The Awardist Oscars Oscar nominee Florence Pugh reacts to Greta Gerwig snub: 'It's incredibly upsetting' By David Canfield David Canfield David Canfield is a Staff Editor. He oversees the magazine's books section, and writes film features and awards analysis. EW's editorial guidelines Published on January 13, 2020 10:07AM EST Florence Pugh is on “cloud nine” after netting her first-ever Oscar nomination for her supporting Little Women performance, but has some strong feelings regarding Greta Gerwig’s omission in the Best Director category. “It’s incredibly upsetting,” she told EW on Monday after the nominations were announced. “It’s a shame that it’s still a conversation.” Pugh was asleep when her name was announced among the five for Best Supporting Actress, but left her phone volume on “in case anything were to happen.” Upon being woken up at 5:20 a.m., she promptly screamed in excitement. “It’s amazing: I’m still kind of in shock about being in this calibre of film anyway,” she said. “It’s gone so far and people have loved it so much.” Little Women capped a big year for the 24-year-old Pugh; she also led the critically acclaimed films Midsommer and Fighting With My Family in what amounted to a breakout 2019. “It’s a lovely feeling to know that not only is my work being liked, but that it’s being recognized,” she said before adding, “And 2020 is so far a great year!” Hers was the first of a solid six Oscar nominations for Little Women to be announced; it’s also included in Best Picture, Best Actress (Saoirse Ronan), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Gerwig). (Pugh is also nominated beside her Little Women costar Laura Dern, who’s cited for Marriage Story.) After a sluggish start on the awards circuit, the movie gained momentum off a very strong box-office run and excellent reviews. But Gerwig never figured prominently in the director race, having also been snubbed by the DGA and Golden Globes. For Pugh, the all-male directing lineup reinforces the urgency of Gerwig’s Little Women. “She’s literally made a film about this,” Pugh explained. “She made a film about women working and their relationship with money and their relationship with working in a man’s world. That’s literally what Little Women is about, so [this] only underlines how important it is — because it’s happening.” Related content: Oscar nominations 2020: See the full list The most shocking snubs and surprises of the 2020 Oscar nominations Florence Pugh on what makes Little Women great: ‘They eat food all the time’