Mark Ronson for ‘I’m Just Kane’ Oscar Nod, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig Snopes – The Hollywood Reporter

Mark Ronson received his second Oscar nomination Tuesday for best original song for the song “I’m Just Ken,” which he co-wrote with Andrew Wyatt for the film. Barbie.

The songwriter and producer received word of the nomination during a morning commute and spoke with him Hollywood Reporter After landing to share his reaction. During the chat, the 2019 Academy Award-winning hitmaker for Best Original Song talked about the song “Shallow” from the movie “Shallow.” A star is born, He opened up about his love for Barbie And all of the music in the film, including the fellow-nominated song “What Was I Made For?” Written by Billie Eilish and Finneas.

The two Best Original Song nods were among the eight nominations for the 2024 Academy Awards Barbie Receive. However, Barbie herself Margot Robbie was noticeably absent from this year’s list of Best Actress nominees, as was Greta Gerwig from the Best Director category. Ronson also spoke about his desire to be among the honorees, his thoughts on a possible performance of “I’m Just Ken” at the Oscars, and more.

Congratulations! How did you hear about the news?

I was actually on a plane and all of a sudden I was getting all this barrage of text messages from people and at the same time, and I had a feeling it was about the filter. My one-year-old daughter was sleeping next to me on the plane, so I carried everything inside. I had just gone to sleep, so my wife was looking at me like, “Don’t you dare.” But of course it was very exciting.

Have you talked to anyone else from…BarbieCast and crew, yet?

I didn’t, no. Of course, I wanted Greta and Margot to be recognized for their amazing work as well. I mean, obviously Greta is in charge of the script and Margot is in charge of producing the film. But their spirit is in every part of (the film), there’s no way Ryan, America, me, there’s no way we could have done the work we did without their input anyway.

Going back to the first day in the studio with Ryan, how did the song come together?

I read the script and then I was very inspired, not only by the great comedy, but it was so honest and the stories of these two people trying to find their way. One just happens to be smarter than the other in the case of Barbie and Ken. I was kind of blown up, kind of emotional. When I put the script aside, I came up with this idea, “I’m just Ken… where else would I be 10,” and she wrote on the piano. Then my songwriting partner, Andrew (White), came in and we finished it together. We sent this rough demo to Greta, who just loved it. Then he played it to Ryan, who was really into it and said, “Yes, I want to sing this song in the movie.” So, we went into the studio to record with Ryan, and he just brought Ken in. He brought the “energy”. He took that song — because he’s a great actor and he really found Ken and his process and what he was doing — (and) brought something extra to it. Not only is he a great singer, but he’s also a great emotional conveyor of this song.

Can you talk about the impact of the song and the reception it received from people?

It’s amazing when we saw people seem to dig (Kane and the song) in the trailer, it was exciting. We love this movie so much. And then when it moved to TikTok, social media and people started making videos of, ‘That’s my husband, that’s Ken’, people dressed in mink – it was very exciting. It was as if the song clearly resonated on another level. I think it has a lot to do with the message in this movie. It’s definitely a women’s story that drives this movie, but there’s also this other parallel message of finding your worth and worth, and even if you feel kind of lonely and isolated and all these things, in the end, when it’s like, “Put that manly hand in Consider,” you found your people. So, that could have been it. Maybe people thought it was a catchy tune. It could be about how charming Ryan, Simo (Leo), Kingsley (Ben Adir) and all the Caines are in their shows, and what an incredible 11-minute musical sequence Greta delivers. I think it was all of those things, but what’s been so crazy lately is hearing a lot of my friends who have boys watch this sequence over and over again. You only have to listen to one podcast to know that there’s sort of this crisis with boys in the age of the internet and how that can breed this crazy isolation and loneliness, and I think Greta gets this beautiful message across in this movie that goes against that, and we just put it On music. Obviously the song is for everyone. We didn’t write it just for boys or men or anything else. It’s like a movie – it’s for everyone, but this was a nice and unexpected side aspect of it.

How do you feel about Billy and Finneas taking on “What Was I Made For?” Who is this movie also nominated in this category?

Yes, we love that song. We love that song. The moment we heard it — and Andrew and I did the orchestral arrangement of that song — we incorporated it into the film and into the melodies and into the score in the same way that the idea for Dua (Lipa)’s “Dance The Night” was into the score. It was so cool. We knew we had to do this. So, they are amazingly talented and it would be great if there were more than two songs. I feel like every song in this movie, especially “Dance The Night,” “Pink,” Nicki (Minaj) and Ace (Spice). Every song did something great in making the movie feel like it was. The movie lifted the songs and the songs lifted the movie. Therefore, it is very difficult to limit it to just two. But there are some other great songs nominated alongside, so I understand why rules are rules. I think we had, at this point, been working on this music together for eight months. I think I had my first conversation with Greta, Billy, and Phineas about a year and a half ago. They’re amazing songwriters, and they wrote a really moving, thoughtful song for the movie, and we wrote a sort of triumphant song. They have an introspective personality, they’re both great in the movie, and at this point now, it’s up to everyone else to decide.

At this stage of your artistic career, what does it mean to you to receive this nomination for this song?

I mean it’s so crazy because no matter what field you’re in, the Oscar is still considered the highest, highest honor and to be recognized for that is of course really meaningful.

I love this movie very much. We loved writing the score, writing these songs, working on this music, and helping put the whole soundtrack together. If we had not been nominated for anything, it would not have spoiled the experience in any way. It’s not everything of course, but the people who recognized us from the music branch specifically are our heroes. They are people like Carter Burwell and John Williams and contemporaries like Jon Batiste, Diane Warren, Marc Shaiman and Ben Pasek. Our peers, our heroes – it’s very special that way.

Do you have any thoughts or early ideas on how to perform “I’m Just Ken” on the Oscars broadcast?

I haven’t thought about any of those things yet. I’m not sure. I mean, obviously we would love more than anything to have Ryan perform the song. I mean this was always just a dream from day one in the studio, but all of this stuff still seems a little far away.

Maybe it will be all Kane on stage?

Oh, my God. This is from your mouth to God’s ears.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

See the full list of 2024 Academy Awards nominations here.