Barbie star Ryan Gosling has voiced his “disappointment” after key members of the film’s cast and crew missed out on nominations at the upcoming Oscars.
On Tuesday afternoon, it was revealed that Barbie had scooped eight nominations at this year’s Academy Awards, including individual acting nods for Ryan and co-star America Ferrera.
However, leading actor Margot Robbie was noticeably absent from the Best Actress shortlist, while Greta Gerwig also missed out on a Best Director nomination (although she was recognised in the Best Adapted Screenplay category).
This led to a lot of debate on social media, with many pointing out the irony that Ryan had been nominated while Margot had not.
In a statement issued to CBS News on Tuesday evening, Ryan said: “To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.
“Against all odds with nothing but a couple of soulless, scantily clad, and thankfully crotchless dolls, they made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture and they made history.
“Their work should be recognised along with the other very deserving nominees.”
Celebrating his own Oscar nomination, which is the third of Ryan’s career, he added: “I am extremely honored to be nominated by my colleagues alongside such remarkable artists in a year of so many great films.
“And I never thought I’d being saying this, but I’m also incredibly honoured and proud that it’s for portraying a plastic doll named Ken.
“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.”
Ryan also showed his support for America Ferrera and the “incredible artists” from the Barbie team that had also been nominated.
On Tuesday night, the former Ugly Betty star said she was in disbelief at her nomination, commenting: “I still haven’t really been able to get in my feelings because I’m still on like the top layer of ‘I can’t even believe that this is real’.”
America added: “It feels great to see the range of women that are being acknowledged in the supporting actress category and so excited that Lily Gladstone was in the Best Actress category as well.
“We should be getting to enjoy the work and performances of all different kinds of artists. Opportunities were created for these artists to do their work. It’s exciting to see that those opportunities did exist in this in this year of film for women of colour to get to shine and be a part of the of the best filmmaking of the year.”
However, she added that she was “incredibly disappointed” at Margot and Greta being overlooked for Best Actress and Best Director, respectively.
“Greta has done just about everything that a director could do to deserve it,” she insisted, while praising Margot.
“What Margot achieved as an actress is truly unbelievable,” she said. “One of the things about Margot as an actress is how easy she makes everything look.
“And perhaps people got fooled into thinking that the work seems easy, but Margot is a magician as an actress in front of the screen, and it was one of the honours of my career to get to witness her pull off the amazing performance she did.
“She brings so much heart and humour and depth and joy and fun to the character. In my book, she’s a master.”
“Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie made history and raised the bar with Barbie,” America later told CBS News in her own separate statement.
“The cultural and industry impact they’ve achieved will be felt for generations and I’m so thankful to them for asking me to be a part of it.”
Check out the full list of Oscar nominations here.