Oscars Playback: Revisiting the 1998 ceremony when ‘Titanic’ was the king of the world

Welcome back to Oscars Playback, in which Gold Derby editors and Experts Christopher Rosen and Joyce Eng revisit Oscar ceremonies and winners of yesteryear. This week, we sink our teeth into the 70th Academy Awards in 1998, honoring the films of 1997.

After surviving Independents Day the year before (phew!), Hollywood was the king of the world again thanks to “Titanic” blowing everything out of the water and exceeding expectations when everyone thought it’d be an over-budgeted flop. The 14-time nominee took home 11 awards, tying “Ben-Hur” (1959) for the most wins, which would later be tied by “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003). It took down “As Good as It Gets,” “The Full Monty,” “Good Will Hunting” and “L.A. Confidential” for Best Picture.

SEE Oscars Playback: Revisiting the 1997 ceremony when ‘The English Patient’ ruled Independents Day

All five Best Picture nominees walked away a winner though with at least one victory somewhere. Most notably, Jack Nicholson claimed his third Oscar with “As Good as It Gets,” and this was the coronation of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who won Best Original Screenplay for “Good Will Hunting.” The BFFs were 27 and 25, respectively, at the time and everyone at the ceremony made sure to remind you that they were babies (watch clips from the ceremony here).

Elsewhere, we discuss Leonardo DiCaprio‘s “Titanic” (and titanic?) snub and what could’ve been an Oscars Slap with an actual Oscar.

Timestamps:
Intro and general thoughts on ceremony and films (0:00)
Our favorite 1997 films (7:45)
Best Picture (25:25)
Best Director (41:28)
Best Actor (50:41)
Best Actress (1:00:36)
Best Supporting Actor (1:06:34)
Best Supporting Actress (1:12:25)
Screenplay awards (1:18:15)
Music awards (1:21:20)
Final thoughts (1:23:40)

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