Robert Downey Jr. Praises Margot Robbie’s Acting in ‘Barbie’

While Barbie and Oppenheimer had a dueling release date, there is nothing but love between the actors.

“Margot Robbie‘s not getting enough credit, in my opinion, because America [Ferrera] has this amazing speech, and she nails it,” Oppenheimer star Robert Downey Jr. said during a Tuesday, January 30, conversation with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. “But it’s the cutaway [shot] to Robbie so actively listening. It’s when I realize, ‘Oh, OK, now I see Greta’s really onto something here, but it was Robbie who had to trust [her].’”

He continued, “And let’s not kid ourselves, it’s hard when someone else has the two-page passage and they go, ‘Alright, now let’s jump in and get Bob!’ And you’re just like, ‘I’ve been listening to this all day, now I have to listen to it and make it work?’”

Robbie, 33, starred as the titular “Stereotypical Barbie” in the 2023 film, directed by Greta Gerwig, based on the iconic Mattel doll brand. Her portrayal earned her Golden Globe and SAG Award nods, but not an acting nomination at the 2024 Oscars. (Robbie is credited as a producer in Barbie’s Best Picture nod at the Academy Awards.)

Related: Breaking Down the Hollywood Discourse Surrounding ‘Barbie’

John Salangsang/Shutterstock Oppenheimer may be about an atomic bomb, but Barbie’s the movie causing a pop culture explosion. “My hope for the movie is that it’s an invitation for everybody to be part of the party and let go of the things that aren’t necessarily serving us as either women or men,” director Greta Gerwig […]

“There’s no way to feel sad when you know you’re this blessed,” Robbie said during a Tuesday screening of the film. “I just suspect it’s bigger than us. It’s bigger than this movie, it’s bigger than our industry. 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. And that is truly the biggest reward that could come out of all of this.”

Gerwig also missed out on an Oscar nomination for directing but did receive one for Best Adapted Screenplay. She wrote Barbie alongside her husband, Noah Baumbach.

Barbie stars Ferrera, 39, and Ryan Gosling, meanwhile, were both nominated for Oscars in the Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor categories. While the twosome were thrilled to be recognized, they were disheartened that Robbie and Gerwig were snubbed.

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Happy Oscar nominations morning, everybody! “Happy,” actually, probably doesn’t even begin to describe director Christopher Nolan’s mood at this moment. In a span of just 23 minutes, his acclaimed summer mega-blockbuster Oppenheimer was name-checked no less than 13 times. (Imagine if Billie Eilish had crafted a song for it.) Martin Scorsese is probably ecstatic, too. […]

“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,” Gosling, 43, said in a January statement. “To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.”

He concluded, “Against all odds with nothing but a couple of soulless, scantily clad, and thankfully crotchless dolls, they made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture and they made history. Their work should be recognized along with the other very deserving nominees.”

Gosling is up against Downey Jr., 58, Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things), Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon) and Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction) for the Oscar.