Ben Affleck wins DGA prize for Argo

Ben Affleck’s victory at the Directors Guild of America Awards suggests Argo is the unimpeachable favourite for Best Picture at the upcoming Oscars.

This means the 85th Academy Awards could become one of the biggest rule-breakers in the history of the ceremony.

Affleck was snubbed in the Best Director category at the Academy Awards, and perhaps that was what inspired the members of the DGA to give him the gong.

Should Argo trump former favourites Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook, it will become only the fourth film ever to win the Academy’s Best Picture without a Best Director nomination, and the first since Driving Miss Daisy in 1989.

If any other film proves to be victorious, it will earn a far more dubious accolade: the first picture to take the top Academy Award without also earning at least one of the main prizes from the Golden Globes, the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Producers Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild, or the Directors Guild of America.

The DGA also celebrated Malik Bendjelloul for his direction of documentary Searching for Sugar Man.

Rian Johnson and Lena Dunham triumphed for their direction of drama series Breaking Bad and comedy series Girls respectively.