Directors Guild Nominees

And the five directors chosen by the Directors Guild Association of America are:

• Ben Affleck, Argo
• Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
• Tom Hooper, Les Miserables
• Ang Lee, Life of Pi
• Steven Spielberg, Lincoln

Ben Affleck is enjoying his first DGA nod, while the winners of the prize in 2009 and 2010, respectively, return with Bigelow and Hooper.  Lee won the prize twice for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain.  This is Spielberg's 10th nomination from the DGA, winning 3 times for Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List and The Color Purple.

All five of these directors as well as their films now must be taken as Best Picture locks, with Hooper possibly being the biggest surprise considering the (unfair) vitriol some critics have taken with Les Miserables; he still bested snubbed director David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) and Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master), all of which have some work cut out for them as Oscar nominations are announced Thursday morning.