Academy Award members likely to show love for Argo, but not its director Ben Affleck

The drumbeats for the action-thriller Argo winning the Best Picture Oscar became louder after Ben Affleck, the film's lead actor, director and co-producer, snatched top honours at the Directors Guild Of America (DGA) last Saturday.

The win should mean that the Best Director prize at the 85th Annual Academy Awards, to be held in Los Angeles on the evening of Feb 24 (Feb 25 in Singapore), is as good as his, while giving Argo a leg-up for Best Picture.

Or that would be the case in a normal year.

This year, in a snub that has left many puzzled, Affleck was not even nominated in the Best Director category.