Zero Dark Thirty Takes Top Honors

         

Zero Dark Thirty won two awards at the annual meeting of the Utah Film Critics Association, including best picture of 2012. Zero Dark Thirty also was recognized for Jessica Chastain’s female lead performance, which was shared with Jennifer Lawrence’s performance in Silver Linings Playbook. Wes Anderson won best achievement in directing for the film Moonrise Kingdom, while Skyfall took honors for Roger Deakins’ cinematography.

In other performance categories, Joaquin Phoenix won male lead performance for The Master. Anne Hathaway received the award for female supporting performance for Les Misérables, while Dwight Henry won male supporting performance for Beasts of the Southern Wild. Rian Johnson’s original screenplay for Looper also was recognized, with Stephen Chbosky receiving adapted screenplay honors for The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

ParaNorman took honors for best animated feature. In the documentary feature category, Indie Game: The Movie was recognized, while best non-English language feature went to Headhunters.

The Utah Film Critics Association is made up of film journalists from print, online and broadcast media based in Utah. Members include: Rich Bonaduce, TheReelPlace.com; Cody Clark, Daily Herald; Luke Hickman, TheReelPlace.com/KEGA-FM; Jimmy Martin, Big Movie Mouth-Off/ SLUG Magazine; Sean P. Means, Salt Lake Tribune; Dan Metcalf, KTVX ABC-4; Andy Morgan, KNVU-AM; Ryan Michael Painter, KUTV 2; Aaron Peck, Logan Herald-Journal; Scott Renshaw, Salt Lake City Weekly; Steve Salles, Standard-Examiner (Ogden); Mike Thiriot, KTHB 94.9 FM; Tony Toscano, Talking Pictures; Jeff Michael Vice, KXRK-FM/Big Movie Mouth-Off; and Doug Wright, KSL Movie Show.

The complete list of winners with runner-ups follows:

2012 Utah Film Critics Association Awards

Best Picture

Winner: Zero Dark Thirty

(runner-up: Looper)

Best Achievement in Directing

Winner: Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom

(runner-up: Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Lead Performance by an Actor

Winner: Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

(runner-ups: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln, & John Hawkes, The Sessions)

Best Lead Performance by an Actress

Winners: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook & Jessica Chastain, 
Zero Dark Thirty (Tie)

Best Supporting Performance by an Actor

Winner: Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild

(runner-up: Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master)

Best Supporting Performance by an Actress

Winner: Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables

(runner-up: Ann Dowd, Compliance)

Best Original Screenplay

Winner: Rian Johnson, Looper

(runner-up: Joss Whedon & Drew Goddard, The Cabin in the Woods)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Winner: Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

(runner-up: David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook)

Best Cinematography

Winner: Roger Deakins, Skyfall

(runner-up: Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi)

Best Documentary Feature

Winner: Indie Game: The Movie

(runner-up: The Invisible War)

Best Non-English Language Feature

Winner: Headhunters

(runner-up: Amour)

Best Animated Feature

Winner: ParaNorman

(runner-ups: Frankenweenie & Wreck-It Ralph)