Unless you've lived in a hole for the last year, you'll know that the two titan movies of last summer were undeniably ‘Barbenheimer’ – or Barbie and Oppenheimer. The two entirely opposite films, released on the very same weekend in July, went on to be the iconic pairing we didn't know we needed – one a fantasy, feminist, comedy musical about Barbie, the other a sobering biopic about the invention of the atomic bomb – but they also started a box office race over who would be more successful.
And, while Barbie made more money, Oppenheimer cultivated more industry praise, with numerous Oscar nods, while Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig were both snubbed for their roles in Barbie as lead actress and lead director, respectively.
So, when Ryan Gosling (who played Barbie's love interest, Ken) and Emily Blunt (who played Oppenheimer's wife, Kitty) took to the stage together at the 96th academy awards to present the award for Best Stunt Performance, we hoped for some chaotic antics… and we weren't disappointed.
Ryan opened with a steely, “Oh. Hello Emily,” to which she replied, “wow, bit of frosty hello," before he explained: “not at all, no. I'm just happy that we can finally put this ‘Barbenheimer’ rivalry behind us.”
Emily agreed stating: “That’s right, here’s Ken and Kitty, just leaving all that fodder in the dust, guys. And the way this award season’s turned out, it wasn’t that much of a rivalry, so, just let it go." The audience awkward-smiled acknowledging the disparity between the two films' Oscar nominations, but Ryan ploughed on noting: “It’s true, you guys are doing very well. Congratulations. But you know, I think I kind of figured out why they called it ‘Barbenheimer’ and they didn’t call it ‘Oppenbarbie.’”
When asked why, he continued: “Well, I think you guys are at the tail-end of that because you were riding Barbie’s coat tails all summer.” From the audience, an ecstatic Margot can be seen creasing behind her hands. But Emily shot back, saying “Thanks for Ken-splaining that to me. Alright, Mr I-Need-To-Paint-My-Abs-On-To-Get-Nominated, you don’t see Robert Downey doing that, Robert Downey did not paint his abs on.”
The banter between the two is even funnier, given we know the two actors are actually friends and have starred in The Fall Guy together (an action comedy about a stunt double that's soon to be released and fill the hole left behind by Barbenheimer).
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But, it's not the first time Barbie and Oppenheimer's actors have paired up to discuss the rivalry. In their Actors on Actors interview with Variety, Margot Robbie told Cillian Murphy: “I remember one of your producers, Chuck Roven, called me, because we've worked together on some other projects – and he was like ‘I think you guys should move your date.’ And I was like ‘we’re not moving our date.' If you're scared to be up against us, then you move your date. And he was like ‘we’re not moving our date, I just think it would be better for you to move.' And I was like ‘we’re not moving.'"
But she conceded, “I think this is a really great pairing actually. I think it's a perfect double billing, Oppenheimer and Barbie.” Cillian agreed adding: “I think that both of these films show the appetite that the audience has for cinema.” Discussing the phenomenon, where fans went to watch both films back to back, Margot concluded: “People like everything, people are weird. People have specific and wide-ranging tastes.”
Which probably explains why the Kitty Oppenheimer and Ken collab was one of the best moments of the night.
For more from GLAMOUR's Senior Beauty Editor, Elle Turner, follow her on Instagram @elleturneruk
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