- Stephen King criticizes Oscar nominations for not reflecting moviegoers’ tastes.
- Greta Gerwig is snubbed for Best Director for Barbie; Margot Robbie is snubbed for Best Actress.
- King writes: “No nom for Greta Gerwig? Can that actually be true?”
Acclaimed writer Stephen King has expressed his disappointment in this year’s Oscars nominations, stating that they have separated from the actual tastes of moviegoers. King, who has had over 50 of his stories adapted into films, voiced his disbelief in Greta Gerwig’s exclusion from the Best Director category for the highly successful film, Barbie, despite it receiving eight nominations, including one for Best Picture. In a social media post, he said, “The Oscar nominations and moviegoing tastes have pretty much parted company.”
Barbie grossed over $1.4 billion globally and saw Margot Robbie, who also produced the film, snubbed for a Best Actress nomination, despite receiving one at the Golden Globes. King continued his critique in another post, questioning how Greta Gerwig’s lack of nomination for Best Director could be possible: “Can that actually be true?” Gerwig had been nominated in the same category at the Golden Globes, but lost to Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer.
In total, Barbie has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Ryan Gosling), Best Supporting Actress (America Ferrera), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and two nods for Best Original Song. The exclusion of Robbie and Gerwig from the Best Actress and Best Director categories has created a significant backlash, with several people stating that their snubs highlight the film’s central theme. As one Facebook user noted, “This is actually the whole plot of Barbie.”
Both Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera received Oscar nominations for their roles in Barbie and have commented on their co-star and director not receiving nominations. Ferrera spoke to Entertainment Weekly about her feelings of sadness and disappointment, stating that Robbie and Gerwig “deserve to be acknowledged for the history they made.” Ryan Gosling also expressed his disappointment in a statement, acknowledging that there would be “no Ken without Barbie”, and that the film would not exist “without Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig.”
Barbie is available to stream on Max. The 96th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on March 10, 2024, where audiences can see which awards the film wins out of its eight nominations. The full list of nominees can be found here.