Hollywood
directors crown Brokeback, boost Oscar hopes

The maker of Brokeback Mountain, Taiwan-born Ang Lee, on Saturday was named best director by Hollywood's top filmmaking union, boosting his already-stellar Oscar prospects. Lee, 51, repeated his victory at the Golden Globe Awards two weeks ago, walking off with top honors at the influential Directors Guild of America awards for his acclaimed gay cowboy love story. Lee beat out three-time DGA winner Steven Spielberg, who was nominated this year for Munich; George Clooney, up for Good Night, and Good Luck; Paul Haggis, who was nominated for Crash; and Bennett Miller for Capote. Winning the DGA feature film directing award bodes well for Oscars night, with 51 of the 57 past directors' guild award winners going on to win the Academy Award for best director, according to the union. However, Lee won the DGA award for outstanding directorial achievement for his 2000 epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but failed to win the best director Oscar, which instead went to Steven Soderbergh for Traffic. The DGA awards were handed out in Los Angeles less than three days ahead of the unveiling of the 2006 Oscar nominations, which pundits expect will be dominated by Brokeback Mountain as a clear leader in the Oscars race. Also honored at the awards was legendary director and screen star Clint Eastwood, who received the guild's highest tribute--the lifetime achievement award. Past recipients of the special award include Martin Scorcese, Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, and John Ford. Eastwood, 75, won both the DGA award and an Oscar last year for directing Million Dollar Baby. This year, Brokeback has won the Golden Globe for best drama, best director, and best screenplay as well as the top honors at last week's Producers Guild of America Awards. It has also received several influential critics awards. Clooney had been seen as serious competition for Lee in the DGA awards for his story of newsman Edward Murrow's fight for press freedom during Senator Joseph McCarthy's 1950s-era communist witch hunt. Spielberg earned his nomination for Munich, which tells of the aftermath of the 1972 Olympic Games massacre of Israeli athletes, while Miller was up for his biopic about author Truman Capote's writing of his novel In Cold Blood. Haggis directed the racially charged drama Crash, a crime thriller about several people whose lives and differing racial backgrounds collide in one incident. Nominations for the 78th annual Academy Awards will be announced in Beverly Hills on January 31. Academy Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino will help announce nominees for the 2006 Oscars. And voters of the Academy will begin viewing films nominated for the top awards starting February 4 at a series of screenings to be held in Los Angeles as well as in London, New York City, and San Francisco. The golden statuettes will be handed out on March 5. (AP)