Golden Globes 2013: 'Argo' and 'Django Unchained' Surge Ahead
January 14, 2013 · from the Word & Film archive
The 70th Golden Globes belonged to the adapted: Argo took Best Drama and Best Director for Ben Affleck — days after the Academy had declined to nominate him, turning the rest of awards season into a running apology tour that would end with Best Picture. Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained claimed Screenplay and a Supporting Actor win for Christoph Waltz.
The literary ledger ran deeper. Les Misérables won Best Musical or Comedy plus acting prizes for Hugh Jackman and a barnstorming Anne Hathaway; Life of Pi took Mychael Danna's score; Daniel Day-Lewis won for Lincoln, drawn in part from Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals; and Adele's 'Skyfall' gave even Bond a books-adjacent night (we're counting Fleming).
Argo's source material is its own good story: Tony Mendez's memoir of the CIA's fake-movie rescue of six diplomats from revolutionary Tehran, an operation so cinematic that Hollywood's contribution to it was, fittingly, a fake script.
Handicappers, adjust accordingly: since 2000, the majority of Best Picture winners started on a page. This year's field — cataloged from Argo on down — kept the streak alive.
