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Ben Affleck shows off his new Best Director award, after "Argo" proved to be the big winner at Sunday night's Golden Globes.
Ben Affleck's "Argo" wins at the Golden Globes might just make things easier for "Lincoln" and harder for "Zero Dark Thirty."
The surprise win for Affleck's historical drama about the Hollywood-CIA plan to save a group of diplomats during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis shocked Oscar watchers. Left in the dust were Steven Spielberg's front-runner about the 16th president and Kathryn Bigelow's dramatization of the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
But since Affleck isn't one of the five nominated directors who could win Feb. 24, his winning that title at Sunday's Globes won't shake the director Oscar race (except to maybe make that wing of the Academy feel like they missed the boat). If anything, Affleck's win over Bigelow at the Globes makes his Oscar omission now seem just as important as hers.
And prior to last Thursday, both Bigelow and Affleck seemed to have a guaranteed spot.
But "Argo's" Best Picture (Drama) win at the Globes may have another reverberation, despite the Globes having no member overlap whatsoever with the Oscars and the former having far less credibility.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jessica Chastain, center, in "Zero Dark Thirty."
If one of Lincoln's two main contenders for Best Picture was once "ZDT" -- with the other being "Les Miserables," which won Best Picture (Comedy or Musical) at the Globes -- then the "ZDT" threat may have been downgraded from orange to yellow now that "Argo" has prevailed over "ZDT" at the Globes.
One notion on "Argo" was that next to "Zero Dark Thirty," it lacked heft. An unfair one, true, but similar thematic motifs brought the inevitable comparison. Now, "Argo" having a few shots left may have reversed that dynamic and neutralized, by a bit, the possibility of a "ZDT" Oscar upset.
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Director Steven Spielberg (right) on set of "Lincoln."
As for the threat "Les Mis" presents to "Lincoln" and its chances, the Globes win likely won't alter that. But at least in terms of one front, the perception of Spielberg's Best Picture possibilities just got better thanks to Affleck's Globe win.
Meanwhile, the wins for Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain for Best Actress in a comedy and a drama, respectively, now officially make the Oscar Best Actress race a battle of the hotties.
Does that mean they could split the vote? Absolutely. In which case, 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva, up for "Amour," could be sitting pretty.
And that's all with a month to go before Oscar voting closes. The speculation fun has just begun.
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