Songwriter and producer Mark Ronson opened up about how Ryan Gosling made "I'm Just Ken" his own and shared his thoughts on Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig's respective omissions from the best actress and best director categories for the 2024 Oscars.
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00:00 Their spirit is in every single piece of it. Like, there's no way that Ryan, America, myself,
00:08 like, there's no way that we would be doing the work that we did without their contribution anyway.
00:13 Mark Ronson is now a two-time Oscar nominee. The songwriter and producer received his second
00:18 nomination for Best Original Song on Tuesday for "I'm Just Ken" from Barbie,
00:23 which he co-wrote with Andrew Wyatt.
00:29 Following the nomination's announcement, Ronson, who won the Best Original Song Oscar in 2019
00:34 for "Shallow" from A Star Is Born, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his reaction to the news,
00:39 working with Ken actor Ryan Gosling, the Barbie snubs that the internet can't stop talking about,
00:44 and more. First, Ronson revealed where he was when he learned of the nomination.
00:48 "I was actually on a plane and I was just like, I suddenly got all this barrage of texts from
00:55 people at the same time and I had a feeling it was something to do with the nomination.
01:02 My one-year-old daughter was sleeping right next to me on the plane, so I was just like
01:07 obviously holding it all inside, but of course it was super exciting, really."
01:13 The songs that are nominated for Best Original Song are typically performed at the Academy Awards
01:17 ceremony. When asked what Oscar viewers might be able to expect from the "I'm Just Ken" performance,
01:22 Ronson shared this.
01:23 "I haven't thought about any of that stuff yet, I'm not sure. I mean obviously we would love more
01:28 than anything for Ryan to perform the song. I mean that's always just been the dream since we sort of,
01:35 that first day in the studio."
01:37 He also spoke about working with Gosling in the studio and how the actor brought the song to life.
01:41 "He just brought this, you know, he brought the Ken to it. Like he brought the Ken energy. He
01:48 took this song because he's such a brilliant actor and had already like bound his Ken and
01:54 his process and what he was doing because he had already been working on the film. So when he
01:58 performed it, he brought something extra to it. Not only just a great singer but also a great
02:04 emotional conveyor of this song."
02:07 Barbie received eight 2024 Oscar nominations,
02:10 including performance nods for Gosling and America Ferreira, as well as a nod for Best Picture.
02:15 However, Barbie herself, Margot Robbie, was noticeably absent from the Best Actress list
02:20 and Greta Gerwig did not receive a nod for directing.
02:23 Ronson weighed in on the snubs and shared this about Robbie and Gerwig's influence on the film.
02:27 "I wanted Greta and Margot to be recognized for their incredible work as well. I mean obviously
02:35 Greta is for screenplay and Margot for producing the film but their spirit is in every single piece
02:43 of, like there's no way that Ryan, America, myself, like there's no way that we would be
02:50 doing the work that we did without their contribution anyway."
02:53 "I'm Just Ken" is one of two Barbie tracks nominated for Best Original Song this year,
02:57 as Billie Eilish and Finneas also received a nod in the category for "What Was I Made For."
03:01 "We loved that song the moment that we heard it and you know Andrew and I,
03:05 we even did the, we did the orchestral arrangement for that song and you know that song is,
03:10 we've wove it into the film and the melodies and stuff is in the score you know in the same way
03:16 that the do a dance the night motif is in the score like it was just so wonderful we knew that
03:21 we had to do that. It would be nice if there could be more than two songs because I feel like every
03:25 song in this film especially you know Dance the Night and Pink and Nikki and Ice like no song,
03:37 each song has just done such a wonderful thing and the kind of like
03:41 making the movie feel like it does you know the movie lifted the songs and the songs lift the
03:47 movie." For more from Mark Ronson on "I'm Just Ken" and the full list of 2024 Oscar nominees,
03:51 head to THR.com. This is The Hollywood Reporter News.