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Mark Wahlberg predicts Oscars success for Affleck's Argo

Feb 18, 2013, 15:01 GMT

Mark Wahlberg

Mark Wahlberg is convinced Ben Affleck will win big at the Oscars.

The 'Ted' star - who will help present the 85th annual ceremony on February 24 alongside the film's titular teddy bear - predicts his pal Ben will take home the Best Picture gong as well as a host of other awards for his CIA crime thriller 'Argo' because he didn't receive a Best Director nomination.

Asked about his hopes for this year's Academy Awards, Mark told The Huffington Post UK: 'I think there's a 110 percent chance Daniel Day-Lewis will win. I think 'Argo' will definitely win Best Picture.

'I think Ben Affleck not being nominated for Best Director has now turned into a blessing because everyone's outraged by the fact he wasn't nominated, so now he's going to win everything, and I think it's a great movie too.'

However, the 41-year-old actor is rooting for Ang Lee's drama 'Life of Pi', which sees Hollywood newcomer Suraj Sharma act opposite a CGI tiger - much like Mark and his animated chum Ted - because he couldn't believe Suraj pulled off such a tricky performance with such aplomb.

He said: 'Personally, I love 'Life of Pi'. Maybe it was because I spent four months working opposite an imaginary teddy bear, and Suraj Sharma had to do the same thing with this tiger, I just thought his performance was spectacular.

'And it was his first time out. I thought, 'Wow.' It took me 30 movies to be confident enough to pull that off.'