Life Of Pi Dominates Oscars With Four Awards

__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 _A_ngeles.

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 _A_ffleck's _A_rgo, which also took home nods for Best _A_dapted 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 _A_ctress award.

Meanwhile, Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained) and _A_nne Hathaway (Les Miserables) took home the supporting acting honours.

Host Seth M_A_CFarlane 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 _A_merica'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."

_A_fterwards he was interrupted by William Shatner, in character as Star Trek captain James T. Kirk, who warned M_A_CFarlane to tone down his jokes. _A_s a result, the funnyman turned up the class by bringing out Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum, who performed a ballroom routine while M_A_CFarlane sang Fred _A_staire'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 _A_nother 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 _A_dele, 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 _A_ll That Jazz from Chicago, while Jennifer Hudson belted out _A_nd I _A_m 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 M_A_CFarlane 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

_A_rgo

Best Performance by an _A_ctor in a Leading Role

Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln

Best Performance by an _A_ctress in a Leading Role

Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook

Best Performance by an _A_ctor in a Supporting Role

Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained

Best Performance by an _A_ctress in a Supporting Role

_A_nne Hathaway - Les Miserables

Best _A_chievement in Directing

_A_ng 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 - _A_rgo

Best _A_nimated Feature Film

Brave - Mark _A_ndrews and Brenda Chapman

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

_A_mour (_A_ustria)

Best _A_chievement in Cinematography

Life of Pi - Claudio Miranda

Best _A_chievement in Editing

_A_rgo - William Goldenberg

Best _A_chievement in Production Design

Lincoln - Rick Carter and Jim Erickson

Best _A_chievement in Costume Design

_A_nna Karenina - Jacqueline Durran

Best _A_chievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Les Miserables - Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Best _A_chievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

Life of Pi - Mychael Danna

Best _A_chievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Skyfall - Skyfall (_A_dele _A_dkins and Paul Epworth)

Best _A_chievement in Sound Mixing

Les Miserables - _A_ndy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes

Best _A_chievement in Sound Editing (tie)

Skyfall - Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers

Zero Dark Thirty - Paul N. J. Ottosson

Best _A_chievement 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 _A_ndrea Nix Fine

Best Short Film, _A_nimated

Paperman - John Kahrs

Best Short Film, Live _A_ction

Curfew - Shawn Christensen

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian _A_ward

Jeffrey Katzenberg