Silver Linings Playbook surprise Satellite winner

David O Russell’s romantic comedy about two oddballs struggling with mental illness has surprised some industry observers by taking the top honours at the 2012 Satellite Awards, handed out by The International Press Academy – as its name suggests, a group of international entertainment journalists.

Silver Linings Playbook won Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Bradley Cooper and Best Actress for Jennifer Lawrence.

Javier Bardem won the Best Supporting Actor award as Bond villain in Skyfall. Anne Hathaway picked up the Best Supporting Actress honour for Les Miserables – the only one of the main awards that went the way most commentators are predicting for the Oscars.

In a year of strong international films, the award for the best foreign feature went to the entertaining, but insubstantial Untouchable. Rise of the Guardians was the Best Animated Motion Picture and Chasing Ice won the prize for the Best Documentary.

The Hurt Locker writer Mark Boal won the Best Original Screenplay for his follow up, Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow’s telling of how Osama Bin Laden was finally caught. The Best Adapted Screenplay went to David Magee for Life of Pi, which also picked up the cinematography award.

Oscar hopeful Argo had to make do with the Best Score, while Best Song went – perhaps unsurprisingly – to Les Miserables, for Suddenly. Lincoln’s only award of the night was for Art Direction and Production Design.

Like the upcoming and more influential Golden Globes, also handed out by journalists, from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Satellites also honour television. Homeland took the Best Drama award, as well as Best Dramatic Actor and Actress for Damian Lewis and Claire Danes, respectively. There was British success for Benedict Cumberbatch as Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie for Sherlock and Dame Maggie Smith won the Best Supporting Dramatic Actress award for Downton Abbey.

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