Ryan Gosling Has Some Choice Words for the Academy

This year's Oscar nominations have caused quite a stir. Some of the most heated reactions centered around Barbie's Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, who were omitted from the Best Director and Best Actress fields, respectively. Like much of the Internet, Ryan Gosling—who earned a nod for Best Supporting Actor—had some choice words for the Academy.

“But 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 wrote in a statement. “To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated for their respective categories would be an understatement. Their work should be recognized along with the other very deserving nominees.”

Though Gerwig and Robbie were shut out of the Best Director and Best Actress categories, Barbie is still a frontrunner in the competition. The film received eight nominations in total, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress Best Adapted Screenplay (which Gerwig was nominated for alongside her husband, Noah Baumbach), Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and two nods for Best Original Song, celebrating the tracks “I’m Just Ken,” by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, and “What Was I Made For” by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell.

The only other films that received such widespread praise were Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which earned 13 nominations, and the Emma Stone-led Poor Things, which nabbed 11 nominations. You know what? I don’t think that’s so bad! Sure, it would have been nice if Gerwig and Robbie were recognized in the Best Actress and Best Director categories but their work in Barbie has hardly gone unnoticed—unlike the achievements of other great films that weren’t recognized at all. Where is Greta Lee's nomination for Past Lives? What about the powerhouse performances in May December? Or Zac Efron's turn in The Iron Claw?

There are snubs every year. Sometimes, they’re small—and sometimes, they’re so egregious that they make you question the Academy’s entire voting body. This year, Barbie bore the brunt of some subjective decision-making and still managed to snag eight nominations. That’s not too shabby, people.

From: Esquire US