Drama about the killing of Osama bin Laden won three top prizes, including best film and best director
Kathryn Bigelow's film Zero Dark Thirty, about the killing of Osama bin Laden, took a small step towards Oscars success last night after taking three top prizes at the New York Film Critics Circle awards.
The Hurt Locker director's chronicle of the decade-long search for the Al Qaida leader won best film of 2012, while Bigelow herself took best director and Greig Fraser won the cinematography award. Zero Dark Thirty, which was conceived prior to the US navy seal raid on Bin Laden's compound in northern Pakistan in May 2011, was at the centre of a high-profile US political row earlier this year over claims by the Republican party that Barack Obama's administration shared information with the production team. Written by Bigelow and her Oscar-winning Hurt Locker collaborator Mark Boal, it hopes to enjoy further success at February's Academy Awards.
Another big Oscars hopeful, Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, also took home three prizes. Daniel Day Lewis, seen as a safe bet for the Academy Award, won best actor for his turn as the 16th president of the United States. Sally Field, who plays his wife Mary Todd, won best supporting actress, and Tony Kushner won for his screenplay.
Elsewhere, the honours largely went to films seen as less likely to perform well at the Oscars. Rachel Weisz won best actress for her performance as a married woman who has an affair with a dashing RAF pilot in Terence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea (out in the UK last year), while Matthew McConaughey won best supporting actor for his role as the charismatic owner of a strip club in Magic Mike.
Best animated film went to Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, which has a decent outside chance of Oscars success. It was named on Monday as a nominee for the annual Annie awards, which cover similar ground to the Academy Award for best animated film. The other nominees were Pixar's Brave, Sony's Hotel Transylvania, Focus Features' Paranorman, DreamWorks' Rise of the Guardians, Aardman Animations' The Pirates! Band of Misfits, The Rabbi's Cat's GKIDS and Disney's Wreck-It Ralph.
Two of the current frontrunners for the Oscars, musical Les Miserables and Ben Affleck period thriller Argo, missed out on the top prizes. The New York awards are, however, just one of dozens of critics' polls that will be staged between now and 24 February next year, when the 2013 Oscars will be held at the newly renamed Dolby Theatre (previously Kodak) in Los Angeles.