Ben Affleck's Argo wins best picture Oscar
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HOLLYWOOD (AFP) - 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.
Argo bested eight rivals for the top prize: Amour, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, and Zero Dark Thirty.
On Nicholson's cue, Mrs 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 co-producer of the film, speaking at top speed in the very last minutes of the live prime-time Oscar broadcast.
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
