Gwyneth Paltrow has addressed the criticism from the 1999 Academy Awards, where her film Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan. The historic rom-com winning the Best Picture Oscar over Steven Spielberg’s war epic didn’t sit well with movie fanatics at the time. Notably, many believe Spielberg deserved the award to this day.
Gwyneth Paltrow on Saving Private Ryan losing Best Picture Oscar to Shakespeare in Love
Over two and a half decades later, Gwyneth Paltrow has weighed in on Saving Private Ryan losing the Best Picture Oscar to Shakespeare in Love.
On The Awardist podcast, Gerrad Hall asks Paltrow if she ever discussed the upset with her godfather, Spielberg. The actress responded by saying, “Well, it was so funny because Steven won for director and I won [Best Actress]. And Steven has been at this rodeo for a very long time. And even 25 years ago had already been at the rodeo a very long time.”
Getting introspective on the awards industrial complex, the 53-year-old noted that it’s all a bit arbitrary. She further explained that there’s no specific rhyme or reason for one film prevailing over the other.
Citing the example of La La Land and Moonlight’s Oscar uproar, Paltrow said, “You know what? Both of those could have won.” The actress was referring to the infamous 2017 Oscars mix-up. For those unaware, presenters Barren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were mistakenly handed the wrong envelope. As a result, La La Land was crowned Best Picture when Moonlight was the real winner.
Paltrow also highlighted that while awards are meant to celebrate incredible work, they also serve as monetization tools. Hence, for a film to be even nominated is a big honor in itself.
“I think there’s always discourse around what people like and don’t like because art is subjective. That’s the point of it,” the Marty Supreme actress said. “The point of art is to stir emotion and to help you process through emotion and to help you take something abstract and put it into a reference that you understand,” she added.
Originally reported by Shibanee Gogoi on ComingSoon.
