America Ferrera, who starred in Barbie as Mattel employee Gloria, shared her opinion about director Greta Gerwig and co-star Margot Robbie’s snub at this year’s Academy Awards. While the star celebrates her first Oscar nomination for the Best Supporting Actress category, she feels the two women behind the record-breaking feature were not “celebrated” enough for their “amazing work.”
In an interview with Deadline, the Ugly Betty actress pointed out that both Gerwig and Robbie did not only produce a groundbreaking film, but also created something that resonated with a lot of people around the world.
“They’re my girls, and I want to see their incredible, amazing work celebrated. They made history, they set a new bar. They not only broke box office records, but made something that resonated around the globe, and the impact of what they made is, and will continue to be felt in our culture. I think I join a lot of people in wanting to see them acknowledged for that,” said Ferrera.
Apart from serving as Barbie’s director, Gerwig also wrote the screenplay alongside Noah Baumbach. Robbie, on the other hand, starred as the title character and served as one of the producers.
“I think right from that moment, people got interested in what Greta’s mind as a filmmaker would do with Barbie, and she just assembled incredible artist after incredible artist, in front of the camera and behind the camera, to bring her vision to life. The script was so funny and subversive and irreverent, but also dared to really have a heart and a message,” she added.
Barbie scores eight Oscar nominations
Although Robbie and Gerwig’s Academy Awards snub totally disappointed fans, the film still scored big at this year’s Oscar nominations. Besides the Best Picture nomination, the film also notched the Best Supporting Actor nomination for Ryan Gosling, as well as the Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design nominations. The film also secured two nominations for the Best Original Song category for Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” and Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?”
Ferrera was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress category, alongside Oppenheimer’s Emily Blunt, The Color Purple’s Danielle Brooks, Nyad’s Jodie Foster, and The Holdovers’ Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
The 96th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on March 10.
