‘Argo’ takes top honors at BFCA Critics’ Choice Movie Awards

It’s been a day of bittersweet fortunes for “Argo.” This morning, the popular political thriller’s hopes of winning the Best Picture Oscar were cut down to size when Ben Affleck shockingly failed to make the Best Director lineup. Hours later, however, Affleck was the golden boy once more at the Broadcast Film Critics’ Association’s Critics’ Choice Awards, as he won both the Best Picture and Best Director trophies –elbowing out “Lincoln,” which had led the field with 13 nominations. If not for this morning’s bombshell, Affleck would likely now be in the driver’s seat for the Oscar. It’s a weird season, this.

Those two awards were all “Argo” won, however, as the BFCA opted to spread the wealth between their supposed frontrunners. “Lincoln” took three prizes, for Best Actor, Adapted Screenplay and Score, while “Zero Dark Thirty” nabbed a pair — including Best Actress, for which Jessica Chastain beat Oscar favorite Jennifer Lawrence.

Not that Lawrence was ignored: she won two of the group’s newly made-up performance categories, specifically for work in comedy (“Silver Linings Playbook”) and action film (“The Hunger Games”). She also got to share in the Best Ensemble award for “Playbook” — which, thanks to these somewhat dubious genre categories, took four awards, the most of any film on the night.  

In the supporting categories, Anne Hathaway and, somewhat less predictably, Philip Seymour Hoffman took the gold, while “Life of Pi” and “Anna Karenina” each earned a pair of technical awards. Kris was on the scene, and may have more to report later; for now, check out the full list of winners below, as well as over at The Circuit.

Best Picture: “Argo”

Best Director: Ben Affleck, “Argo”

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Supporting Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, “Les Misérables” 

Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, “Django Unchained”

Best Adapted Screenplay: Tony Kushner, “Lincoln”

Best Foreign Language Film: “Amour” 

Best Animated Film: “Wreck-It Ralph”

Best Documentary: “Searching for Sugar Man”

Best Ensemble: “Silver Linings Playbook” 

Best Young Actor: Quvenzhané Wallis, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Best Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, “Life of Pi”

Best Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood, “Anna Karenina”

Best Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran, “Anna Karenina”

Best Film Editing: William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Makeup: “Cloud Atlas”

Best Visual Effects: “Life of Pi”

Best Original Score: John Williams, “Lincoln”

Best Original Song: Adele and Paul Epworth, “Skyfall,” “Skyfall”

Best Comedy: “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Actor in a Comedy: Bradley Cooper, “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Actress in a Comedy: Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Sci-Fi or Horror Film: “Looper”

Best Action Film: “Skyfall”

Best Actor in an Action Film: Daniel Craig, “Skyfall”

Best Actress in an Action Film: Jennifer Lawrence, “The Hunger Games”

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