Margot Robbie arrives at the 80th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, California, in January 2023. Photo / Jordan Strauss, Invision, AP
Margot Robbie has revealed she interrupted a Scottish stag do group who were discussing the merits of Barbie as she addressed her Oscars snub for the first time.
The Australian star, 33, said she couldn’t resist approaching a group of men celebrating a stag at a pub in Scotland, saying: “It was just truly fascinating. There were people at the table who refused to see the Barbie movie.
“One guy was like ‘dude, it is a cultural moment, don’t you want to be a part of culture?’ And the other guy was like, ‘I’ll never see it’ and by the end, he did want to see it. It was a whole thing.”
It comes as she said “there’s no way to feel sad when you know you’re this blessed” after failing to receive a nod for Best Actress for the blockbuster film at the Academy Awards.
She added that it took the group of stunned men “a full minute” to register that it was her saying hello and described the moment they realised as “very funny”.
Robbie, who both produced and starred as the leading role in Barbie, addressed the row over the missed Oscar nominations for director Greta Gerwig and herself at a special Sag-Aftra panel discussion on Tuesday night.
The snubs for the record-breaking film, which was the highest-grossing movie of 2023 and the only billion-dollar film solely directed by a woman, were highly criticised by the movie’s actors and sparked a furious discourse online.
“Obviously I think Greta should be nominated as a director because what she did is a once-in-a-career, once-in-a-lifetime thing, what she pulled off, it really is,” Robbie said, but added that it had “been an incredible year for all the films.”
She added: “We set out to do something that would shift culture, affect culture, just make some sort of impact, and it’s already done that, and some, way more than we ever dreamed it would.
“That is truly the biggest reward that could come out of all of this.”
Robbie added she was “beyond ecstatic” that the box office juggernaut had received eight Oscar nominations, which include Best Supporting Actress for America Ferrera, who plays Gloria, and Best Supporting Actor for Ryan Gosling, who plays Ken.
Gerwig missed out on a Best Director nod but was named alongside her husband Noah Baumbach for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Robbie lost out on a Best Actress nomination but was recognised for Best Picture as a producer.
The nomination is her first as a producer after she acquired the rights to Mattel’s Barbie with her production company LuckyChap. Robbie shares the nomination with fellow producers Tom Ackerley, David Heyman and Robbie Brenner.
Gosling, 43, spoke about his disappointment for Gerwig and Robbie after the pair were snubbed in their categories.
“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,” he said.
“No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius.”