Barbenheimer: Emily Blunt & Ryan Gosling Squash Rivalry After One Last Ribbing At Oscars

It was summer 2024 clash of the titans when Barbie and Oppenheimer were scheduled to open on the same day. There were reported overtures from the two producing teams but no one blinked, each film staking its claim on the July 21 release date.

What followed was nothing short of extraordinary, with Barbie and Oppenheimer ranking as the No. 1 and No.3 highest grossing movies of 2023, amassing $1.4B and $958M worldwide, respectively. The blockbusters also carried their friendly rivalry over to awards season, landing 13 (Oppenheimer) and 8 (Barbie) Oscar nominations, including a slot in the Best Picture category for each.

Academy Award-nominated stars from each movie, Oppenheiner‘s Emily Blunt and Barbie‘s Ryan Gosling, took the friendly rivalry to the Oscar stage. The “Kitty and Ken” banter, in which Blunt and Gosling looked to clear the air and squash the beef between the two hit movies, got a little too intense.

Blunt started the confrontation by noting Gosling “frosty hallo.”

Gosling did not take the bait, looking determined to keep the civil tone. “We are happy that we can finally put that Barbenheimer rivalry behind us,” he said.

Blunt had other ideas. “And the way this awards season has turned out, it wasn’t too much of a rivalry,” she said, referring to Oppenheimer‘s dominant performance at the major awards shows this season.

“It’s true, you guys are doing very well. Congratulations,” Gosling said before adding, “But, you know, I figured out why they called it Barbenheimer and they didn’t call it Oppenbarbie.”

Waiting for Blunt to ask “Why,” he had the answer.

“I think you are at the tail-end of that because you have been riding Barbie‘s coattails all summer,” he said to a big laugh and applause from the audience.

Blunt had the perfect response, saying, “Thanks for Ken-splaining that to me,” before going for the jaguar. “Mister I Need To Paint My Abs On To Get Nominated. You don’t see Robert Downey do that,” a reference to her Oppenheimer co-star.

A pandemonium ensued, with Gosling insisting that Blunt was kidding.

“This has got to stop, we’ve got to squash this,” he said before the two got on with their presenter duties, saluting stunt performers.

Watch the video above.