Hostage thriller Argo picked up three Baftas at last night's awards ceremony, including Best Film and Best Director for Ben Affleck, begging the question: can the male half of Bennifer actually take his little movie all the way to Oscar success?
Unfairly snubbed in the Best Director category at this year's Academy Awards, Ben Affleck and Argo have since ridden a wave of support to success in the run-up to the Oscars; first at the Golden Globes in January, now at the Baftas. With Argo named Best Film and Affleck named Best Director, the actor/director gave an emotional speech to the London crowd, telling them: "This is a second act for me – you've given me that and I'm so grateful and proud. I want to dedicate this to anyone that's trying to get their second act because you can do it." Argo also won the Bafta for Best Editing.
Elsewhere, Skyfall was named Outstanding British Film – not surprising, after becoming the most successful British movie of all time – while Adele also won a gong for her musical contribution, the same night she won a Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance in the US. "We all had high expectations and this is really the icing on the cake," said director Sam Mendes, presumably while flicking the Vs at Ben Affleck.
The Baftas are usually a good indicator of where Oscar's votes will lie, and though Daniel Day-Lewis' win for his incredible performance in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln was as close to a sure thing as you can get, Emmanuelle Riva's Best Actress win for Amour was the opposite. The 85-year-old beat the likes of Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence to the prize for her fearless portrayal of a woman suffering from dementia in Michael Haneke's lament on life and love. If we're being brutally honest, we can't see the Academy overlooking The J-Team quite so easily.
Christoph Waltz was named Best Supporting Actor for his part in Quentin Tarantino's slavery epic Django Unchained (which also won Best Original Screenplay), while Anne Hathaway picked up Best Supporting Actress for her impressive turn in Tom Hooper's adaptation of Les Misérables – a film which went on to win three technical awards.
But it is Ben Affleck and Argo on the hot streak, making this one of the most closely-fought Oscar run-ins in years. Could the star of Gigli and Daredevil really complete his remarkable transformation to become the finest filmmaker in Hollywood? You suspect it's precisely the kind of feelgood comeback story the Academy loves to reward.
Full list of winners:
BEST FILM
Winner: Argo
Also nominated:
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Winner: Skyfall
Also nominated:
Anna Karenina
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Seven Psychopaths
LEADING ACTOR
Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Also nominated:
Ben Affleck - Argo
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
LEADING ACTRESS
Winner: Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
Also nominated:
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard - Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Dame Helen Mirren - Hitchcock
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner: Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Also nominated:
Alan Arkin - Argo
Javier Bardem - Skyfall
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner: Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Also nominated:
Amy Adams - The Master
Dame Judi Dench - Skyfall
Sally Field - Lincoln
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
DIRECTOR
Winner: Ben Affleck - Argo
Also nominated:
Kathryn Bigelow - Zero Dark Thirty
Michael Haneke - Amour
Ang Lee - Life of Pi
Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner: Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino
Also nominated:
Amour - Michael Haneke
The Master - Paul Thomas Anderson
Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty - Mark Boal
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner: Silver Linings Playbook - David O Russell
Also nominated:
Argo - Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild - Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi - David Magee
Lincoln - Tony Kushner
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Winner: Bart Layton (director) and Dmitri Doganis (producer) - The Imposter
Also nominated:
James Bobin (director) - The Muppets
Dexter Fletcher (director/writer) and Danny King (writer) - Wild Bill
Tina Gharavi (director/writer) - I Am Nasrine
David Morris (director) and Jaqui Morris (director/producer) - McCullin
ANIMATED FILM
Winner: Brave
Also nominated:
Frankenweenie
Paranorman
DOCUMENTARY
Winner: Searching for Sugarman
Also nominated:
The Imposter
Marley
McCullin
West of Memphis
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Winner: Amour
Also nominated:
Headhunters
The Hunt
Rust and Bone
Untouchable
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner: Life of Pi
Also nominated:
Anna Karenina
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Skyfall
COSTUME DESIGN
Winner: Anna Karenina
Also nominated:
Great Expectations
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Snow White and the Huntsman
EDITING
Winner: Argo
Also nominated:
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty
MAKE UP AND HAIR
Winner: Les Miserables
Also nominated:
Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Lincoln
Anna Karenina
ORIGINAL MUSIC
Winner: Skyfall
Also nominated:
Anna Karenina
Argo
Life of Pi
Lincoln
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Winner: Les Miserables
Also nominated:
Anna Karenina
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
SOUND
Winner: Les Miserables
Also nominated:
Django Unchained
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life of Pi
Skyfall
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Winner: Life of Pi
Also nominated:
The Dark Knight Rises
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Marvel Avengers Assemble
Prometheus
SHORT ANIMATION
Winner: The Making of Longbird
Also nominated:
Here to Fall
I'm Fine Thanks
SHORT FILM
Winner: Swimmer
Also nominated:
The Curse
Good Night
Tumult
The Voorman Problem
RISING STAR (public vote)
Winner: Juno Temple
Also nominated:
Elizabeth Olsen
Andrea Riseborough
Suraj Sharma
Alicia Vikander
