Ben Affleck Shrugs Off Academy's Big 'Snub'

While Hollywood is still buzzing about it, Ben Affleck puts on a very good show of being untroubled by his big Oscar "snub".

"I don't get into worrying too much about who got what and who didn't get what," he told reporters earlier this month.

But many others in the industry have not been able to hide their dismay that Affleck is not nominated for an Academy Award in the best director category for Argo.

Other awards voters have already shown what they think. Affleck has picked up best director accolades everywhere from the Baftas to the Golden Globes and influential Hollywood galas.

Argo, the story of the improbable Hollywood-scripted rescue of six Americans from Tehran in 1980, is up for seven Oscars on Sunday night, including best picture.

But Affleck has been excluded from the directorial elite at this year's movie showpiece.

"I just feel so incredibly honoured to be nominated as a producer for this movie, to be here for the big party. It's tremendous," he said.

Two people who are outraged on Affleck's behalf are Mark and Cora Lijek, two of the real "house-guests" in Tehran, whose story forms the basis for the movie.

Mark told Sky News: "I understand there is a lot of politics involved.

"I wondered if it had to do with the line in the movie where John Goodman says he could train a rhesus monkey to be a director. Maybe that was not received well in the directorial community."

However some believe being left out may not be a bad thing after all.

"Ben Affleck should be honoured to be amongst the snubs because some of the greatest directors in the world have not won Oscars," said Steven Gaydos, the executive editor of Variety.

That group includes film giants Stanley Kubrick, Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock.

Chris Terrio, who wrote the screenplay for Argo, says Affleck is genuinely sanguine about the snub.

He told Sky News: "Ben really dusted himself off the day of the nominations. None of us are entitled to any nominations.

"We're looking on the bright side that film has seven nominations. Sometimes the math doesn't work out how you hope.

"Ben is being pretty Zen about it."

As Affleck himself pointed out, those who are up for best director - Michael Haneke, Benh Zeitlin, Ang Lee, David O Russell and Steven Spielberg - present a formidable talent pool.

And there have been rumblings not only about Affleck, but also the exclusion of Quentin Tarantino, Kathryn Bigelow and Tom Hooper.

Their films - Django Unchained, Zero Dark Thirty and Les Miserables - are also in competition with Argo for the night's biggest prize.

Some question whether there shouldn't be the same number of best director nominations as there are for best picture.

To that, Affleck says: "I leave those sorts of calculations to the 'Oscar-ologists'."