'Titanic' director James Cameron realizes his 'king of the world' speech at the 1998 Oscars was 'hubristic,' but 'I was just stating how I felt'

• "Titanic" director James Cameron has reflected on his infamous speech at the 1998 Academy Awards.
• He told The Hollywood Reporter it was supposed to be "celebratory" but understands why it was poorly received.
• Cameron said Warren Beatty gave him an awkward look when he walked off stage.

James Cameron acknowledges that his 1998 Academy Awards acceptance speech didn't go down well with audiences but maintains that he was "just stating how I felt" after seeing his film take home more almost a dozen awards.

The director, who is hoping for Oscars success again this weekend, as his latest movie "Avatar: The Way of the Water" is up for four awards including best picture, reflected on his infamous speech in an oral history of the film for The Hollywood Reporter.

During what remains the most-watched Oscars telecast ever, with over 55 million viewers, Cameron took the podium three times to deliver speeches for "Titanic," which in total took home 11 golden statuettes.

Cameron was announced as best director toward the end of the ceremony, and in his last speech of the night, he decided to quote the line his leading man Leonardo DiCaprio's Jack shouts from the prow of the titular ship: "I'm the king of the world!" 

The moment got a mixed reaction from those in the room, as audiences stopped their applause to awkwardly laugh, and Cameron now understands why the moment didn't go down as he expected it to.

"What I realized is, the problem with it is that it's too self-referential and seen as hubristic," he told the outlet, adding that "quoting your own movie as if every single person in the audience is a big fan" was a mistake.

"Because there were a lot of people in that audience that did not vote for 'Titanic,'" he said. "You can't make the assumption that because you're winning, you've won by some vast landslide."

"In my mind, it was celebratory — I was just stating how I felt," he said of the line that rubbed viewers the wrong way, adding that he was actually addressing his parents who were in attendance.

"If you actually look at a transcript of it, I say, 'Mom, Dad, I know you're back there,' because they were in the back of the house. I said, 'I can't tell you how I feel right now except to say that I'm the king of the world!' Meaning talking to my parents saying, 'I feel pretty great right now.' And that was it," he explained.

"What I specifically wasn't saying is, 'I'm showing all y'all motherfuckers how it's done, and yes, I'm the king of the world! I'm all that!' That's not what I was saying," he continued. "But, of course, that's what they heard."

Cameron went on to say that, in retrospect, he should've realized that the reference didn't work because, as a filmmaker, he's "supposed to be better than that. I'm supposed to know what the audience hears."

However, "The Terminator" director said it only dawned on him that the quip didn't land when he walked off stage and locked eyes with presenter Warren Beatty.

"I'll tell you exactly when I first realized it [was going to be a problem]: when I walked backstage and Warren Beatty had this look on his face like, 'What the fuck did you just do?'" he recalled. "He was just looking at me like, 'You poor boob, what the fuck did you just do?' And I went, 'Oh, was that not cool? OK.'"

Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter also spoke to others who were present during the telecast, including show director Louis J. Horvitz, who thought Cameron was "an asshole" for his self-satisfied speech, and former Fox Filmed Entertainment head Bill Mechanic, who mused that "if he had done that before voting closed, we would have lost."