Argo takes Best Picture Oscar, Lee Ang Best Director
Purchase this article for republication
Buy SPH photos
LOS ANGELES (AFP, AP, Reuters) - Ben Affleck's Iran hostage drama Argo on Sunday took home the Oscar for Best Picture, in a unique presentation done by Jack Nicholson in Hollywood and First Lady Michelle Obama by videolink.
On Nicholson's cue, Obama - in a glittering silvery gown as stunning as any worn by the stars inside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood - opened the envelope at the White House and declared Argo the winner.
"I want to thank Canada. I want to thank our friends in Iran, who live under terrible circumstances," said Affleck, a director and producer of the film, speaking at top speed in the very last minutes of the live prime-time Oscar broadcast.
It is the first Best Picture winner not to be nominated for Best Director since 1989's Driving Miss Daisy. But despite the omission of Affleck - or perhaps buoyed by it - Argo emerged as the Oscar favorite, winning top honours from the directors, producers, screen actors and writers guilds.
Background story
WINNERS
- Best picture: Argo
- Best director: Ang Lee, Life Of Pi
- Best leading actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
- Best leading actress: Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
- Best supporting actor: Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained
- Best supporting actress: Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables
- Best foreign language film: Amour (Love)
- Best animated feature: Brave
- Best original screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
- Best adapted screenplay: Chris Terrio, Argo
- Best original score: Life of Pi
- Best original song: Skyfall, music and lyrics by Adele and Paul Epworth
- Best production design: Lincoln
- Best cinematography: Life of Pi
- Best costume design: Anna Karenina
- Best documentary feature: Searching for Sugar Man
- Best documentary short: Inocente
- Best film editing: Argo
- Best makeup: Les Miserables
- Best short animated film: Paperman
- Best short live action film: Curfew
- Best sound editing: Zero Dark Thirty
- Best sound mixing: Les Miserables
- Best visual effects: Life of Pi
Related Stories
