Has there been a bit of drama with the Oscar nominee announcements? Of course there has. Read on.
Greta Gerwig Snubbed in the Best Director Category
It’s not exactly new for great female directors not to get a look in the Best Director category. Sure, they’ve been nominated before, but they’ve never won. Heck, only three have won in the entire history of the awards (Katherine Bigelow, Chloe Zhao, Jane Campion), and only eight have ever received a nomination. While it didn’t seem likely that Greta was going to win the gong when the Oscar committee was faced with contenders like Christopher Nolan, the fact that Gerwig didn’t even get a nomination is criminal. As the first female director to make a billion-dollar joint, she absolutely needed to be among the candidates, and it’s bizarre that she’s already been pushed out of the competition. She’s a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world, and she deserves better.
Ryan Gosling Gets a Supporting Actor Nomination
On that note, good on Ken for backing up the injustice on Greta’s snub, as well as his Barbie co-star Margot Robbie getting rejected too. Speaking to Entertainment News, Ken/Gosling commented:
‘I am extremely honoured to be nominated by my colleagues alongside such remarkable artists in a year of so many great films, and I never thought I’d be 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 movies without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally celebrated film.
No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius. To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an un understatement. Against all odds with 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’
You go Ken. You’re more than a ten. And Gosling praised America Ferrera for her Best Supporting Actress nomination too. A proper, upstanding guy. A righteous dude, to quote Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Willem Defoe Gets Snubbed for a Best Supporting Actor
This one hasn’t been widely discussed, and it’s understandable why. Poor Things is Emma Stone’s film, through and through. She lights up the stage with her naïve, comic and fascinated protagonist as she fills the screen, but Defoe nonetheless deserves awards recognition for his performance as her eccentric creator. He deserved more attention for his comedic genius in The Lobster too, but that’s a different story. I guess neither of these performances are generally ones that the award crowds go for, particularly not the Oscars, but Defoe nonetheless deserves some cred.
Apart from those upsets, it’s a fairly predictable list of nominations, with all the big hitters on the line. But I’ll keep you in the loop if more Oscar drama occurs any time soon.