Ben Affleck's 'Argo' named Best Picture of the year at the 85th annual Academy Awards
Jack Nicholson presents the honor with First Lady Michelle Obama
Ben Affleck at the 85th annual Academy Awards
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Crowning off an industry awards running of the table, from the Critics' Choice Movie Awards the night director Ben Affleck was passed over for a Best Director Oscar nomination through a guild circuit that brought high profile recognition from the likes of producers, directors, actors and writers, Warner Bros. Pictures' "Argo" has been named Best Picture of 2012 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
"I know what you're thinking. The three sexiest producers alive," said producer Grant Heslov said between co-producers George Clooney and Ben Affleck on the stage of the Dolby Theatre, able to accept a prize as producer despite being left off the directors' line-up. "I want to acknowledge my partner in crime and my great friend George Clooney. Everybody should be so lucky to have a partner as talented, as humorous and with so much integrity. On behalf of George and myself, I want to thank you, Ben. You directed a hell of a film."
The Oscar caps off a journey that seemed to peak a number of times since the film's world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in September. Other contenders such as "Life of Pi," "Lincoln," "Les Misérables," "Silver Linings Playbook" and "Zero Dark Thirty" came and flirted with the frontrunner position throughout the season, but Affleck's well-liked thriller held on every step of the way.
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Affleck's interest in the material stemmed from his early college years toiling away at Occidental College in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of northeast Los Angeles as a Middle Eastern Studies major, he told HitFix in December.
"I'm also interested in the complexity of the idea that everybody has their reason, their side of the story," he said at the time. "Palestine and Israel, that's a place where you have two people with really diametrically opposed points of view. And yet both firmly believe they’re not just right but righteous. And that dynamic, I think, is at the root of drama."
The film weathered its share of controversy throughout the year, as many of the season's contenders felt embattled from without along the way. When it screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, there was an outcry over the film's perceived flippant attitude toward the Canadian government's part in the CIA operation it details. It also came under fire for dramatic license taken with the real life events.
But in the end, the Academy, indeed, the film industry, had settled on its favorite: a heroic tale where Hollywood gets to share in the glory.
"I want to acknowledge Steven Spielberg, who I think is a genius," Affleck said this evening. "I want to thank Canada, I want to thank our friends in Iran living under terrible circumstances right now…And I just want to say I was here 15 year ago or something, and I had no idea what I was doing. I stood out here in front of you all, I was just a kid. I never thought I'd be back here. So many people extended themselves to me when they had nothing to benefit from it. I want to thank them for teaching me you have to work harder than you ever thought you would. You're gonna get knocked down, but you've got to get back up."
"Argo" walked away with two other Oscars, for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing.
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupEdwin
February 25, 2013 at 1:08AM EST Reply to CommentI'm sure someone will cover all the stats and records in the next 24 hours, but here's one to consider: is Ang Lee the first person to win Best Director twice without having a Best Picture winner to his record?
Andy1977 No, George Stevens did that before him - with Giant and A Place in the Sun
February 25, 2013 at 1:12AM ESTHero George Stevens won for Place in the Sun and Giant, but neither won Best Pic.
February 25, 2013 at 1:13AM ESTDylanS I'm pretty sure John Ford won 3 without a BP, but he also won a 4th for "How Green Was My Valley", which did win BP. Other than that, not sure.
February 25, 2013 at 1:14AM ESTHero Andy, you barely beat me to it. ;)
February 25, 2013 at 1:14AM ESTDylanS ah, George Stevens, I always forget that "Giant" DIDN'T win BP.
February 25, 2013 at 1:19AM ESTRichardZ
February 25, 2013 at 1:13AM EST Reply to CommentDDL wins another Best Acting in a year where the Best Picture had no Best Directing nod.
Chris138
February 25, 2013 at 1:23AM EST Reply to CommentRiva did not look pleased.
The Dude Well, to travel so far for nothing at her age, and to lose to an actress that won mostly for being the hottest thing currently, you would not look pleased either.
February 25, 2013 at 1:27AM ESTHero Yeah. But not unexpected. As I said to a friend earlier today when explaining my Best Actress pick: when was the last time the Academy voted for an old woman when they could vote for a hot young woman?
February 25, 2013 at 1:31AM ESTAnd in her defense, Lawrence was quite good.
Lars In her defense, I think she probably doesn't understand a lot what's going on (since it's in English), and the award was 3 1/2 hours long!!! I'm sure it's a endurance test for someone her age. She must be exhausted. I'm not crazy about Lawrence win, but it's not disastrous really. There's always what we hope for, and the reality.
February 25, 2013 at 1:41AM ESTThe Dude Yes, and there's the tiredness of the long travel and the difference between time zones- in France, the show ended about 6:00 am.
February 25, 2013 at 2:14AM ESTBut I think if she had gone to the BAFTAs and made one of those teary-eyed speeches, I think she would have won this.
Lars Also, I remembered Riva talked about herself as someone practical. I never imagine her to be the sentimental type. If you want to win an Oscar, you really really have to want it, but not too much. At the same time, you need to have charm, but not fakery. Man, this is the hardest acting job...
February 25, 2013 at 2:17AM ESTprettok Last year Meryl beat hot young Rooney Mara and Michelle Williams.
February 25, 2013 at 2:25AM ESTLars Yes, Prettok, but Mara and Williams were never frontrunners like Viola was...
February 25, 2013 at 2:38AM ESTAaron "when was the last time the Academy voted for an old woman when they could vote for a hot young woman?"
February 25, 2013 at 2:50AM ESTHow about Jessica Tandy over presumed-frontrunner Michelle Pfeiffer?
Regardless, I'm not mad at Jennifer Lawrence's win. Riva was my favorite and I kind of feel bad she traveled all that way (can't be easy for a woman in her mid-80s), but hey, it's a crap shoot. But Lawrence was terrific in Silver Linings Playbook, so congrats to her.
Hero
February 25, 2013 at 11:06AM EST"How about Jessica Tandy over presumed-frontrunner Michelle Pfeiffer?"
So, more than two decades ago? That's a long time.
HoustonRufus
February 25, 2013 at 1:25AM EST Reply to CommentI enjoyed the winners, though there were no real surprises anywhere to be found.
The show: I HATED. From horrible jokes that mostly relied on stupid sexist bathroom humor, as I predicted, to a dumb tribute to musicals from the past decade? whatever.
A few bright spots: Bassey, Adele and Babs Streisand brought class and talent to the proceedings. Affleck gave a hell of a good speech, as did DDL.
I'm glad it's over.
red_wine
February 25, 2013 at 1:28AM EST Reply to CommentAbsolutely horrible ceremony with absolutely undeserving winners.
This was sooooo bad.
The Dude
February 25, 2013 at 1:29AM EST Reply to CommentI hated the show, although to be fair, McFarlane was not the main problem, not by a long shot.
Silvana
February 25, 2013 at 1:30AM EST Reply to CommentI'm happy for Argo, but I'm disgusted for Acting categories. Emmanuelle Riva deserved the award more than Lawrence, please Lawrence was the worst of the list, her oscar is the worst since of Sandra Bullock or Reese Whiterspoon.
Daniel Day-Lewis is a great actor, but Joaquin Phoenix is who deserved this Oscar. Hathaway just singing, she didn't deserved the award, Helen Hunt and Amy Adamas were so much better than Anne. And Christoph Waltz repeated the same role of Inglourious Basterds. Philip Seymour Hoffman was the best in the category.
The Dude Apart from being Germans, there's nothing in common between Schultz and Hans Landa.
February 25, 2013 at 1:39AM ESTWell, except for loving to talk, but that applies to most Tarantino characters really.
Silvana The characters were so similar, very similar. Waltz didn't deserved the award, Hoffman was so much better than him.
February 25, 2013 at 2:15AM ESTAaron I've never understood the Witherspoon hate. Yes, her career peaked at the Oscar win (like so many best actress winners, unfortunately), but the competition she was up against was abysmal. Witherspoon was easily the standout and most deserving of the nominees, with Knightley in second, who was enchanting in Pride and Prejudice.
February 25, 2013 at 2:53AM EST
February 25, 2013 at 3:06AM ESTJones Right, because Anne Hathaway was just like playing karaoke in a movie set.
February 25, 2013 at 3:23AM ESTI don't understand the dismissiveness with which some people treat Hathaway's performance. It's a very deserving win for an actor who had a terrific year. Few (very few) actors could've pulled that off.
manrico1967
February 25, 2013 at 1:32AM EST Reply to CommentI was going through the list Best Picture/Director splits and with the possible exception of THE GODFATHER vs. CABARET, the movies with Best Director win have a better reputation than the Best Picture winner.
And CABARET is considered only slightly less good than THE GODFATHER.
Some examples:
CHARIOTS OF FIRE VS REDS
CRASH VS BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE VS SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
GLADIATOR VS TRAFFIC
CHICAGO VS THE PIANIST
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT VS THE GRADUATE
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS VS GIANT
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH VS THE QUIET MAN
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS VS A PLACE IN THE SUN
HAMLET VS THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE
REBECCA VS THE GRAPES OF WRATH
THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA VS THE AWFUL TRUTH
THE GREAT ZIEGFELD VS MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN
MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY VS THE INFORMER
I just thought about another exception GRAND HOTEL vs BAD GIRL
Hero What do we think will eventually have the better rep--Argo or Pi? Frankly, I like Argo about a million times more than Pi, but then again, I also like Shakespeare in Love better than Saving Private Ryan, so my taste isn't the best arbiter of long-term reputation.
February 25, 2013 at 1:36AM ESTmanrico1967 Some other splits, both are just forgotten:
February 25, 2013 at 1:38AM ESTDRIVING MISS DAISY vs. BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
CIMARRON vs. SKIPPY
BROADWAY MELODY vs. THE DIVINE LADY
WINGS vs. SEVENTH HEAVEN
Kristopher Tapley Hero: Argo will be fine, despite the attempts at instant revisionism this year.
February 25, 2013 at 1:44AM ESTmanrico1967 Hero,
February 25, 2013 at 1:45AM ESTOf course I am talking about consensus.
Like the consensus is that RAGING BULL is a far superior movie than ORDINARY PEOPLE. Personally I prefer ORDINARY PEOPLE. In fact I thought THE ELEPHANT MAN should have won that year. So to each his own.
DylanS I don't think "Pi" is necessarily going to age so much better than "Argo", "Pi" has some serious issues, despite its visual marvels.
February 25, 2013 at 1:47AM ESTmanrico1967 Awards can distort how a movie is perceived.
February 25, 2013 at 2:00AM ESTHOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY's reputation has suffered because for many is just the movie that beat CITIZEN KANE at the Oscars.
Whether ARGO or PI or LINCOLN age well or not should be independent of who won what.
DylanS indeed, Manrico. Also, ROCKY, a really fine film itself, gets a bad rep for beating ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN, NETWORK and TAXI DRIVER
February 25, 2013 at 2:28AM ESTprettok Agree with Manrico. If Lincoln or Pi had won, the general consensus would already be talking about how Argo was "robbed".
February 25, 2013 at 2:28AM ESTDylanS
February 25, 2013 at 1:44AM EST Reply to CommentIn spite of everybody's assertion (including my own) that tonight was going to be full of surprises, I'd say outside of that awkward tie for sound editing, (which, IMO, was only a half surprise in that I expected "Skyfall" to win but couldn't imagine "Zero Dark Thirty" winning), I wasn't surprised by any of the winners. But I think that's precisely because so few categories were set in stone (and none of those lost), but other categories were completely wide open, and given the wide open nature of those categories, any posible winner would have made sense, especially in hindsight)
But I have to say, I don't think I've ever been more pleased with the results in the major categories.
On my own personal bests of the year, Best Actor has Day-Lewis at 1 and Christoph Waltz at 2, so it's fucking awesome to see both get handed Oscars, even if dubious categorization for Waltz was a factor.
Jennifer Lawrence was my 1 for Best Actress, and though I would have been equally happy to see a Chastain upset, it's wonderful seeing her get the recognition and knowing SLP won something.
My personal best for supporting actress was, Anne Hathaway!... for "The Dark Knight Rises", but her work in "Les Miserables" was on my shortlist and was my favorite of the nominees. And even though the attitude of the season didn't really reflect it, her win looks good as "body of work for a year" recognition, and I think the history will accurately reflect that.
I will admit to being more disregarding of Ang Lee's chances than I ought to have been, but that was only because I think voting for Lee reflected an abandoning of the logic the academy has displayed in that category for decades now. But if there were ever a season and a category that abandoned logic, this would be the one. I wasn't rooting for Lee, but It's hard to argue it wasn't deserved. It's a very singular directors achievement, and the academy would do well to recognize achievements like it more often.
"Argo" represents the most I've liked a BP winner since "Slumdog Millionaire" on it's own merits as a film, and while I was once again disappointed that my favorite film of the year brushed so close the BP victory at one point in the season, ("Lincoln", after leading the nominations), I find it hard to begrudge their choice.
Andrew F
February 25, 2013 at 1:55AM EST Reply to Comment17/24 for me. Not great, but I think okay for such a wide open year.
I think my problem, and something that others may share, is that I try to predict the surprises. So I predict Russell when I know Lee is the likely one, and skip over Tarantino thinking that his "Basterds" snub was indicative.
The surprises? Lincoln for Art Direction, Brave for animated, Waltz for supp. actor... and none of those are really surprising. Only the tie!
RichardZ
February 25, 2013 at 2:04AM EST Reply to CommentStill steamed at the Lincoln upset over Anna Karenina for production design. I guess they were going for subtle?
John G. It's a cool win for Virginians - much of the movie was shot at the Virginia state capitol building. Many of the sets are just rooms at the capitol.
February 25, 2013 at 2:22AM ESTJohn Anderson
February 25, 2013 at 2:04AM EST Reply to CommentArgo is my favorite film to win BP since Slumdog Millionaire & skipping over last years relatively unremarkable BP winner the Artist, I would say this is the first good choice since Kings Speech (which I did enjoy as well...but thought overall it was pretty much a tie w/ Social Network). No huge surprises tonight...except for the tie & Lincoln winning Production Design, which I thought was Life of Pi's or Anna Karenina's to lose...but not a bad upset! The Bond 50 was great & I enjoyed it overall. Great year for film...don't think we can complain about anything this year!
jetenreiro
February 25, 2013 at 2:07AM EST Reply to CommentThis was the year with the fewest surprises I can think of. With the Internet, blogging, etc., every award is utterly predictable. Some as sure things and some as between 2 picks.
The biggest surprise this year was the Sound tie. Wow.
I enjoyed the show a lot, but the utter predictability is somewhat confounding.
Lars Especially sad because a few months ago, the races looked wide open and very exciting! Even I didn't buy into the Riva-train (even though she's my top pick for best actress this year).
February 25, 2013 at 2:15AM ESTJohn G.
February 25, 2013 at 2:23AM EST Reply to CommentI got 19/24, which might be the best I've done. I was pleased with the winners, but displeased with the show.
manrico1967
February 25, 2013 at 2:28AM EST Reply to CommentOscar trivia:
Ang Lee is the first director to win the DGA and lose the Oscar (2000) and then lose the DGA and win the Oscar (2012)
pitypie
February 25, 2013 at 2:28AM EST Reply to CommentI went 19/24 for the second year in a row, but this is the third fucking year in a row I got Actress wrong. I think I fell in love with Emmanuelle, or the idea of her winning, so to see her lose was a bit hard. C'est la vie, I guess. Anyways, thanks to Kris and Guy and Gerard and everyone for a great season!
Hans How did you not pick Natalie Portman??
February 25, 2013 at 3:24AM ESTpitypie Every morning, I wake up, look in the mirror, and ask myself why I chose Bening for the win. IT HAUNTS ME. But seriously, I can't even begin to say why it seemed like a good idea at the time, but it did. I suppose -- much like this year -- I thought the Academy would respect the older actress enough to swing the vote. Of course, last year I stuck with the younger actress and they ended up giving out a career prize to the older actress. I can't win.
February 25, 2013 at 10:57PM ESTJohn G.
February 25, 2013 at 2:31AM EST Reply to CommentThis should be referred to as the "Austrian Oscars."
The Dude
February 25, 2013 at 2:37AM EST Reply to Comment20/24 as shown in your final predictions thread. I was better than you lalalala
I actually better on Skyfall for sound editing and Les Mis for Production Design in another site, so my rate should have been higher here.
The others I have missed were Django for Screenplay and Brave and in both cases my gut was telling me I should have changed my vote.
But hey, I've been telling you all that De Niro didn't had a chance, so at least I was right about that.
Kristopher Tapley You done? :)
February 25, 2013 at 2:40AM ESTThe Dude Not yet: I AM BETTER LALALALA
February 25, 2013 at 2:51AM ESTNow just wait until someone that got 21 or higher come to say we're both suckers that know nothing. :)
manrico1967
February 25, 2013 at 2:45AM EST Reply to CommentRegardless of whether Jennifer Lawrence deserved or not,
I really hope the "Oscar Curse" doesn't wreck her career.
I think she is really talented, and has the potential of being a great actress.
I'd hate seeing her go the same way as Mira Sorvino or Hillary Swank. Or Gwyneth Paltrow who certainly has not lived up to the promise of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE.
The Dude It's a different Hollywood today- she's tied to two franchises now, so she won't disappear anytime soon.
February 25, 2013 at 2:54AM ESTPlus, she already got a previous nomination and was a part of two massive hits, so she's already in a more advanced stage of her career than these ladies were.
prettok The same way as Hilary Swank? You mean you would hate to see her win another Oscar in four years?
February 25, 2013 at 3:02AM ESTThe only "curse" is that lots of young best actress winners suddenly take time off, or get too pretentious in their choice of roles.
manrico1967 I knew someone would point that out. Yes Swank won two Oscars. Then, what? That was 8 years ago. And between Oscars?
February 25, 2013 at 3:19AM ESTI would rather have a batter that constantly hits doubles and triples, than a batter that hits two grand slams and strikes out the rest of the time.
Henrique
February 25, 2013 at 9:07AM EST Reply to CommentThese awards were about celebrity over quality. Come on, Ben Affleck over Spielberg amd Haneke? Jennifer Lawrence over Riva and Watts? One of the worst Oscars in 20 or 30 years. It was unfair to good and true cinema.