Just before midnight, Jack Nicholson came onstage and … introduced Michelle Obama, fresh off her excellent “Dougie.” The first lady opened the envelope for Best Picture, which, not so surprisingly, went to Argo.
The Ben Affleck-directed Ben Affleck vehicle also won for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing. The acting awards went to other films: Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook, Christoph Waltz took Best Supporting Actor for what was probably a leading role in Django Unchained, Anne Hathway won for playing Fantine in Les Misérables, and Daniel Day-Lewis made history by becoming the first man to win Best Actor three times. He also became the first actor to win an Oscar for a movie directed by Steven Spielberg.
It was otherwise a disappointing night for that legendary director: Lincoln, which was nominated for 12 awards, only won two (the other was for Best Production Design), and Ang Lee beat him out in the Best Director category (for Life of Pi, which also won for its cinematography, score, and visual effects).
A full list of the nominees and winners (which are starred) is below.
Best Picture
Amour
* Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
* Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Best Actor
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
* Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight
Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
* Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Argo
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
*Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Best Director
Michael Haneke, Amour
* Ang Lee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Original Screenplay
Flight
Zero Dark Thirty
* Django Unchained
Amour
Moonrise Kingdom
Adapted Screenplay
Beasts of the Southern Wild
* Argo
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Life of Pi
Foreign Feature
* Amour
No
War Witch
A Royal Affair
Kon-Tiki
Animated Feature
Frankenweenie
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph
Paranorman
* Brave
Music (Original Song)
“Before My Time” from Chasing Ice
“Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi
“Suddenly” from Les Miserables
“Everybody Needs a Best Friend” from Ted
* “Skyfall” from Skyfall
Music (Original Score)
Dario Marianelli - Anna Karenina
Alexandre Desplat - Argo
* Mychael Danna - Life of Pi
John Williams - Lincoln
Thomas Newman - Skyfall
Production Design
Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
* Lincoln
Achievement in Cinematography
Seamus McGarvey - Anna Karenina
Robert Richardson - Django Unchained
* Claudio Miranda - Life of Pi
Janusz Kaminski - Lincoln
Roger Deakins - Skyfall
Achievement in Costume Design
* Jacqueline Durran - Anna Karenina
Paco Delgado - Les Miserables
Joanna Johnston - Lincoln
Eiko Ishioka - Mirror Mirror
Colleen Atwood - Snow White and the Huntsman
Best Documentary Feature
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
* Searching for Sugar Man
Achievement in Film Editing
* William Goldenberg - Argo
Tim Squyres - Life of Pi
Michael Kahn - Lincoln
Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers - Silver Linings Playbook
Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg - Zero Dark Thirty
Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel - Hitchcock
Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane - The Hobbit
* Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell - Les Miserables
Achievement in Visual Effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
* Life of Pi
The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White and the Huntsman
Best Documentary Short Subject
* Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Redemption
Best Live-Action Short
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
* Curfew
Death of a Shadow
Henry
Best Animated Short
Adam and Dog
Frankenweenie
Fresh Guacamole
The Longest Daycare
* Paperman
Achievement in Sound Mixing
Argo
* Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
Achievement in Sound Editing
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
* Skyfall
* Zero Dark Thirty
