Matt Damon thinks the wrong 1997 movie won the Oscar for ‘Best Picture’. He doesn’t think ‘Good Will Hunting’ deserved it, either
Matt Damon has said the wrong film won Best Picture at the 1998 Oscars, but he does not think his own film, Good Will Hunting, should have won either. Looking back a decade later, he agreed that Curtis Hanson’s crime thriller LA Confidential was the stronger choice, questioning the value of judging films through awards decided so soon after release.
Titanic won Best Picture and 11 Oscars at the ceremony, despite Damon’s view that LA Confidential deserved the prize. Good Will Hunting and The Full Monty were also among the nominees, while As Good As It Gets won Jack Nicholson his third acting Oscar. Damon argued that films should be judged ten years after release, when their lasting quality is clearer.
In short
- Damon says LA Confidential should have won Best Picture.
- Titanic took 11 Oscars in 1998.
- He believes films should be judged a decade later.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Damon’s view is that awards made soon after release can mistake immediate impact for lasting quality. Judging films a decade later may better reveal which works have endured, and LA Confidential’s reputation makes a thoughtful case that it was the stronger Best Picture choice.
The case against
The Oscars recognise achievement as it is understood at the time, when a film’s craft, ambition and cultural impact are freshly experienced. Titanic’s scale and broad appeal offered voters a defensible reason to honour it, while a ten-year wait would make the award less a contemporary judgement and more a retrospective reassessment.
Explained simply
The Academy Awards are held each year to recognise films and performances from the previous year. At the 1998 ceremony, the Best Picture nominees included Titanic, LA Confidential, Good Will Hunting and The Full Monty.
Best Picture is chosen by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a film-industry organisation. The award reflects voters’ views at the time; it is one measure of a film’s reception, while audiences and critics may assess its lasting reputation differently.
The debate matters because awards can shape how films are remembered, even though their reputations can change over time. Matt Damon co-wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting, while LA Confidential was directed by Curtis Hanson.