LONDON: Iran-hostage drama Argo continued its journey from awards-season outsider to favourite on February 10, winning three prizes, including best-picture, at the British Academy Film Awards.
Ben Affleck was named best director for the based-on-reality story of a longshot plan to rescue a group of American diplomats from Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and the film also took the editing trophy.
Affleck dedicated his directing prize for “anyone out there who’s trying to get their second act”.
Daniel Day-Lewis won his universally expected best-actor trophy for Lincoln — the only prize out of 10 nominations for Steven Spielberg’s historical biopic.
Emmanuelle Riva, the 85-year-old French film legend, was named best actress for Michael Haneke’s poignant old-age portrait Amour. It also was named best foreign-language film.
Made-in-Britain French revolutionary musical Les Miserables won four prizes, including best supporting actress for Anne Hathaway. James Bond adventure Skyfall spied some elusive awards recognition, winning trophies for music and best British film.
This year BAFTA spread their honours widely, with multiple trophies for Life of Pi, Silver Linings Playbook, Amour and Django Unchained, as well as Argo. Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama bin Laden thriller Zero Dark Thirty was shut out of the prizes, despite five nominations.
Skyfall, the highest-grossing film in the Bond series’ 50-year history, was named best British film — rare awards-season recognition for an action movie. Thomas Newman’s score also won the best-music prize.
Director Sam Mendes said he was accepting the trophy on behalf of the “1,292 people” who worked on Skyfall.
Quentin Tarantino picked up the original screenplay award for Django Unchained, and Christoph Waltz was named best supporting actor for playing a loquacious bounty hunter in Tarantino’s slave-revenge thriller.
Hathaway said she was “overjoyed” at being named best supporting actress for her brief but powerhouse performance in Les Miserables. She said she was so taken aback that “I almost walked past George Clooney without hugging him”.
Writer-director David O Russell won the adapted screenplay prize for Silver Linings Playbook, a comedy about characters confronting mental illness.
Les Mis also took trophies for production design, sound and makeup/hair, and Life of Pi received honours for cinematography and visual effects.
Sunday’s ceremony also saw director Alan Parker receive a BAFTA Fellowship, the academy’s highest honour, for a career that includes Midnight Express, Fame and Mississippi Burning.
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