Beaks here...

The DGA nominees for "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film" have been announced, and there are no surprises. The five finalists are...

David Fincher, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Danny Boyle, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Christopher Nolan, THE DARK KNIGHT
Ron Howard, FROST/NIXON
Gus Van Sant, MILK

Here's DGA President Taylor Hackford saying nice stuff about the work of these five gentlemen:

"A film is a collaboration, but it is the director's energy and vision that brings the elements of script, performance and production into a satisfying totality. Today's nominees demonstrate how vision, combined with skill and talent, creates magic on the screen," said Hackford. "What makes this award truly meaningful to directors is the knowledge that only this award is decided solely by their peers – the men and women who live the passion, sweat and fear that goes into creating feature films."

As the DGA website is quick to remind us, the winner of this award almost always goes on to win the Oscar for Best Director. The few exceptions:

1968: Anthony Harvey won the DGA Award for The Lion in Winter while Carol Reed took home the Oscar® for Oliver!

1972: Francis Ford Coppola received the DGA's nod for The Godfather while the Academy selected Bob Fosse for Cabaret.

1985: Steven Spielberg received his first DGA Award for The Color Purple while the Oscar® went to Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa.

1995: Ron Howard was chosen by the DGA for his direction of Apollo 13 while Academy voters selected Mel Gibson for Braveheart.

2000: Ang Lee won the DGA Award for his direction of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon while Steven Soderbergh won the Academy Award for Traffic.

2002: Rob Marshall won the DGA Award for Chicago while Roman Polanski received the Academy Award for The Pianist.

I still think DOUBT could sneak in for Best Picture, but I don't think John Patrick Shanley has a shot at a Best Director nomination. The above are the five.