Greta Gerwig has finally commented on the “Barbie” Oscar taunt heard around the world, telling TIME magazine that it’s great that she’s still an Oscar nominee despite not being nominated for best director. Gerwig was nominated for Adapted Screenplay thanks to the movie Barbie. Controversy has surrounded the 2024 Academy Awards nominations since Gerwig was snubbed for Best Director and Margot Robbie for Best Actress. Robbie is also still up for an Oscar this year for Best Picture as one of the producers of “Barbie.”
“Of course I wanted that for Margot,” Gerwig told Time magazine. “But I’m happy that we’re all going to be there together. A friend’s mom said to me, ‘I can’t believe you didn’t get nominated.’ And I said, ‘But I did.’ I got an Oscar nomination. She was like, ‘Oh, that’s great for you!'” I was like, , “Know!”
While the costars of Gerwig’s Oscar-nominated film “Barbie,” Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera, expressed their disappointment with the Academy for snubbing Gerwig and Robbie, the two powerful women weren’t so forthcoming.
“There’s no way to feel sad when you know you’re that lucky,” Robbie said of the snub during the SAG-AFTRA chat. “Obviously I think Greta should be nominated as a director. What she did is a once-in-a-career, once-in-a-lifetime thing. What she pulled off, it really is. But it’s been an amazing year for all films.”
Regardless, Robbie said she was “thrilled” with the film’s eight Oscar nominations. “We set out to do something that would change the culture, impact the culture, and make some kind of impact,” she added. It has already been done, and much more than we ever dreamed. And that’s really the biggest reward that can come out of all of this.
Once Oscar season for Gerwig’s “Barbie” movie is over, she’ll spend most of her time preparing her two “Chronicles of Narnia” films for Netflix. The director told Total Film last year that she was “very afraid” to adapt C.S. Lewis’s sacred novels, but noted at the time: “I think when I’m afraid, it’s always a good sign. Maybe when I stop being afraid, it’ll be like, ‘” “Maybe I shouldn’t do that. ‘No, I’m terrified of that. It’s unusual. And that’s exciting.’
In her new interview with Time magazine, Gerwig revealed that she completed a draft of “Narnia” before cameras started shooting “Barbie.”
“Knowing that I laid the foundation for ‘Narnia’ and wanted to get back to it — that’s probably something I prepared for myself psychologically,” Gerwig said. “Because I know that the right thing for me anyway is to keep making films. Whatever happens, good or bad, you have to keep going. It never surprises me when someone gives you money to make a film.”
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos told the publication that Gerwig’s “Narnia” films “will not go against the way audiences might imagine those worlds, but will be bigger and bolder than they thought.” Gerwig has indicated that she wanted to make the “Narnia” films because she was attracted to the “dream-like” quality of Lewis’ writing.
“It’s connected to folklore and fairy tales in England, but it’s a mixture of different traditions,” she said. “When you’re a kid, you accept the whole thing – that you’re in this land of Narnia, and there are animals, and then Father Christmas shows up. It doesn’t even occur to you that it’s not schematic. I’m interested in embracing the paradox of the worlds that Lewis creates, because that’s what’s so attractive about them.”