Margot Robbie Says She 'Obviously' Thinks Greta Gerwig Should Have Been Oscar-Nominated 'as a Director'

"What she did is a once-in-a-career, once-in-a-lifetime thing," Margot Robbie said of Greta Gerwig's work on the 'Barbie' movie

In Margot Robbie's first comments about Barbie's Academy Award nominations, she revealed her reaction to Greta Gerwig's omission from the Best Director category.

Robbie, 33, appeared alongside her costars America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Rhea Pearlman, Ariana Greenblatt and Ryan Gosling at a special Screen Actors Guild screening of the movie in Los Angeles on Tuesday,

"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," she said of Gerwig, 40, according to Deadline. The filmmaker was notably left off the upcoming Academy Awards' five-nominee Best Director list when nominations were released last Tuesday.

"But it’s been an incredible year for all the films," Robbie added, per the outlet.

Gerwig broke ground in Hollywood as Barbie broke a number of box office records upon its release in July. The film ultimately proved 2023's highest-grossing movie of the year. It crossed $1 billion at the global box office just over two weeks after its theatrical release and became Warner Bros. Pictures' highest-grossing theatrical release ever, not adjusted for inflation, before the end of August.

Related: Why Diablo Cody Doesn't Fixate on Those Barbie Snubs: 'I Would Trade My Oscar for a Billion-Dollar Movie' (Exclusive)

The upcoming 96th Oscars' nominees for Best Director are Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall), Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon), Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer), Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) and Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)

“I just suspect it’s bigger than us. It’s bigger than this movie, it’s bigger than our industry," Robbie added of Barbie's impact on popular culture on Tuesday, per the outlet. She also applauded the film for receiving eight total Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture and nominations for Gosling, 43, and Ferrera, 39.

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“We set out to do something that would shift culture, affect culture, just make some sort of impact,” she said, per the outlet. “And it’s 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.”

Related: 2024 Oscar Nominations: Barbie, Oppenheimer and American Fiction Among Nominees — See the Full List

Gerwig is nominated at the Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay alongside her cowriter and partner Noah Baumbach, whom she married in December.

“I’ve never been a part of something like this. Not like this," Robbie said of the overall audience response to Barbie, per Deadline. "I’ve done comic book stuff and that gets a big reaction, but this felt very different. It still feels very different. And I can’t think of a time when a movie’s had this effect on culture. And it’s amazing to be in the eye of the storm.”

The 96th Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will air live on Sunday, March 10, from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

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