Did the Oscar nominations really snub Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig?

As soon as the Barbie movie came out last summer, audiences and critics alike knew it was going to be nominated for an Oscar. They were right — Barbie got eight nominations, including one for best picture and a best supporting actress nod for America Ferrera. 

But considering Barbie was the only movie to earn a billion dollars at the box office in 2023 — and the only blockbuster to do so solely directed by a woman — everyone assumed the film would earn Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie nominations for best director and best actress. But no, they were snubbed in favour of Ryan Gosling, who played Ken. 

Their efforts clearly weren't Kenough. 

However, the opinion on whether they actually got snubbed is divided. The internet points to Lily Gladstone, Danielle Brooks and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, who got nominated for best actress and best supporting actresses, respectively. Gladstone is the first Indigenous woman to be nominated for the best actress category.

Justine Triet is nominated for best director for French thriller Anatomy of a Fall — only the eighth woman in Oscars history.

Writer Kathleen Newman-Bremang, film critic Rad Simponpillai and Exclaim! editor Rachel Ho join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to weigh in on this year's Oscar nominations and who really got snubbed this year.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, plus a conversation on Lulu Wang's new Amazon Prime series Expats starring Nicole Kidman, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast on your favourite podcast player.

LISTEN | Today's episode on YouTube:

Elamin: Let's get into it, Kathleen. The disappointment for Barbie has been kind of inescapable. Greta Gerwig gets a nomination for best adapted screenplay, not for best director. Margot Robbie gets a nomination because she is one of the producers of the Barbie movie. So she's literally up for Best Picture, but not for best actress as Barbie. Kathleen, how do you feel, having seen the level of outrage that you've seen all week?

Kathleen: I'm just going to take a deep breath and just start with some of what you just said that's wrong with this outrage. As you said, both Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie are nominated for Oscars. Let's make that clear. They are nominated. The movie as a whole is nominated for eight Oscars, including America Ferrera, who is nominated for best supporting actress, her first ever nomination. So this outrage over two white women not being nominated in two categories, but is somehow being framed as this horrific slight against feminism, is quite frankly, offensive to me. 

Margot lost out on her best actress nomination not to Ryan Gosling, but to five other women. And one of those women is Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon. Her nomination as an Indigenous American is historic. But we're not talking about that. We're talking about the blonde woman who made $1 billion, got nominated as a producer, and already has two Oscar noms. We're also not talking about America [Ferrera], the woman of colour who got nominated for the same movie, or that America is in a category with two other black women, Danielle Brooks, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, which never happens. We're not talking about Justine Triet, a woman who was nominated for best director, We're not talking about Celine Song or Greta Lee for Past Lives who were actually snubbed. 

Elamin: Rachel, regret to do this to you, but I'm going to play the devil's advocate for a moment, which is to say that with all the recognition that the Barbie movie has gotten with its nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Picture, there is also this contrast of the other guy, Ryan Gosling, who's a central piece of that movie as Ken. He gets nominated over Barbie in the Barbie movie. Do you see that as any kind of contradiction whatsoever? 

Rachel: No, because the Oscars isn't about awarding a movie because it's feminist and saying, 'Well, we should only award the women.' The Oscars are meant to be the best of the best. It's supposed to be about the best performances of the year. 

Ryan Gosling, in the Academy's eyes, had one of the best performances of the year. As Kathleen just very eloquently said, Margot didn't lose a nomination because Ryan Gosling gained a nomination. I'm sure she probably was in sixth place [for best actress]. She just didn't make the cut in a pretty competitive year. Ryan Gosling is in a very competitive category as well. Personally, if you told me to pick one performance from that movie of who I thought was the best, I would take Ryan Gosling.

Elamin: I do want to do a round on the snubs real quick. Maybe Rachel, I'll start with you. What's a real snub that everyone should be mad about? 

Rachel: I am protesting for All of Us Strangers. I think that that movie was gorgeously made, gorgeously written, gorgeously acted, and it got absolutely nothing. I was shocked. I thought Andrew Haigh might have a shot to get in there. I thought at least it would get [a nomination for] adapted screenplay and maybe Greta Gerwig took Andrew Haigh's spot there. That should be the controversy we're talking about here. But I loved All of Us Strangers, and I was so sad to see that it didn't get anything.

Elamin: Kathleen. What about you? What are you mad about? 

Kathleen: We already mentioned Celine Song, as she wrote and directed one of my favourite films of the year, Past Lives. She's nominated for best original screenplay, but not for best director, which I think is a snub. And then Greta Lee, a star who was phenomenal and acted circles around Margot Robbie. 

I think Margot Robbie's great as Barbie. But if we're going to talk about "who's taking who's nominations," I think Greta Lee was snubbed. And then, you know, I love Fantasia Barrino, who I said on this podcast gave one of the most beautiful performances I have ever seen on screen in The Color Purple.

Elamin: Rad, what's a snub for you?

Rad: I've been a diehard for Rachel McAdams this whole awards season for Are you there God? It's me, Margaret. I've been dying for that movie all year. I think that movie makes it look real easy and it's really moving. And Rachel McAdams also always makes it look easy. And so that's the one where I felt aggrieved. 

Look, the biggest snub here is May December, which is by and far shut out. But I also love that it's been shut out because it was so effective that the Academy feels caught, because that's the way they are predatory and tell stories. I feel like it was snubbed across the board because of that. And also, I don't expect much for Todd Haynes in terms of Academy Awards because unless he's making a period piece, a Douglas Sirk homage, he doesn't get Academy Award nominees. 

Elamin: Who did you think was going to get it for acting? 

Rachel: I thought Julianne Moore and Charles Melton. I would have loved to see him get one, but I was more surprised to see that Julianne Moore didn't get it. I was pretty surprised about that.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jane van Koeverden