LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Steve McQueen has gained his first Directors Guild nomination for his grimly historic saga, “12 Years a Slave,” substantiating the British director’s place as a top contender at the Academy Awards.
If McQueen is the DGA winner, he will be the first black director to earn the guild’s feature film accolade.
Other first-time nominees announced Tuesday were Alfonso Cuaron for his lost-in-space odyssey “Gravity” and Paul Greengrass for his Somali pirate thriller “Captain Phillips.”
Past nominee David O. Russell also received a bid for his con-artist tale “American Hustle.”
Earning his eleventh DGA nomination, Martin Scorsese gained a nod for his high-finance extravaganza, “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
Winners of the 66th annual Directors Guild Awards will be announced at a dinner Jan. 25 in Los Angeles.
