is. But it’s been an incredible year for all the films.”

Still, Robbie — who nabbed a leading actress nomination at the upcoming 2024 SAG Awards — said she was "beyond ecstatic" with the film's eight nominations at the upcoming March ceremony, including Best Supporting Actor for Ryan Gosling and Best Supporting Actress for first-time Oscar nominee America Ferrera.

“Everyone getting the nods that they’ve had is just incredible," Robbie said, noting that production "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. That is truly the biggest reward that could come out of all of this.”

RHEA PERLMAN as Ruth Handler and MARGOT ROBBIE as Barbie — Rhea Perlman and Margot Robbie in 'Barbie'.
Lara Cornell/Warner Bros.

Both Gosling (Ken) and Ferrera (Mattel employee Gloria) have expressed disappointment over Robbie and Gerwig's omission in their respective actress and director categories. Though "extremely honored," Gosling previously said in a statement that "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." Ferrera called Gerwig and Robbie's work "phenomenal" and said they "deserve to be acknowledged for the history they made, for the ground they broke, for the beautiful artistry."

Other notable snubs at the upcoming ceremony include the absence of May December stars, such as breakout Charles Melton, and Past Lives star Greta Lee and director Celine Song. There were also some groundbreaking and celebratory firsts: Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone became the first Native American woman to receive a Best Actress nomination.

The 96th Academy Awards will air on Sunday, March 10, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC.

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Margot Robbie addresses Barbie Oscar snub: 'There's no way to feel sad when you're this blessed'

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