Carey Mulligan reacts to furore over Oscars snubbing Barbie director Greta Gerwig
Carey Mulligan has admitted she is âguttedâ for Barbie director Greta Gerwig after she was sensationally snubbed from this yearâs Academy Awards.
The 2024 Oscar nominations were met with a fierce backlash, including a withering open letter from Barbie star Ryan Gosling, after it emerged that both Gerwig and lead actor and producer Margot Robbie had not been nominated.
Mulligan, who stars in Bradley Cooperâs Best Picture contender, Maestro, is up for Best Actress for her performance as Felicia Montealegre, the wife of legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein.
She is competing against stars including Poor Thingsâ Emma Stone and Killers of the Flower Moon actor Lily Gladstone.
In an interview with The Times, Mulligan addressed the uproar surrounding the Barbie snubs and questioned what else Gerwig could have done to deserve a nod.
âIâm gutted for Greta because I donât know what else you can do as a director to get nominated,â she said.
âYou make a critically acclaimed film thatâs also an incredible global success, and yet you donât get nominated?â
Mulligan said anyone who claims not to care about the Oscars is â100 per cent lyingâ.
A nomination âis just the coolest thing. Because itâs from your peers. Itâs wicked,â she said.
The Oscar nominations caused a frenzy when they were announced last month, with critics including Barbie stars Gosling and America Ferrera, and former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wading into the row.
In a statement seen by The Independent,Gosling said there was âno 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 filmâ.
âNo recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius,â he continued.
âTo say that Iâm disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.â
Robbie broke her silence on the snub earlier this week, telling Deadline there was âno way to feel sadâ when âyouâre this blessedâ.
She added that she was âbeyond ecstatic that weâve got eight Academy Award nominations â itâs so wildâ.
âEveryone getting the nods that theyâve had is just incredible, and the Best Picture nod,â Robbie continued.
âObviously 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. But itâs been an incredible year for all the films.
âWe set out to do something that would shift culture, affect culture, just make some sort of impact,â she said. âAnd itâs already done that, and some, way more than we ever dreamed it would. And that is truly the biggest reward that could come out of all of this.â