Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling are two of Hollywood’s most comedic and charismatic stars, so we already knew that any on-stage pairing between them wouldn’t disappoint. Their hilariously biting banter at the 2024 Oscars was no exception. The duo, who have joined forces for the new action-comedy The Fall Guy — which is already a winner with early-bird viewers at SXSW and broke a major Guiness World Record — were on hand during the 96th Annual Academy Awards not only as supporting nominees (him for his Kenergetic turn in Barbie and her for her blistering work in Oppenheimer), but also as presenters.
While taking the stage at the March 10 ceremony to celebrate the stunt community in Hollywood, the twosome good-naturedly ribbed each other on that whole “Barbenheimer” phenomenon. Despite saying that “Ken and Kitty” were leaving all of the “fodder” of that cinematic feud behind them, Blunt jokingly kicked off a verbal sparring between the two co-stars:
The way this awards season has turned out, wasn’t much of a rivalry!
As Gosling begrudgingly admitted, Oppenheimer did very well when it came to awards: the critically acclaimed, Christopher Nolan-directed biopic won seven Oscar statuettes in total, including Best Picture, a long-awaited Best Director win for Nolan, and first-time honors for Blunt’s fellow Oppenheimer cast members Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr.
Of course, Barbie was no slouch in the awards department either, earning eight total Academy Award nominations and one win, for Billie Eilish and Finneas’ original song, “What Was I Made For?” However, where the Greta Gerwig-directed blockbuster really shined is at the box office, where it cleared a billion bucks, an impressive feat that Gosling used as ammo against Blunt and the Oppenheimer crew:
It’s true, you guys are doing very well. Congratulations. But, you know, I think I figured out why they call it ‘Barbenheimer’ and they didn’t call it ‘Oppen-Barbie.’ I think you guys were at the tail-end of that because you were riding Barbie’s coattails all summer!
Though Blunt hilariously snapped back at Gosling “Ken-splaining that” to her, she later dropped the feuding facade to praise the Barbie actor’s instantly iconic musical performance of “I’m Just Ken.” (Seriously, even Martin Scorsese loved it.) You can rewatch the entire back-and-forth between the two actors below:
Emily Blunt shared her reaction to Ryan’s big number with E! News and also disclosed what she later told him while they were flying from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, after the Oscars for The Fall Guy‘s SXSW premiere:
I said on the flight over, I said, ‘I just need you to know, it was just utterly amazing. I don’t know if anyone could have done what he did. The energy in the room when he started doing it, it just lifted the whole thing.
We’re glad to see that the “feud” between these two is only for comedic purposes, because this is a duo we’re definitely excited to see more of soon. Catch both Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling in The Fall Guy, hitting theaters on Friday, May 3rd on the 2024 movie schedule.