The Oscar Nominations Weren't Kind to Ben Affleck

Photo by Claire Folger via Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

The Academy of Arts and Sciences announced this year's Oscar nominees at some ungodly hour this morning, and they were often more surprising for what they left out than what they included: Notably, Ben Affleck wasn't nominated for either Best Director or Best Actor for Argo.

The film has racked up plenty of other awards in the pre-Oscar season. Pretty much every critic the Los Angeles Times asked agreed Affleck was a good bet for a Best Director nod. Best Actor nominee Bradley Cooper has already told the Today Show that he thinks his Affleck “was robbed.” That said, the Best Director category had a couple other notable absences: Zero Dark Thirty's Katheryn Bigelow and Django Unchained's Quentin Tarantino are also missing from the list. So at least Affleck's in pretty good company.

Perhaps it'll also serve as consolation that Affleck's film itself, Argo, was nominated for Best Picture, and six other nominations aside. (It's second behind only Lincoln, Life of Pi, and Silver Linings Playbook. ) That said, the last film to win Best Picture without a Best Director nomination was Driving Miss Daisy in 1989, so it's running against some big odds.