Ben Affleck’s ‘Argo’ takes best picture at Academy Awards

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – If Ben Affleck was snubbed by the Oscars, everyone should be so lucky. His Iran rescue thriller “Argo” has won best picture from the Academy Awards.

It’s the first best picture winner not to be nominated for best director since 1989’s “Driving Miss Daisy.” But despite the omission of Affleck — or perhaps buoyed by it — “Argo” emerged as the Oscar favourite, winning top honours from the directors, producers, screen actors and writers guilds.

Affleck and fellow producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov accepted the award Sunday night.

Among the other eight nominees, Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” was perceived as the biggest competition to “Argo.” The other nominees were “Life of Pi,” ”Silver Linings Playbook,” ”Zero Dark Thirty,” ”Les Miserables,” ”Amour,” ”Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Django Unchained.”