Ben Affleck Jokes About Oscar Snub At Critics’ Choice Awards As ‘Argo’ Triumphs: A Look At The Rest
Ben Affleck joked about his best director Oscar snub as Argo won big at the 18th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards (CCA) last night.
In a reference to the glaring directorial omission in the Oscar nominations that were announced yesterday, Affleck accepted the CCA’s award for Best Director, saying:
“I would like to thank the Academy. I’m kidding, I’m kidding. This is the one that counts. No, I do want to thank the Broadcast Film Critics Association. It is very, very cool for me. There was a time when the Ben Affleck’s Critics’ Award was a Saturday Night Live sketch.”
“This is about Tony Mendez [the CIA agent Affleck plays in the film], who did this actual, real thing. He was in the CIA, he won the intelligence star, he’s an American hero. He’s emblematic of the men and women who serve in our clandestine service and the men and women who are in our foreign service, both of whom make tremendous sacrifice day in and day out.”
As well as winning for Best Director last night, Argo also took the ultimate prizes for Best Film.
The Iranian hostage drama — that tells the story of alternately thrilling and comic true story of how the CIA smuggled six Americans out of the US embassy in Iran in 1979 using a ruse that involved pretending the six were the film crew for a fake Canadian film — had been expected to garner Affleck his first Oscar directorial nomination.
But it was not to be.
Despite receiving seven Oscar nominations including Best Film and Best Original Screenplay, Bradley Cooper — who bagged a best actor nod for Silver Linings Playbook — is one of those who considers Affleck’s lack of Oscar love in the director category a lamentable oversight.
In a telephone interview on NBC’s Today program on Thursday morning, Cooper said:
“‘I do have to say real quick, Ben Affleck got robbed.”
Affleck was also left out of the Oscar’s Best Actor nominations. [See TheInquisitr’s breakdown of the Oscar nominations.]
Still, the Daily Mail reports that Affleck was in high pirits at the Critics’ Choice Awards, accepting his award to rapturous applause with a big smile and what appeared to be children’s scribbling on his hands, before returning to his table where he was seated next to Argo producer, George Clooney.
Other winners at the awards included, Oscar favorites Daniel Day Lewis and Jessica Chastain for Best Actor and Actress prizes respectively.
In a separate comedy category, Jennifer Lawrence and Cooper took Best Comedy Actor and Actress for Silver Linings Playbook. The David O. Russell directed rom-com also won for Best Ensemble.
Accepting, Russell dedicated his award to his son — who, like the film’s lead has bipolar disorder — saying: “I made it to give him hope,” adding, “that’s my silver lining,” BBC News reports.
Skyfall came away with the Best Action Movie award. Latest James Bond incarnation, Daniel Craig, who didn’t attend the event, also won the Best Actor in an Action Film, while Brit singer Adele bagged the Best Song gong for her song Skyfall — a category she is also nominated for in the Oscars.
Les Miserables‘ Anne Hathaway, attending with co-star Hugh Jackman, won for Best Supporting Actress, while cult drama The Master delivered a Best Supporting Actor accolade for Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Quvenzhane Wallis, who, yesterday became the youngest actress to be nominated for an Oscar, won in the Best Young Actor or Actress category for her role in Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Michael Haneke’s Cannes 2012 winner Amour which tells the story of an elderly couple facing a degenerative disease, picked up Best Foreign Film, and Quentin Tarantino claimed Best Original Screenplay for his slavery actioner Django Unchained.
Judd Apatow, director of multiplex slayers such as The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, received a special “genius” award created to honor “an unprecedented demonstration of excellence in the cinematic arts,” said BBC News.
Steven Spielberg’s civil war epic, Lincoln, nominated for 12 Oscars, scored considerably less last night, winning three awards in total.
As well as Daniel Day-Lewis’ aforementioned Best Actor win, Lincoln screenwriter Tony Kushner won for Best Adapted Screenplay and John Williams won for Best Score, USA Today notes.
The Broadcast Film Critics Association announced the winners at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California.
Next stop the Golden Globes on Sunday.
