While reacting to her very first Oscar nomination for Barbie, Ferrera also weighed in on her costar and director getting left in the cold.
It was a complicated morning for Barbie star America Ferrera.
While the actress’ own name and that of her costar Ryan Gosling were among those revealed when Oscar nominations were announced earlier today, Margot Robbie failed to earn a Best Actress nomination while Greta Gerwig isn’t in the running for Best Director.
Speaking with Variety, Ferrera opened up about her first Oscar nomination ever in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role as Gloria in the film — before sharing her disappointment over the snubs for Robbie and Gerwig.
2024 Oscar Nominations, Snubs and Surprises — The Full List
View Story
“There was a moment where I wasn’t sure if I had made it up,” she said. “And then my phone started blowing up so I figured that I must have heard it right.”
Ferrera says she listened to Tuesday morning’s Oscar nominations alone in bed while her husband Ryan Piers Williams drove their kids to school.
“I still haven’t really been able to get in my feelings because I’m still on like the top layer of ‘I can’t even believe that this is real,'” Ferrera continued.
She said her husband called her straight away from the car with the children still in the backseat, adding, “He was screaming and emotional. And I just heard my kids in the back, like so confused. ‘What are you screaming about?'”
Ferrera said she also heard from Sisterhood of Traveling Pants co-stars Blake Lively, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel, who have all remained close since they wrapped the films in 2008.
“They FaceTimed me as a group right away,” Ferrera says. “It was hilarious and funny and emotional and it’s wonderful to be celebrated and held up by my sisters. These women who I’ve had the honor of growing up with in this industry and being loved and cheered on and supported by them. Which we all do for each other. They’re amazing, and such a gift in my life.”
Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media.
As for how the 39-year-old actress feels about her colleagues’ notable snubs, well, that’s less amazing.
“I was incredibly disappointed that they weren’t nominated,” she told the publication. “Greta has done just about everything that a director could do to deserve it. Creating this world, and taking something that didn’t have inherent value to most people and making it a global phenomenon. It feels disappointing to not see her on that list.”
Ferrera went on to call Robbie a “magician as an actress.”
“What Margot achieved as an actress is truly unbelievable. One of the things about Margot as an actress is how easy she makes everything look,” she said. “And perhaps people got fooled into thinking that the work seems easy, but Margot is a magician as an actress in front of the screen, and it was one of the honors of my career to get to witness her pull off the amazing performance she did. She brings so much heart and humor and depth and joy and fun to the character. In my book, she’s a master.”
Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media.
Barbie received a total of eight nominations overall, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, which Gerwig and husband Noah Baumbach wrote together. The film also helped make history, as this is the first time three films directed by women earned Best Picture noms.
Despite the snubs, Ferrera said there’s still been a celebratory tone from the movie’s cast and crew, at least when it comes to her texts from them.
“It’s an overwhelming amount of love and support and congratulations to me,” she said. “I feel it so deeply and am so grateful for their love and support and in this moment. It’s been a long Barbie journey — I mean longer even for Greta and Margot and Noah, it’s been years and years and years — everyone’s really excited that we get to celebrate and to end this journey at the biggest party of the year.”
The 96th Oscars will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, airing live March 10 on ABC.
