Mark Wahlberg - Mark Wahlberg predicts Oscars success for Affleck's Argo

Mark Wahlberg predicts Oscars success for Affleck's Argo

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.''