Directors Guild of America Vice President Betty Thomas today announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2005.
“What makes the DGA award truly meaningful to directors is the knowledge that only this award is decided solely by their peers – the men and women who know the passion and energy that go into each production,” said Thomas in announcing the nominations. “My congratulations to all five nominees for demonstrating how vision, when combined with skill and talent, can result in remarkable achievements on the screen.”

The winner will be named at the 58th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 28, 2005, at the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel Los Angeles.

The nominees are (in alphabetical order):
GEORGE CLOONEY
Good Night, And Good Luck

PAUL HAGGIS
Crash

ANG LEE
Brokeback Mountain

BENNETT MILLER
Capote

STEVEN SPIELBERG
Munich

The DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally been one of the industry's most accurate barometers for who will win the Best Director Academy Award.

Fifty-one out of fifty-seven times since the DGA Award’s inception in 1949, the DGA Award winner has won the corresponding Best Director Academy Award®. The six exceptions are as follows:

1968: Anthony Harvey won the DGA Award for The Lion in Winter while Carol Reed took home the Oscar® for Oliver!

1972: Francis Ford Coppola received the DGA's nod for The Godfather while the Academy selected Bob Fosse for Cabaret.

1985: Steven Spielberg received his first DGA Award for The Color Purple while the Oscar® went to Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa.

1995: Ron Howard was chosen by the DGA for his direction of Apollo 13 while Academy voters selected Mel Gibson for Braveheart.

2000: Ang Lee won the DGA Award for his direction of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon while Steven Soderbergh won the Academy Award for Traffic.

2003: Rob Marshall won the DGA Award for Chicago at the 55th Annual DGA Awards while Roman Polanski received the Academy Award for The Pianist.