- - Gwyneth Paltrow Addresses “Shakespeare in Love” Beating Godfather Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” for Best Picture

Victoria EdelJanuary 2, 2026 at 2:54 AM

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Gwyneth Paltrow in 'Shakespeare in Love' -

Gwyneth Paltrow opened up about the controversial Shakespeare in Love Oscar campaign during an appearance on The Awardist podcast

In 1999, Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan, which was directed by Paltrow's godfather, Steven Spielberg

Paltrow also won Best Actress for the film

Gwyneth Paltrow is opening up about the controversial awards race that ultimately won her an Oscar.

On Entertainment Weekly’s The Awardist podcast, Paltrow, 53, discussed the 1998-1999 Oscar campaign for Shakespeare in Love, which culminated in her winning Best Actress at the 71st Academy Awards. The film also nabbed Best Picture in an upset, beating frontrunner Saving Private Ryan. The epic war film was directed by Paltrow’s godfather, Steven Spielberg.

When asked if she and Spielberg, 79, have talked about it, she said, "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."

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Gwyneth Paltrow with her Best Actress Oscar in 1999 (left); Steven Spielberg with his Best Director Oscar, also 1999

She said that she tries not to focus on awards too much, because there’s “a lot of great work” that doesn’t get recognized.

“We never know why one thing wins over the next,” she said.

She cited the 2017 Oscars, where Moonlight edged out La La Land for Best Picture (and presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway had been given the wrong envelope and erroneously announced the latter as the winner).

“You know what? Both of those could have won,” she said.

"So it's like to say, I think awards are designed, yes, to acknowledge people's amazing achievements, but it's also a monetization tool for a broader industry," she said. "And so I think you have to understand them also from that perspective too, and know that even if your film is in the conversation, that in itself is an honor. That in itself is wonderful for a movie and for this business model of cinema, which I hope is going to continue to be viable."

She added, "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 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."

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Steven Spielberg (left) and Gwyneth Paltrow in 2007

Shakespeare in Love had one of the most controversial Oscar campaigns of all time, with now-disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein using particularly aggressive tactics.

In 2017, Vanity Fair wrote, "That Weinstein’s film was in the hunt at all against such finely calibrated Oscar bait was proof that his signature innovation — bringing the rough-and-tumble style of political campaigns to the staid and clubby Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — could work.”

They added that, with the revelations of Weinstein’s sexual harassment, “It is impossible to revisit the 1999 Oscars and not see the campaign now as Weinstein’s bully masterpiece.”

Paltrow also said on the podcast that her Oscar, which she previously kept behind a door, is now proudly on her bookshelf. “I think I had a bit of healing to do, in terms of how I held that, everything that happened, and happened after.”

She called the movie’s release and campaign “a lot to metabolize.”

The Marty Supreme star said she recently rewatched some of Shakespeare in Love and had a new appreciation for it, adding that it took 25 years to come to terms with her win, despite it being a “pivotal” moment. “I think it was just a lot to hold as a 26-year-old.”

on People

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