Los Angeles, Feb 25 (IANS): Ben Affleck's "Argo" walked away with the best writing - adapted screenplay award at the prestigious 85th Annual Academy Awards announced Sunday night. Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino won the best original screenplay for "Django Unchained".

"Argo" is based on a 2007 article about the "Canadian Caper", in which Tony Mendez, a CIA operative, led the rescue of six US diplomats from Tehran, Iran, during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.

Writer Chris Terrio beat Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"), David Magee ("Life of Pi"), Tony Kushner("Lincoln") and David O. Russell ("Silver Linings Playbook").

Tarantino's "Django Unchained", which won the original screenplay Oscar, is a story about German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, who buys a slave named Django and promises him freedom once he has helped Schultz track down the criminals he is seeking.

Others nominated in the category were Michael Haneke ("Amour"), John Gatins ("Flight"), Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola ("Moonrise Kingdom") and Mark Boal ("Zero Dark Thirty").