DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS ANNOUNCED

After the inconclusive spreading out of honors at the Golden Globes a couple of weeks ago, it looks like the Oscar race is now a little more focused. Clint Eastwood has become the odds-on favorite to claim the Best Director Academy Award next month by winning the Directors Guild's highest honor Saturday night. Martin Scorsese, thought to be a favorite after The Aviator garnered 11 Oscar nominations, including one for Best Director, was passed over again for the Directors Guild Award on Saturday, as were fellow nominees Taylor Hackford, Marc Forster and Alexander Payne. Eastwood won the prize for directing Million Dollar Baby. Only six DGA winners in the past 57 years have failed to go on to win Oscar gold, including Francis Ford Coppola, who won the DGA for The Godfather, Steven Spielberg for The Color Purple, Ron Howard for Apollo 13, Ang Lee for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and, most recently, Rob Marshall for Chicago. Other directors who were recognized by the Guild jury at this year's awards ceremony included Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni, whose Story Of The Weeping Camel earned them the Documentary prize, and Walter Hill, who claimed the honor of Best Dramatic Series for TV western series Deadwood.