DGA nods give Scorsese, Russell boost

Martin Scorsese, David O Russell and Alfonso Cuaron gained new awards season momentum on Tuesday with nominations from the Directors Guild of America (DGA), a key indicator of Oscars hopes.

Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, Russell's crime caper American Hustle and Mexican Cuaron's 3D space spectacular Gravity earned their directors the DGA's coveted best feature film nod.

Britons Steve McQueen and Paul Greengrass were also shortlisted for, respectively, historical drama 12 Years a Slave and high-seas Somali pirate tale Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks.

The DGAs are seen as a reliable indicator of prospects for the Academy Awards, the climax of Hollywood's annual awards season which is in full swing.

In the past 10 years, all but one of the winners of the DGA's top prize went on to win the best director Oscar.

Last year's DGA winner, Ben Affleck, did not get the Oscar for Argo because he was not nominated in that category. But the film won the best film Academy Award, as well as best writing and editing.

Legendary filmmaker Scorsese, 71, who has been nominated for the DGA prize 10 times, earned the nomination this year for Wolf of Wall Street, a tale of 1990s high finance scandal starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Russell has also been nominated by the DGA before, for 2010's The Fighter.

The other three are first-time DGA nominees.