Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling trade insults over ‘Barbenheimer’ rivalry at the 2024 Oscars
It was the ultimate showdown!
“Barbie” lead Ryan Gosling, 43, and “Oppenheimer” star Emily Blunt, 41, came out together at the 2024 Oscars to present a segment that paid tribute to movie stunts.
Onstage during the 96th Academy Awards, Gosling and Blunt — who both received Best Supporting acting nominations, respectively for playing Ken in “Barbie” and Katherine Oppenheimer in “Oppenheimer” — got into a faux “argument,” delightfully roasting each other over their rival hits.
Gosling began by saying, “Oh. Hello, Emily.”
“Wow, bit of a frosty hello,” said Blunt.
“Not at all. I’m just happy that we can put this ‘Barbenheimer’ rivalry behind us,” said Gosling.
“And the way this award season turned out, there wasn’t that much of a rivalry, just let it go!” Blunt replied.
Gosling turned to Blunt, smirking, and said he thought he’d figured out why the summer movie phenomenon was called “Barbenheimer” and not “Oppen-barbie,” — because, “You guys were at the tail end of that …because you were riding ‘Barbie’s’ coattails all summer.”
He then pointed to a laughing Margot Robbie, who smiled at him from the audience.
The crowd went “Ooooh!” at his zinger.
Both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” premiered on July 21.
The contrast of tones — with “Barbie” being a frothy, “pink” comedy, and “Oppenheimer” a dour, serious biopic of the father of the atomic bomb — caused moviegoers to embrace both films as an unlikely double feature.
The two films are now battling it out for the Best Picture Oscar.
Gosling and Blunt both lost the Best Supporting nominations — Blunt lto Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”) and Gosling lost to Robert Downey Jr. (“Oppenheimer”).
Fans even made their own posters for the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon over the summer, editing images of the two movies together, sparking controversy in Japan.
Many moviegoers also dressed up in pink to see “Barbie,” and dark colors or porkpie hats to see “Oppenheimer.”
Both films provided a vital lifeline to the global box office this year.
Because of the Hollywood strikes, major releases were delayed and stars couldn’t promote their projects. But #Barbenheimer nonetheless grossed a combined $2 billion worldwide.
“Thanks for Ken-splaining that to me,” Blunt fired back at Gosling, after he gave his rundown of why he thought the double feature got the “Barbenheimer” portmanteau.
“Mr. ‘I need to paint my abs on to get nominated!’” Blunt said in her own zing at Gosling, who pretended to be offended.
Maybe there can be a “Barbenheimer” sequel harnessing their chemistry together.
The Oscars aired on ABC from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday night. Jimmy Kimmel took on hosting duties for the fourth time.
