‘Argo’ wins Oscar for best picture

LOS ANGELES—Ben Affleck’s “Argo,” a film about a fake movie, has earned a very real prize: best picture at the Academy Awards.
In share-the-wealth mode, Oscar voters spread yesterday’s honours among a range of films, with “Argo” winning three trophies but “Life of Pi” leading with four.

Daniel Day-Lewis became the first person to win three best-actor Oscars, the latest coming for “Lincoln,” while “Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence triumphed in Hollywood’s big games as best actress for “Silver Linings Playbook.”
Ang Lee pulled off a major upset, winning best director for the shipwreck story “Life of Pi,” taking the prize over Steven Spielberg, who had been favoured for “Lincoln.”
It was the second directing Oscar for Lee, who also won for “Brokeback Mountain.”
The supporting-acting prizes went to Anne Hathaway for “Les Miserables” and Christoph Waltz for “Django Unchained.”
It was Waltz’s second supporting-actor Oscar in a Quentin Tarantino film after previously winning for “Inglourious Basterds.”
Tarantino also earned his second Oscar, for the “Django” screenplay, a category he previously won for “Pulp Fiction.”
From the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama joined Jack Nicholson to help present the final prize to “Argo.”
“I never thought I’d be back here, and I am because of so many of you in this academy,” said Affleck, who shared a screenplay Oscar with Matt Damon 15 years earlier for their breakout film “Good Will Hunting.”
Among the wisdom he’s acquired since then: “You can’t hold grudges—it’s hard but you can’t hold grudges.”
Kind words for an academy that overlooked him for a directing nomination, making “Argo” just the fourth film in 85 years to win best picture when its director was not in the running.
At 22, Lawrence is the second-youngest woman to win best actress, behind Marlee Matlin, who was 21 when she won for “Children of a Lesser God.”
With a monumental performance as Abraham Lincoln, Day-Lewis added to the honours he earned for “My Left Foot” and “There Will Be Blood.”
He’s just the sixth actor to earn three or more Oscars—tied with Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman, and Walter Brennan with three each, and just behind Katharine Hepburn, who won four.
Hathaway, meanwhile, is the third performer in a musical to win supporting actress during the genre’s resurgence in the last decade.
“It came true,” said Hathaway, who joins 2002 supporting-actress winner Catherine Zeta-Jones for “Chicago” and 2006 recipient Jennifer Hudson for “Dreamgirls.”
“Life of Pi” also won for Toronto composer Mychael Danna’s multicultural musical score that blends Indian and Western instruments and influences, plus cinematography and visual effects.
“I really want to thank you for believing this story and sharing this incredible journey with me,” Lee said to all who worked on the film—a surprise blockbuster about a youth trapped on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger.
The foreign-language prize went to Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke’s old-age love story “Amour,” which tells the agonizing story of an elderly man (Jean-Louis Trintignant) tending his wife (Emmanuelle Riva) as she declines from age and illness.
Montreal’s Kim Nguyen had been nominated in the category for “Rebelle” (“War Witch”).
The Scottish adventure “Brave,” from Disney’s Pixar Animation unit, was named best animated feature.
Pixar films have won seven of the 12 Oscars since the category was added.