The Silver Lining of an Oscar Snub
A woman directs a commercially successful and critically acclaimed film that is nominated for a slew of Academy Awards, but none for Best Director. Sound familiar? Back in 1992, this is what happened to Barbra Streisand, whose Oscar snub for directing The Prince of Tides prompted the ceremony’s host, Billy Crystal, to sing “Did this movie direct itself?” to the tune of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” in his opening monologue. He was stealing his own joke—he’d said the same thing two years prior about Bruce Beresford, who was overlooked for Best Director even though his film Driving Miss Daisy won Best Picture. There’s a chance that this year’s Oscar host, Jimmy Kimmel, will bring out that old chestnut with regard to Barbie, which netted eight nods, including Best Picture, but saw its director, Greta Gerwig, ignored in her category. Gerwig and her husband, Noah Baumbach, were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, but there was an immediate outcry when the nominations were unveiled, given Barbie’s colossal success (more than $1.4 billion in worldwide grosses) and …