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Receiving nominations for directorial achievement are Stephen Daldry ('The Hours'), Peter Jackson ('Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'), Rob Marshall ('Chicago'), Roman Polanski ('The Pianist') and Martin Scorsese ('Gangs of New York').
The movies range from fantasy to musical to heavy drama, but all were December releases in the US. An important affirmation of the philosophy of "in of sight, in of mind".
And it seems that period tales prevailed as only one-third of one film -- 'The Hours' -- is set in present day.
The nominees are also an international mix with Daldry from the UK, Jackson from New Zealand, Polanski from Poland and Marshall and Scorsese from the United States.
Though none of the five directors has previously won a DGA award, Scorsese is a five-time nominee and was recently selected by the DGA for this year's lifetime achievement award; Polanski is a third-timer and Jackson's nod is his second.
Scorsese's previous nominations came for 'Taxi Driver' (1976), 'Raging Bull' (1980), 'Goodfellas' (1990) and 'Age of Innocence' (1993). Polanski's nods came for 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968) and 'Chinatown' (1974) Jackson was nominated last year for 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'.
Daldry and Marshall are getting their first DGA film nods. 'The Hours' is Daldry's second feature following 'Billy Elliot' while 'Chicago' is the first film for Marshall, who received a DGA TV nomination for the 2000 TV movie 'Annie'.
Contenders failing to make cut included Todd Haynes ('Far From Heaven'), Spike Jonze ('Adaptation'), Sam Mendes ('Road to Perdition'), Philip Noyce ('The Quiet American'), Alexander Payne ('About Schmidt'), Steven Spielberg ('Catch Me If You Can', 'Minority Report'), Denzel Washington ('Antwone Fisher'), as well as two foreign-language helmers, Pedro Almodovar ('Talk to Her'), and Alfonso Cuaron ('Y tu Mama Tambien').
Spielberg holds the all-time DGA record for nominations (nine) and wins (three, for 'The Color Purple', 'Schindler's List' and 'Saving Private Ryan').
The nominations, selected among 382 eligible pictures by the DGA's 12,000 members, were unveiled Tuesday by DGA president Martha Coolidge at guild headquarters in Hollywood. She stressed the DGA voting has been 'the most accurate' indicator of which director will an Academy Award, with winners matching in all but five of the 54 years in which the DGA has given its award.
'We all want to win an Oscar but directors will tell you that this award is nearest and dearest to their heart', Coolidge added.
The winner will be announced March 1 at the 55th annual DGA Awards Dinner at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. The DGA will announce TV and documentary nominations in coming weeks. Oscar nominations will be unveiled on Feb. 11, with the ceremony taking place on March 23.
Marshall, who was driving when he was notified of the nomination by his publicist, said he was stunned: 'I'm overwhelmed to be included when it's such a strong season'.
Marshall said the DGA support was probably due to appreciation by members for the complexities of directing a musical. 'Even though musicals look like nothing but fun, it's as if you're making one and a half movies', he added.
Jackson, who is in New Zealand editing 'Lord of the Rings: Return of the King', said he was pleased to receive back-to-back nominations, citing the challenges of integrating multiple story lines on 'Towers'.
''The Two Towers' is the most difficult of the three and I believe people recognize that this film is not just more of the same', he added. 'I'm very appreciative that people didn't say, 'We gave him one last year so we don't need to do it again'.'
Polanski issued a statement: 'Nothing can be more gratifying than recognition by one's peers. My nomination by the DGA for 'The Pianist' gives me the greatest pleasure. However, it would not have been possible without the collaboration of my magnificent crew'.
Daldry said, 'I'm very grateful to the members of the Directors Guild, for whom I have a great respect. This film means so much to me, and working with the three greatest actresses of our day was pleasure enough, but the nomination by the directors is more than icing on the cake -- it's a compliment I shall treasure.
DGA nominations are selected by feature directors, TV helmers, associate directors, assistant directors, stage managers and unit production managers while this year's Oscar noms will be made by the 370 members of the Academy's directors' branch.
The last split between the DGA and the Academy came two years ago as Ang Lee won the DGA race for 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' while the Oscar went to Steven Soderbergh for 'Traffic'.
The other divergences: DGA and Oscar winners were, respectively, Anthony Harvey for 'The Lion in Winter' and Carol Reed, 'Oliver!' in 1968; Francis Ford Coppola , 'The Godfather', and Bob Fosse, 'Cabaret', 1972; Spielberg, 'The Color Purple', and Sydney Pollack , 'Out of Africa', 1985; and Ron Howard , 'Apollo 13', and Mel Gibson , 'Braveheart', 1995.
Last year, three DGA nominees also got Oscar nominations: Howard ('A Beautiful Mind'), Jackson and Ridley Scott ('Black Hawk Down'). Baz Luhrmann ('Moulin Rouge') and Christopher Nolan ('Memento') took DGA nods while Robert Altman ('Gosford Park') and David Lynch ('Mulholland Drive') got Oscar nominations.
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