Ian McKellen, Alan Ball among guild honorees

The Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild of America presented their awards over the weekend, with many out artists and gay-inclusive projects among the honorees. Sir Ian McKellen won the Best Supporting Actor prize for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and the gay-inclusive Gosford Park won two major awards: Best Motion Picture Cast Performance and Best Supporting Actress (for Helen Mirren). Halle Berry received Best Actress for Monster's Ball, and Russell Crowe was named Best Actor for the controversially gay-exclusive A Beautiful Mind.

A Beautiful Mind was also the pick of the Directors Guild, with Ron Howard taking the award for outstanding directorial achievement in feature film. Alan Ball, the openly gay creator of Six Feet Under, won the award for dramatic series direction for his work on the series pilot, and out director Todd Holland was cited in the comedy series category for the "Bowling" episode of Malcolm in the Middle.