‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Named 2012 Best Picture by National Board of Review

Kathryn Bigelow‘s Zero Dark Thirty enjoys another day in the precursor spotlight as it was named Best Film of 2012 by the National Board of Review. Bigelow was also named Best Director and Jessica Chastain named Best Actress.

David O. Russell‘s Silver Linings Playbook also finally earned some respect with Bradley Cooper winning Best Actor over the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln) whose likelihood of winning the Oscar remains unfazed, and Russell winning for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Benh Zeitlin‘s Beasts of the Southern Wild won for best directorial debut and young Quvenzhané Wallis was named Breakthrough Actress. We can also now start taking Leonardo DiCaprio a little more seriously in the Best Supporting Actor category as he won for his role in Django Unchained.

There were also a couple of nice surprises such as Rian Johnson winning Original Screenplay for Looper and Ann Dowd getting a nice mention for her role in the sometimes overlooked Compliance.

For those of you rushing to move Zero Dark Thirty to the top of your Oscar Best Picture predictions, just know the org voted Hugo last year and before that The Social Network and Up in the Air. In 2008 and 2007 they matched with the Academy with Slumdog Millionaire and No Country for Old Men. Only 11 of their last 30 Best Film winners have gone on to win Oscar’s Best Picture and only two of their last ten.

Overall, this is a list of winners to be looked at as just that, winners. The National Board of Review is more likely to help a film get a nomination, but don’t look at a perceived “snub” or omission as a sign a film is losing favor in the race.

That said, here is the complete list of winners and the win for Zero Dark Thirty has been added to the Oscar Overture.

Best Film

• Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director

• Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Actor

• Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)

Best Actress

• Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Supporting Actor

• Leonardo DiCaprio (Django Unchained)

Best Supporting Actress

• Ann Dowd (Compliance)

Best Original Screenplay

• Rian Johnson (Looper)

Best Adapted Screenplay

• David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

Best Animated Feature

• Wreck-It Ralph

Special Achievement in Filmmaking

• Ben Affleck (Argo)

Breakthrough Actor

• Tom Holland (The Impossible)

Breakthrough Actress

• Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

Best Directorial Debut

• Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

Best Foreign Language Film

• Amour

Best Documentary

• Searching for Sugar Man

William K. Everson Film History Award

• 50 Years of Bond Films

Best Ensemble

• Les Miserables

Spotlight Award

• John Goodman (Argo, Flight, ParaNorman, Trouble with the Curve)

NBR Freedom of Expression Award

• The Central Park Five

NBR Freedom of Expression Award

• Promised Land