Robert Downey Jr. Says Margot Robbie Isn’t ‘Getting Enough Credit’ for Leading ‘Barbie’

The Barbenheimer love just keeps coming.

After the blockbuster double feature of Summer 2023 collectively dominated the 2024 Oscar nominations, “Oppenheimer” Best Supporting Actor nominee Robert Downey Jr. is calling out the lack of awards recognition for “Barbie” lead actress Margot Robbie. While Robbie was not included in the Best Actress category, she is nominated as a “Barbie” producer for Best Picture.

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During a SAG-AFTRA Foundation panel discussion (below) with fellow SAG Award Best Supporting Actor nominee Sterling K. Brown (“American Fiction”) and Willem Dafoe (“Poor Things”), Downey explained how “Barbie” star Robbie isn’t “getting enough credit” in his eyes.

“It never fails to impress and remind me how little you need to do to be effective,” Downey said. “Just the simplest version of expression, that’s what the camera wants. The closer the camera gets, the more it wants it. Time and time again, it’s demonstrated that it’s super effective.”

Downey cited Oscar nominee America Ferrera’s viral “Barbie” speech as an example of Robbie’s talents, as shown in her reaction onscreen.

“Margot Robbie is not getting enough credit, in my opinion,” Downey said. “America [Ferrera] has this amazing speech. And by the way, she nails it! I’m watching it and go, ‘Wow, that was a really tough one. That’s like a one-act play. The whole movie hinges on it.’ But it’s the cuts away to Robbie so actively listening that I realize Greta is really on to something here. But it’s Robbie who had to trust, and it’s hard when someone who has the fucking two-page passage, and they go, ‘OK, now let’s jump in and get Bob,’ and you’re like, ‘I’ve been listening to this all day and now I have to make it work!'”

Robbie said during a special SAG screening of “Barbie” (via Deadline) that “there’s no way to feel sad when you know you’re this blessed.”

She continued, “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. But it’s been an incredible year for all the films.”

Robbie added that she is “beyond ecstatic that we’ve got eight Academy Award nominations, it’s so wild,” saying, “Everyone getting the nods that they’ve had is just incredible, and the Best Picture nod.”

Ferrera previously told Variety that she was “incredibly disappointed” that Robbie and director Greta Gerwig were not nominated in their respective categories. (To note, Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach are recognized in the Best Adapted Screenplay category at the 2024 Oscars.)

“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,” Ferrera 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.”

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