Lincoln takes home only one prize after seven nominations

Ben Affleck's Iran-hostage drama Argo and the musical Les Miserables were the big winners on Sunday at the Golden Globes, while Steven Spielberg's Lincoln went home with a disappointing single award.

Affleck won the awards for both best dramatic film and director for his movie about a CIA mission to rescue diplomats in Teheran in 1979, and Les Miserables won the awards for best film, actor and supporting actress in the musical/comedy category.

The awards were presented at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

As expected, Daniel Day-Lewis won best drama actor for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, but that was the only top award for Spielberg's film, which had topped the nominations tally with seven at the 70th annual Globe awards.

Jessica Chastain won best-drama actress for her portrayal of a relentless CIA agent tracking down Osama bin Laden in Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, and Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained won two important prizes.

But the night, to the surprise of some, belonged to Affleck, who took the top two prizes.

The actor-director, who played a CIA agent who rescued six US diplomats from the Canadian ambassador's residence in Teheran in 1979 during the Iran hostage crisis, paid tribute to real-life agents and diplomats, including the actual character he played.

"Really this award is about Tony Mendez. You saw him. He's an American hero. He represents the (US) foreign service making sacrifices every day for Americans. Our troops overseas. I want to thank them very much," he said.

The movie has been accused of taking liberties with history, notably by exaggerating the role of the CIA in getting the US diplomats out, at the expense of the Canadian envoy in Teheran at the time.

But it was a vindication of sorts for Affleck, who was snubbed in the Oscar nominations announced last week by failing to win a best-director nod.

Speaking backstage, George Clooney, a producer of Argo, admitted he was "disappointed", and that Affleck "should have been nominated" for the Feb 24 Oscars show.

"I think he did a phenomenal job with the film. I felt that he should have been nominated, but you can't figure out what goes on in the Academy and he's still nominated for best picture. ... It's disappointing, but we're not out of the water just yet," Clooney said.

Meanwhile, Les Miserables, a musical adapted from the Victor Hugo book, won best musical/comedy movie. Australian Hugh Jackman won best actor for his all-singing role, and his co-star Anne Hathaway won best supporting actress.

Hathaway won for her portrayal of the young mother and prostitute Fantine, beating fellow nominees Amy Adams in The Master, Sally Field in Lincoln, Helen Hunt in The Sessions and Nicole Kidman in The Paperboy.

Former US president Bill Clinton provided one of the biggest surprises of the night, taking the stage to pay tribute to Spielberg's movie and to Clinton's 19th-century predecessor.

"A tough fight to push a bill through a bitterly divided House of Representatives - winning it required the president to make a lot of unsavory deals. ... I wouldn't know anything about that," he quipped.

British songstress Adele, making her first red carpet appearance since giving birth in October, won best song for the theme tune from the James Bond blockbuster Skyfall.

Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence won best musical/comedy actress for the romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook, and the award for best original score went to Ang Lee's Life of Pi. The Best foreign-language film went to Austrian Michael Haneke's Amour, which won the Cannes Palme d'Or last year.

AFP-Reuters