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Oscars 2013: Awards spread around but Argo wins top prize

Favourites nab most prizes, biggest shock was Jennifer Lawrence's trip.

Redemption... Affleck's 'Argo' wins top prize (Credit: Getty)

'Argo' won Best Picture at the 2013 Oscars, but the awards were spread around the top pictures at this year's ceremony.

The director, a clearly emotional Ben Affleck, said in his speech: "You can't hold grudges. It's hard, but you can't hold grudges. You get knocked down in life - all that matters is that you get back up."

His journey from much-mocked celebrity joke ('Bennifer') to Oscar-winning director is perhaps worthy of a movie itself.

[Related story: Oscars 2013 - Full list of winners]
[Related story: All of the stars on the red carpet]


As expected, Daniel Day-Lewis won the Best Actor prize for 'Lincoln'. He gave a witty speech, saying to presenter Meryl Streep:  "Three years ago, before we decided to do a straight swap, I had been committed to play Margaret Thatcher... Meryl was Steven's first choice for Lincoln. I'd like to see that version."

His victory was seen as inevitable, so perhaps he prepared the gag beforehand.

However, it was his third 'Best Actor' win (the others came for 'My Left Foot' and 'There Will be Blood') - a record - and there is surely no doubt that he's the finest actor of his generation. Perhaps of all time.

The most hotly-contested category was Best Actress, with it seen as a four-way struggle between Jessica Chastain ('Zero Dark Thirty'), Quvenzhané Wallis ('Beasts of the Southern Wild'), Emmanuelle Riva ('Amour') and Jennifer Lawrence ('Silver Linings Playbook').

It was Lawrence who won, but she struggled herself to reach the stage, tripping UP the stairs.

Naturally, the internet had created a .gif of the moment within seconds. Check it out below. Bless.



Adele won a richly deserved Oscar for her superb 'Skyfall' tune at the 2013 Oscars. It was the second award for 007 at this year's ceremony.

The singer was genuinely tearful when she picked up the trophy with Paul Epworth, and thanked "her man".

However, the much vaunted James Bond tribute was a big disappointment in our opinion.

Dame Shirley Bassey gave a predictably rousing performance of 'Goldfinger', but the rest of the 007 celebration was just a musical clip montage, presented by Halle Berry, who starred in that classic Bond flick, umm, 'Die Another Day'.  As expected, none of the Bond actors turned up. A shame.

Bookies' favourite Anne Hathaway won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in 'Les Miserable'.

Collecting the award, she just about held it together. "It came true," she said, before thanking the cast and crew of 'Les Mis'. She singled out her husband Adam Shulman. "By far and away the greatest moment in my life was the one when you walked into it," she said.

Christoph Waltz was also awarded the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance as a bounty hunter in 'Django Unchained'.

Again, both gongs were not a surprise.

'Life Of Pi' set the early pace at this year's Academy Awards, winning two Oscars for Cinematography and Special Effects.

Director Ang Lee would eventually win the Best Director prize. It was a keenly contested category, with Lee up against Steven Spielberg ('Lincoln') and arthouse favourite Michael Haneke.

'Pi' finished top of the award table with four prizes. 'Les Miserables' and 'Argo' got three. Despite a whopping 12 nominations, Steven Spielberg's epic history 'Lincoln' only won twice (Day-Lewis and the production design). 

To be honest, we're not entirely sure what went wrong with 'Lincoln', except that, maybe, it was slightly dull.

Predictably Michael Haneke's 'Amour' won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. He was also up for 'Best Director'.

A rare surprise was the Best Sound Editing which was tied. Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers for ‘Skyfall’ and Paul N. J. Ottosson for ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ took to the stage to collect the awards.

As far as we could tell, it was the only the THIRD time this has actually happened.

'Family Guy' creator Seth MacFarlane was hosting the event, but some of his jokes backfired, such as this gag about Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of President Lincoln: "The actor who really got inside Lincoln's head was John Wilkes Booth."

He also sung a tune called 'We saw your boobs' about many of the actresses nominated this year. Was it too risque for this ultra-respectful event?

Twitter says "no", but the often-silent audience perhaps thought differently.

Oscars Round UpWe take a look at who won what at the Oscars overnight: