Barbie is one of the biggest movies of the last few years. Not only was Barbie a massive box office hit, but it garnered several end-of-year award nominations. However, that success only led to headlines when a couple of key Oscar categories, specifically Best Director and Best Actress, failed to recognize Greta Gerwig or Margot Robbie specifically. Ryan Gosling is still upset about it.
When the Oscar nominations came down, and Gosling was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, he publicly stated his frustration that his fellow Barbie cast and crew were not. It seems that even that statement wasn’t quite enough for him, as he tells Variety, he cut down the original statement, and the issue nearly drove him even further. He explained…
Look, I heavily edited that statement. I think if I say any more about it, I’m going to basically put on a mink and start challenging people to a beach-off on Malibu Beach.
The question remains: what is a “beach off?” The Barbie movie makes a joke about it, and we’re still never given the whole story. Honestly, I would love to have seen Ryan Gosling and some Oscar voters have a beach-off over the movie. It looks like the actor was ready to show us what he could do, as he felt very passionately about the fact that Gerwig and Robbie were overlooked when it came to the Oscars.
It’s not hard to imagine that Ryan Gosling was truly upset by the whole situation. It had to be nice for him to get his own nomination, but the fact that he couldn’t share it with Margot Robbie or Greta Gerwig was probably frustrating. And he wasn’t the only one. A lot of fans were confused why Barbie would see a significant number of nominations, without recognizing the director or the star that are arguably responsible for everything else that worked so well.
Gosling is clearly very protective of the movie, but that’s perhaps not too surprising. Barbie was a powerful movie that meant a lot to a lot of people. It’s a movie that got people talking and reflecting, and even now that’s the case. Gosling is still in awe of the way people talk about Barbie which may have been part of the reason he himself got so heated. He continued…
In terms of people’s reactions, the film continues to provoke conversation in every incarnation. It keeps provoking this dialogue. It’s the power of this movie. I struggle to compare it to anything.
While Barbie ruled the box office in 2023, it came up short to its Barbenheimer competition on Oscar night. Oppenheimer dominated the 2024 Academy Awards, and Barbie came away nearly empty-handed, despite major nominations, including Best Picture and Gosling’s own nom, the movie only took home the prize for Best Original Song. Barbie did have the highlight of the night when Gosling to the stage for "I'm Just Ken," and hopefully that was enough.
