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| George Clooney, left, and Ben Affleck arrive for the BAFTA Film Awards at the Royal Opera House on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in London. |
LONDON (AP)
-- Iran-hostage drama "Argo" continued its journey from awards-season
outsider to favorite Sunday, 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,
who has made a remarkable journey from little-regarded actor to
award-winning director, dedicated his directing prize for "anyone out
there who's trying to get their second act."
George Clooney, a producer of "Argo," quipped: "I don't know what you're going to do for a third 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.
The
British awards, known as BAFTAs, are increasingly glamorous - despite a
well-earned reputation for dismal weather - and ever-more scrutinized as
an indicator of likely success at the Hollywood Oscars. In recent years
they have prefigured Academy Awards triumph for word-of-mouth hits such
as "Slumdog Millionaire," `'The King's Speech" and "The Artist."
This
year they spread their honors 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.
This
season's movie with momentum is crowd-pleaser "Argo," which has been
building steam with big prizes at ceremonies such as the Golden Globes,
the Producers Guild and the Directors Guild of America Awards.
It
is now considered a front-runner for the best picture award at the
Oscars on Feb. 24, even though Affleck was not nominated for best
director.
"Argo" marks a change for Affleck,
whose first two features as director - "Gone Baby Gone" and "The Town" -
were set in his native Boston. In "Argo" he stars as Tony Mendez, a CIA
agent who poses as a sci-fi filmmaker in a risky plot to rescue
Americans in Tehran.
"I wanted to get as far away from Boston as I could," Affleck said. "I ended up in Iran."
"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."
"We
all had high expectations for this film and it's fair to say all of
them have been exceeded," Mendes said. "Here's to the next 50 years."
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.
Waltz said his victory was entirely due to Tarantino - "you silver-penned devil, you."
Tarantino
also revealed that he plans another film that sets out to right an
historical wrong, after anti-Nazi saga "Inglourious Basterds" and
"Django Unchained."
"I think there is something about this that begs a trilogy," he said. "I don't know what the third one's going to be yet."
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."
She also expressed sympathy for
co-star Eddie Redmayne, who had been due to present an award but -
co-presenter Sally Field informed the audience - was vomiting backstage.
"Feel better," Hathaway said. "I mean I'd be holding your hair back, but, you know..."
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 honors for cinematography and visual effects.
Before
the ceremony, stars including Clooney, Affleck, Hugh Jackman, Samuel L.
Jackson, Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper braved a chilly rain that turned
to snow outside the Royal Opera House.
For
once it was hair, even more than frocks, that drew attention - many
stars opted for dark colors, though Marion Cotillard defied the dull
weather in a canary-yellow gown. Beards were de rigeur among male stars
including Clooney, Affleck and Cooper, while Helen Mirren turned heads
with a pink `do, sported in honor of breast cancer awareness.
Sunday's
ceremony also saw director Alan Parker receive a BAFTA Fellowship, the
academy's highest honor, for a career that includes "Midnight Express,"
`'Fame" and "Mississippi Burning."
