DGA noms five for helmer's race

Woody Allen was nommed for the Sony Pictures Classics pic 'Midnight in Paris.'Martin Scorsese received a DGA nom for Paramount's 'Hugo.'Opting for veteran directors with a mix of comedies and dramas, the Directors Guild of America has nominated Woody Allen for "Midnight in Paris," David Fincher for "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," Michel Hazanavicius for "The Artist," Alexander Payne for "The Descendants" and Martin Scorsese for "Hugo" for its top feature film award.DGA president Taylor Hackford made the nominations announcement Monday. The guild will unveil the winner Jan. 28 at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland at its 64th annual awards gala, which Kelsey Grammer will host.DGA film nom is the eighth for Scorsese, the fifth for Allen, the third for Fincher, the second for Payne and the first for Hazanavicius -- and the Hazanavicius bid also marks the first time that a silent film has been nommed for the DGA trophy.Scorsese won the DGA award and Oscar in 2006 for "The Departed," and Allen won both awards in 1977 for "Annie Hall"; both have received DGA lifetime achievement awards, with Allen feted in 1996 and Scorsese in 2003.Scorsese said: "I am honored to have been recognized by my peers for my work on 'Hugo.' It means a great deal to me to have the respect of my peers. The fact that our picture honors the work of Georges Melies, one of the inventors of cinema and an artistic forefather to us all, makes the nomination all the more meaningful."Scorsese won the DGA's TV drama award last year for "Boardwalk Empire."Fincher's nomination for "Dragon Tattoo" was by far the biggest surprise of the quintet. He received a nom last year for "The Social Network" and in 2008 for the "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and won the DGA commercial award in 2003.The DGA nominees matched four of the five tapped for the Golden Globes. The exception was Fincher; the fifth Globe nom went to George Clooney for "Ides of March."Other notable exclusions from the DGA list included Stephen Daldry for "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," Bennett Miller for "Moneyball," Terrence Malick for "The Tree of Life," Steven Spielberg for "Tintin" and "War Horse" and Tate Taylor for "The Help.""Dragon Tattoo" has seen the most success at the box office among the five DGA nominees with $77 million domestically, followed by "Midnight in Paris" at $56 million, "Hugo" at $53 million, "The Descendants" at $43 million and "The Artist" at $7 million.The winner of the DGA Award has matched the Oscar winner in all but six years since 1948, including last year, when Tom Hooper took both trophies for "The King's Speech." The last divergence came in 2002, when Rob Marshall won the DGA Award for "Chicago" while Roman Polanski received the Academy Award for "The Pianist."The DGA nominations have matched the Oscar noms about 80% of the time. Last year the DGA tapped Hooper and Fincher along with Darren Aronofsky ("Black Swan"), Christopher Nolan ("Inception") and David O. Russell ("The Fighter") while the Oscar noms went to Aronofsky, Fincher, Hooper and Russell along with Joel and Ethan Coen for "True Grit."The directors branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has 369 members, or about 6% of the total membership of 5,783. Oscar noms will be announced Jan. 24. The DGA has about 14,500 members, including TV helmers, assistant directors, unit production managers and stage managers.Only once has a director won the DGA award and not been Oscar-nommed -- in 1995, when Ron Howard was honored by the guild for "Apollo 13" but was passed over by the Academy.The DGA will announce its TV nominations Tuesday and documentary noms on Thursday. And the nominees are:Woody Allen"Midnight in Paris"(Sony Pictures Classics)The Directorial Team: Unit Production Managers: Matthieu Rubin, Helen Robin First Assistant Director: Gil Kenny Second Assistant Director: Delphine BertrandDavid Fincher"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"(Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures)The Directorial Team: Unit Production Manager: Daniel M. Stillman First Assistant Director: Bob Wagner Second Assistant Director: Allen Kupetsky Production Manager (Sweden Unit): Karolina Heimburg Second Assistant Directors (Sweden Unit): Hanna Nilsson, Pontus Klnge 2nd Second Assistant Director (Sweden Unit): Niklas Sjstrm 2nd Second Assistant Director (U.S. Unit): Maileen Williams Unit Production Manager (Zurich Unit): Christos Dervenis Unit Production Manager (U.K. Unit): Lara Baldwin Second Assistant Director (U.K. Unit): Paul TaylorMichel Hazanavicius"The Artist"(The Weinstein Company)The Directorial Team: Unit Production Manager: Antoine De Cazotte Production Manager (FR): Sgolne Fleury First Assistant Director (FR): James Canal First Assistant Director (US): David Cluck Second Assistant Director (US): Dave Paige Second Second Assistant Directors: Karla Strum, Ricky Robinson Alexander Payne"The Descendants"(Fox Searchlight Pictures)The Directorial Team: Unit Production Manager: George Parra First Assistant Director: Richard L. Fox Second Assistant Director: Scott August Second Second Assistant Director: Amy Wilkins BronsonMartin Scorsese"Hugo"(Paramount Pictures)The Directorial Team: Unit Production Managers: Charles Newirth, Georgia Kacandes, Angus More Gordon First Assistant Director: Chris Surgent Second Assistant Director: Richard Graysmark Second Assistant Directors: Tom Brewster, Fraser Fennell-Ball Production Managers (Paris Unit): Michael Sharp, Gilles Castera First Assistant Director (Paris Unit): Ali Cherkaoui Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com