Judd Apatow Says Putting ‘Barbie’ In Oscars’ Adapted Screenplay Category Is Insulting

Barbie is an original screenplay, not an adapted screenplay, claims director/producer Judd Apatow.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ decision to classify Greta Gerwig’s film is seen as a slam by Apatow, who posted last night on the matter.

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“It’s insulting to the writers to say they were working off of existing material,” wrote. “There was no existing material or story. There was a clear box.”

It’s not the first time for this conundrum. Many Oscar-nominated films about preexisting characters — “Toy Story 3,” for example — were classified as adapted screenplays. The Writers Guild of America has Barbie as an original screenplay for its upcoming WGA Awards, showing that the matter is debatable.

Gerwig co-wrote the Barbie screenplay with husband and fellow Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach. The official Oscar nomination voting will take place on Jan. 11.

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