Argo Continues Run To Oscar Sunday While A Few Races Get Interesting After The 2013 BAFTAs

At this point, it feels as though we are all just spinning our wheels.

When anticipating this year’s Oscars, it’s tough to not go ahead and just call the Best Picture race for Ben Affleck’s Argo. And now, thanks to the British Academy Of Film And Television, that’s even more clear.

The film not only took home the BAFTA for Best Film, but Affleck nabbed Best Director in a turn solidifying Affleck’s film as the picture to beat. Hell, Affleck even got an Acting nomination here, that’s how much these voters loved this picture. Best Actor went to Daniel Day-Lewis with Best Supporting Actress going into the arms of Anne Hathaway for Lincoln and Les Miserables respectively. However, there were a couple of shockers.

Christoph Waltz nabbed Best Supporting Actor for Django Unchained, which itself took home Best Original Screenplay too, proving that the British contingent here seemed to flip for Tarantino’s thriller. Also, Emmanuelle Riva made some noise stealing her first bit of momentum from Jennifer Lawrence, winning Best Actress for Amour.

But what does this all mean? Honestly, this writer posits that it means less than nothing. All three seem like viable players in their respective categories, particularly Tarantino for his script, a win here that despite Riva’s Actress win, didn’t go to Haneke’s piece of writing. I still find the duo of Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones to be too tough to deal with for Waltz, a far too recent of a winner for the Academy to decide to go that route again. Riva is the biggest play here, but again, Lawrence feels utterly unstoppable.

That said, this is the last year I’d like to make predictions, so take this all with an award sized grain of salt.

Here are the winners:

Best Film
WINNER: “Argo”
“Les Misérables”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Leading Actor
Ben Affleck – “Argo”
Bradley Cooper – “Silver Linings Playbook”
WINNER: Daniel Day-Lewis – “Lincoln”
Hugh Jackman – “Les Misérables”
Joaquin Phoenix – “The Master”

Leading Actress
Jessica Chastain – “Zero Dark Thirty”
Marion Cotillard – “Rust & Bone”
Jennifer Lawrence – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Helen Mirren – “Hitchcock”
WINNER: Emmanuelle Riva – “Amour”

Director
Michael Haneke – “Amour”
WINNER: Ben Affleck – “Argo”
Quentin Tarantino – “Django Unchained”
Ang Lee – “Life of Pi”
Kathryn Bigelow – “Zero Dark Thirty”

Production Design
Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer – “Anna Karenina”
WINNER: Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson – “Les Misérables”
David Gropman, Anna Pinnock – “Life of Pi”
Rick Carter, Jim Erickson – “Lincoln”
Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock – “Skyfall”

Documentary
“The Imposter”
“Marley”
“McCullen”
WINNER: “Searching For Sugar Man”
“West of Memphis”

Rising Star Award
Elizabeth Olsen
Andrea Riseborough
Suraj Sharma
WINNER: Juno Temple
Alicia Vikander

Film Not In The English Language
WINNER: “Amour”
“Headhunters”
“The Hunt”
“Rust & Bone”
“The Intouchables”

Outstanding Contribution To British Cinema
WINNER: Tessa Ross

Adapted Screenplay
Chris Terrio – “Argo”
Benh Zeitlin & Lucy Alibar – “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
David Magee – “Life of Pi”
Tony Kushner – “Lincoln”
WINNER: David O. Russell – “Silver Linings Playbook”

Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – “The Master”
Judi Dench – “Skyfall”
Sally Field – “Lincoln”
Helen Hunt – “The Sessions”
WINNER: Anne Hathaway – “Les Misérables”

Special Visual Effects
“The Dark Knight Rises”
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
WINNER: “Life of Pi”
“Marvel Avengers Assemble”
“Prometheus”

Outstanding British Debut
WINNER: Bart Layton, Dimitri Doganis – “The Imposter”
David Morris, Jacqui Morris – “McCullin”
Dexter Fletcher, Danny King – “Wild Bill”
James Bobin – “The Muppets”
Tina Gharavi – “I Am Nasrine”

Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin – “Argo”
WINNER: Christoph Waltz – “Django Unchained”
Javier Bardem – “Skyfall”
Philip Seymour Hoffman – “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones – “Lincoln”

Original Screenplay
Michael Haneke – “Amour”
WINNER: Quentin Tarantino – “Django Unchained”
Paul Thomas Anderson – “The Master”
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola – “Moonrise Kingdom”
Mark Boal – “Zero Dark Thirty”

Original Music
Dario Marianelli – “Anna Karenina”
Alexandre Desplat – “Argo”
Mychael Danna – “Life of Pi”
John Williams – “Lincoln”
WINNER: Thomas Newman – “Skyfall”

Cinematography
Seamus McGarvey – “Anna Karenina”
Danny Cohen – “Les Misérables”
WINNER: Claudio Miranda – “Life of Pi”
Janusz Kaminski – “Lincoln”
Roger Deakins – “Skyfall”

Editing
WINNER: William Goldenberg – “Argo”
Fred Raskin – “Django Unchained”
Tim Squyres – “Life of Pi”
Stuart Baird -“Skyfall”
Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg – “Zero Dark Thirty”

Sound
“Django Unchained”
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
WINNER: “Les Misérables”
“Life of Pi”
“Skyfall”

Animated Film
WINNER: “Brave”
“Frankenweenie”
“ParaNorman”

Make Up & Hair
Ivana Primorac – “Anna Karenina”
Julie Hewett, Martin Samuel, Howard Berger – “Hitchcock”
Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rink Findlater – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
WINNER: Lisa Westcott – “Les Misérables”
Lois Burwell, Kay Georgiou – “Lincoln”

Costume Design
WINNER: Jacqueline Durran – “Anna Karenina”
Beatrix Aruna Pasztor – “Great Expectations”
Paco Delgado – “Les Misérables”
Joanna Johnston – “Lincoln”
Colleen Atwood – “Snow White and the Huntsman”

Short Animation
“Here To Fall”
“I’m Fine Thanks”
WINNER: “The Making of Longbird”

Short Film
“The Curse”
“Good Night”
WINNER: “Swimmer”
“Tumult”
“The Voorman Project”

Best British Film
“Anna Karenina”
“Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
“Les Misérables”
“Seven Psychopaths”
WINNER: “Skyfall”

Source Bafta