Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling are still not over the Oppenheimer and Barbie rivalry.
The stars of both acclaimed summer blockbusters took the stage at the 2024 Academy Awards on Sunday, March 10, to honor stunt people in the industry. However, the pair exchanged “frosty” pleasantries and acknowledged the impact of their films.
While Gosling, 43, was ready to “finally” put the “Barbenheimer rivalry” in the past, Blunt, 41, couldn’t help but get one last jab in.
“It’s Ken and Kitty just leaving all that fodder in the dust right?” she said. “And with how this award season has turned out, it wasn’t that much of a rivalry so just let it go.”
The camera then cut to Blunt’s Oppenheimer costar, Robert Downey Jr., laughing as Gosling attempted to compose himself. Gosling admitted that the biopic was doing very well during the 2024 awards season and offered his congratulations. Blunt thanked Gosling with a sweet giggle before he decided to throw some shade her way.
“But you know I think I kinda figured out why they call it Barbenheimer and not Oppenbarbie,” Gosling reflected to Blunt and she asked why that was. “Well, I think you guys are at the tail end of that cause you were riding Barbie’s coattails all summer.”
Margot Robbie, who starred as the titular doll and co-produced the film, was shown laughing at her costar’s dig. Gosling pointed to the audience and they gasped and laughed.
“Thanks for ‘kensplaining’ that to me alright Mr. I need to paint my abs on to get nominated,” Blunt quipped. “You don’t see Robert Downey doing that!”
Gosling grabbed the microphone from Blunt and shouted she was “kidding” before offering a truce.
“This is inane, Emily. It has got to stop, we have to squash this,” Gosling said. “We’re here to celebrate the community.”
The duo then came together to introduce a video package honoring stuntmen throughout the years.
Gosling and Blunt’s Oscars bit paid homage to the cultural phenomenon of their movies, Barbie and Oppenheimer, which both debuted the same weekend in July 2023. Moviegoers dubbed the event Barbenheimer and treated it as a potential double feature. Both pictures battled for the box office crown over the summer and accolades during awards season.
Robbie, 33, later revealed that an Oppenheimer producer reached out to her suggesting that Barbie move its premiere date.
“I was like, ‘We’re not moving our date. If you’re scared to be up against us, then you move your date,’” the actress said to Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy in a December 2023 episode of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series. “And he’s like, ‘We’re not moving our date. I just think it’d be better for you to move.’ And I was like, ‘We’re not moving!’”
While Barbie came out on top at the theaters by earning more than $1 billion, Oppenheimer has performed better at several awards shows including the Oscars. Oppenheimer earned a total of 13 nods at the Oscars while Barbie received nine.
