Ang Lee's Life Of Pi was the surprise toast of the Oscars on Sunday (24Feb13) after taking home four prizes at the 85th annual ceremony in Los Angeles.
The adventure drama earned Lee the highly-coveted Best Director trophy, as well as awards for Best Cinematography, Visual Effects and Original Score.
The event's top film honour, which was announced by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama via satellite, went to Ben Affleck's Argo, which also took home nods for Best Adapted Screenplay and Editing.
The film became the first to win Best Picture without also picking a Best Director nod since 1989's Driving Miss Daisy.
Other leading accolades went to Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln) and Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), who picked up the night's top acting trophies. Silver Linings Playbook star Lawrence drew sympathy from the crowd as she tripped and fell in her Dior gown as she stepped up to collect her Best Actress award.
Meanwhile, Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained) and Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables) took home the supporting acting honours.
Host Seth MACFarlane pushed the envelope throughout the ceremony, at first garnering nervous laughs during the opening monologue while recapping the year in films.
Referencing Chris Brown's infamous 2009 assault on girlfriend Rihanna as he described Django Unchained, about slavery in America's Deep South, he said, "This is a story about a man fighting to get back his woman who has been subjected to unthinkable violence, or as Chris Brown and Rihanna call it - a date movie."
Afterwards he was interrupted by William Shatner, in character as Star Trek captain James T. Kirk, who warned MACFarlane to tone down his jokes. As a result, the funnyman turned up the class by bringing out Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum, who performed a ballroom routine while MACFarlane sang Fred Astaire's The Way You Look Tonight, and then Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt joined the host for a rendition of Frank Sinatra's High Hopes.
Later in the evening, Die Another Day star Halle Berry helped mark the 50th anniversary of James Bond with a special montage, which celebrated some of the best scenes and musical numbers from the spy franchise. Dame Shirley Bassey performed her iconic tune, Goldfinger, followed by Adele, who sang the title track from Skyfall, which went on to win Best Original Song.
In honour of the night's musical theme, Catherine Zeta-Jones sang All That Jazz from Chicago, while Jennifer Hudson belted out And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going from Dreamgirls. In addition, the principle cast of Les Miserables, including Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, received a standing ovation after belting out Suddenly and One Day More.
Towards the end of the programme, Barbra Streisand delivered a touching rendition of The Way We Were, which was composed by Marvin Hamlisch, who died last year (12), at the end of the In Memoriam segment.
Kristin Chenoweth helped MACFarlane close out the ceremony by performing a comical number to cheer up the night's "losers".
The full list of 2013 Oscar winners is:
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Argo
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Best Achievement in Directing
Ang Lee - Life of Pi
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Chris Terrio - Argo
Best Animated Feature Film
Brave - Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Amour (Austria)
Best Achievement in Cinematography
Life of Pi - Claudio Miranda
Best Achievement in Editing
Argo - William Goldenberg
Best Achievement in Production Design
Lincoln - Rick Carter and Jim Erickson
Best Achievement in Costume Design
Anna Karenina - Jacqueline Durran
Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Les Miserables - Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Life of Pi - Mychael Danna
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Skyfall - Skyfall (Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth)
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Les Miserables - Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
Best Achievement in Sound Editing (tie)
Skyfall - Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Zero Dark Thirty - Paul N. J. Ottosson
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Life of Pi - Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan de Boer and Donald R. Elliott
Best Documentary Feature
Searching for Sugar Man - Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn
Best Documentary Short
Inocente - Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
Best Short Film, Animated
Paperman - John Kahrs
Best Short Film, Live Action
Curfew - Shawn Christensen
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Jeffrey Katzenberg
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