The Directors Guild of America have unveiled their five best director nominees. Ben Affleck, Steven Spielberg, Kathryn Bigelow, Ang Lee and Tom Hooper were touted as the best directors of the year.
Ben Affleck received his first nomination from the Directors Guild of America for his third feature film "Argo." The film has been widely admired by critics and considered one of the top films for the best picture of the year. The Directors Guild nomination marked the film's fourth nomination for a Guild this season. "Argo" was also nominated for the Producers, SAG and Writers Guilds.
Kathryn Bigelow received her second nomination for "Zero Dark Thirty". She was nominated for" The Hurt Locker" in 2010 and received the prestigious award for the film."Zero Dark Thirty" has long been considered a front-runner in the race but after controversy struck, the film started losing critics awards and the momentum dropped. The film also missed a nomination for the top award at SAG making its Oscar path an uphill battle. Still "Thirty" has solidified a best picture nomination with three out of four guild nominations.
Tom Hooper garnered his third nomination with the Guild for "Les Miserables." His nomination was the surprise as many debated over whom the fifth director would be. Hooper received his first nomination with the Guild in 2009 for his work on "John Adams" and in 2011 he received his second for his Oscar winning film "The King's Speech." Hooper surprised critics and audiences when he won the coveted award for "The King's Speech" and immediately changed state of the race. "Les Miserables" garnered three guild nominations including the Producers Guild and SAG. However the Writers Guild failed to nominate "Les Miz" because it was ineligible for the award.
Ang Lee received his fourth nomination for "Life of Pi." The director was nominated in 1996 for "Sense and Sensibilty," in 2001 for "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" and in "2006 for Brokeback Mountain." He won for the latter two films. "Life of Pi" garnered nominations for the Producers Guild and Writers Guild but was shut out of SAG. As a result the film's cances of winning Best Picture have been minimized because no film has ever won the Best Picture award without a SAG ensemble nomination.
Steven Spielberg received his 11th nomination with the Guild for "Lincoln." He won in 1986 for "The Color Purple," in 1994 for his Oscar winning film "Schindler's List" and in 1999 for "Saving Private Ryan." The director was last nominated in 2006 for "Munich." Like, Argo Lincoln received four guild nominations and is now one of the front-runners for the Best Picture award.
Directors that missed the cut included David O. Russell who was thought as a top contender for "Silver Linings Playbook" and Paul Thomas Anderson for his controversial film "The Master." Also missing was Quentin Tarentino for" Django Unchained" and Michael Haneke for "Amour."
The DGA award is one of the top recognitions and helps predict who wins the Best Director at the Oscars. Last year Michel Hazanavicius took home the prize before landing the Oscar for best director. The accolade was established in 1948.