Were Greta Gerwig & Margot Robbie Snubbed by the Oscars?

Oscar nominations are out, and while most of the nominations are expected, there are some surprising results. Oppenheimer leads the pack with 13 nominations, but Barbie is no slouch, with 8 nominations to its name. However, all anyone can talk about is the fact that Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie failed to be nominated in particular categories, despite both being instrumental to the film’s success. Despite Barbie receiving a nomination for Best Picture, Gerwig wasn’t nominated for Best Director. Even though Gerwig is still nominated in the screenplay category – she co-wrote Barbie with Noah Baumbach – it’s not quite the same as a directing nomination.

As for Robbie, she lost out in the Best Actress category, though she’s not entirely snubbed by the academy since she’s a producer and will be awarded for her efforts if Barbie wins Best Picture. Even Ryan Gosling, who’s been nominated for Best Actor for his performance as Ken, released a statement reflecting his disappointment, especially since Gerwig and Robbie are “the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally-celebrated film”.

So were they snubbed, or was the competition just too fierce? In the Best Actress category, Emma Stone’s nomination for Poor Things was more or less a lock. She won the Golden Globe, and at the Critics Choice Awards, Stone beat out Lily Gladstone to win the Best Actress award as well. Gladstone’s nomination was also expected, especially after she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.

Sandra Huller was in both Anatomy of a Fall and Zone of Interest, and as we know, the two films are nominated for Best Picture, so it’s not particularly surprising that she’s in the running for the Oscar as well. I can’t even say that Robbie should have edged out Annette Bening. Bening is fantastic in Nyad, and her performance has everything you would expect for a Best Actress nomination. The character she plays is complex, and the Academy loves it when actors transform themselves for a role. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Robbie’s performance, and she’s one of the reasons why Barbie is such a success, but her being left out of Oscar nominations isn’t a snub when you realise how magnificent all the nominated actresses are.

For the Best Director Oscar nominations, it was pretty much guaranteed that Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese and Yorgos Lanthimos would get the nominations. After the success of Oppenheimer, we knew this Oscar season would be a great one for Nolan. And honestly, the man is due for some Oscar love, considering his output of great films over the years. Scorsese, much like Spielberg last year with The Fabelmans, would have gotten the nomination just for his name alone. The man knows how to make a good film – his filmography is proof of that. So unless Flowers of the Killer Moon was a critical flop, Scorsese was always going to be nominated. Lanthimos received both a Best Picture and Best Director nomination for The Favourite in 2019, and much like Nolan, has proven himself to be a director who knows how to make good films.

That leaves us with Jonathan Glazer and Justine Triet. While Glazer doesn’t quite have the track record of the aforementioned directors, he did make a film with immense resonance. Considering what’s happening in the world right now, with conflicts and wars still being fought right under our noses, his film’s message is powerful – a reminder of the need for empathy in an increasingly apathetic world.

As for Triet, Anatomy of a Fall has been racking up wins on the awards circuit; it even beat Barbie to take home the Best Screenplay win at the Golden Globes. Listen, I think Gerwig is massively talented; she’s directed three films and all three have favourable critical reception. However, Barbie might be her weakest film. Both Lady Bird and Little Women are so good, and while Barbie is also a good film, the screenplay is a tad weak in the third act. Strangely enough, Barbie becomes sidelined in her own film – which can happen with ensemble films – and I even commented in my review that Gosling would get an Oscar nomination because of how outstanding his performance is. It might not be the best thing that the most memorable character in a Barbie movie is Ken.

They weren’t snubbed by the Oscars, it’s just one of those years where other people and films pulled ahead. I believe both Gerwig and Robbie will definitely be contenders for those categories again sometime in the future. In the meantime, let’s celebrate the films which have been nominated, and speculate on which films will bring home the Oscar gold in 2024.

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