Barbie Oscar Snub?! Cast and Crew Left Off Prestigious Categories
Eight Academy Award Nominations Is Not Enough
Even When Barbie Wins, the Women Lose
There is no escaping any talks relating to the blockbuster hit, Barbie. The Margot Robbie-led film won the hearts of both critics and fans alike. And yet, despite eight Academy Award nominations, two Barbie Oscar snubs overshadow everything. Robbie, as the titular character and lead actress, and Greta Gerwig, as the director, were left out of their respective categories. To add insult to injury, Ryan Gosling was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
Gerwig and Robbie’s Snubs Not Too Egregious Per the Odds
It’s always controversial when an actor or director gets left out of the nominations. It just so happened that Barbie’s magnitude makes this look more offensive. But if we take to the early betting odds, the ones before the nominations, it’s not so farfetched.
Both were listed at 20-1 to win their respective awards, Best Actress and Best Director. That ranked them no better than fifth in terms of the likelihood of winning. Had they both made it, they’d be long shots to win at best. However, Annette Bening (35-1) and Jonathan Glazer (both at 35-1) did “leapfrog” Robbie and Gerwig, respectively, to make it into the nominees list.
Benning making it is surprising entertainment news. She was tied with Greta Lee of Past Lives at her odds, which was just outside the top five to win. But she’s a previous Academy Award recipient and may have had sway over some of the older voters of the Academy.
Glazer’s entry was not foreseen but not too shocking. He’s directed critically acclaimed films in the past but never got a nomination. He was not even nominated for Best Director at the Golden Globes while Gerwig was.
The Golden Globes is usually a strong indicator as to who would make the final ballots during the Oscars. Unfortunately, the Academy liked Glazer just a bit more than Gerwig, hence the Barbie Oscar snub.
“Even though they both received nominations for their work on Barbie in other categories, these two high-profile omissions will be remembered — and they will sting — for a long time,” Dave Karger, Turner Classic Movies host and 50 Oscar Nights author told PEOPLE.
Indeed, the optics are terrible when the leading actress and female director of a movie about female empowerment gets left out. Meanwhile, the leading man…
But Ken Makes it Awkward
How ironic is it that Ken overshadows Barbie in her film? This is almost like it’s part of the theme of the movie. Gosling, who played Ken, Barbie’s male counterpart, got nominated even though he was not too happy about his co-star and director being left off.
“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,” Gosling said to PEOPLE. “No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit, and genius.”
The pre-nomination odds had Gosling at +700 to win Best Supporting Actor, which is a distant second to Robert Downey Jr. (-1000) of Oppenheimer. He joins America Ferrera (+4000) as the cast of Barbie to get acting nominations.
Ferrera had a contrasting result. She surprisingly made the final five in her Best Supporting Actress category. At her odds of 40-1, she was eighth overall on the betting table. But she got in over Rosamund Pike (+3500), Sandra Huller (+2800), and Taraji P. Henson (+2500) who all had shorter odds to win.
Of course, the supporting nods pale in comparison to the leading actress and director portions. So as much as Ken is “stealing” some shine here, the focus will always be on Barbie’s Oscar snubs.
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