Ben Affleck might have been snubbed by the Oscars on Thursday morning, but by Thursday night the actor and director was able to laugh it off.
Hours after Affleck was snubbed a nomination for the Best Director Oscar, the 40-year-old actor took to the stage to accept the award for Best Director at the 18th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards.
When Ray Liotta announced Affleck had won, the crowd rose to its feet, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A shocked Affleck accepted the award, beginning, "Thank you very much. I would like to thank the Academy." Adding, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! This is the one that counts."
"I do want to thank the Broadcast Film Critics Association," he said, according to Us Weekly. "It actually is very, very cool for me. There was a time where the Ben Affleck Critics' Award was a 'Saturday Night Live' sketch, so this is a very, very cool and exciting thing, particularly to me, because there are so many unbelievable directors in this category who I can only look up to, and so many who didn't get nominated, and I'm really humbled by that. Can we give a round applause for the directors?"
He went on to thank his family, saying, "I want to thank my kids and I want to thank my wife, without whom I would not be anywhere, much less here. Thank you very much."
Affleck beat out five other critically-acclaimed directors, including Kathryn Bigelow for "Zero Dark Thirty," Steven Spielberg for "Lincoln" and Ang Lee for "Life of Pi." Bigelow was also snubbed by the Oscars.
"Argo" was a big winner Thursday night, taking home the Best Director and Best Picture awards.
Affleck's snub was the most-talked about post-Oscar nominations news on Thursday. Many thought he was a shoo-in for the Best Director slot. Actor Bradley Cooper, who is nominated for Best Actor, said Affleck "got robbed."
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