"The Artist" wins Directors Guild of America Award

PanARMENIAN.Net - Hollywood's top filmmakers group presented its feature-film honour, Directors Guild of America Award, to Michel Hazanavicius for his silent film "The Artist," giving him the inside track for the best-director prize at the Academy Awards, AP reported.

The Directors Guild honours are one of the most-accurate forecasts for who might go on to take home an Oscar. Only six times in the 63-year history of the guild awards has the winner failed to win the Oscar for best director. And more often than not, whichever film earns the directing Oscar also wins best picture.

First-time nominee Hazanavicius won over a field of guild heavyweights that included past winners Martin Scorsese for "Hugo" and Woody Allen for "Midnight in Paris." Past nominees David Fincher for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and Alexander Payne for "The Descendants" also were in the running.

James Marsh won the film documentary prize for "Project Nim," his chronicle of the triumphs and trials of a chimpanzee that was raised like a human child. It was the latest major Hollywood prize for Marsh, who earned the documentary Academy Award for 2008's "Man on Wire."

Scorsese went zero-for-two at the guild awards. He also had been nominated for the documentary award for "George Harrison: Living in the Material World."

Robert B. Weide won the TV comedy directing award for an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," while Patty Jenkins earned the TV drama prize for the pilot of "The Killing."

The award for TV movie or miniseries went to Jon Cassar for "The Kennedys."