‘Apollo 13’ DGA Win Yields No Oscar Clues

Oscar, we have a problem.

In a move that brings added suspense to this year’s Academy Awards race, Ron Howard has captured the Directors Guild of America’s top award for feature films for his directorial work on the Tom Hanks space thriller “Apollo 13.”

Howard was overlooked by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when it handed out nominations for best director earlier this year, but his film about NASA’s rescue of the Apollo 13 astronauts is in the running for best picture.

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The red-haired, shy-smiling Howard, long a familiar figure to American television viewers for his childhood role in “The Andy Griffith Show” and now a major director of big-budget films, becomes only the fourth person snubbed by the academy to receive the Directors Guild’s top film award.

One of those exceptions was Steven Spielberg, who in 1985 won a Directors Guild award for “The Color Purple” while the Oscar went to Sydney Pollack for “Out of Africa.” Coincidentally, Howard was nominated by the DGA that year for “Cocoon.”

Howard’s victory came against strong rivals: Mel Gibson (“Braveheart”), Mike Figgis (“Leaving Las Vegas”), Ang Lee (“Sense and Sensibility”) and Michael Radford (“The Postman [Il Postino]”).

The Directors Guild award is often an accurate predictor of best directing Oscars. Howard’s win Saturday night, Hollywood insiders say, is further indication there is no huge favorite like “Forrest Gump” last year and “Schindler’s List” the year before.

Had actor-director Gibson, for instance, walked off with the Directors Guild award, many would have tabbed him as a front-runner for an Oscar.

In the Academy Awards, Gibson will go up against Figgis, Radford, Chris Noonan (“Babe”) and Tim Robbins (“Dead Man Walking”). Like Howard, Lee was passed over for a nomination by the academy, but his Jane Austen costume romance, “Sense and Sensibility,” is up for best picture.

Howard, in New York, wrote a statement thanking the cast of Apollo 13, and then added a poignant note: “Any honor bestowed upon this movie is an acknowledgment of the individuals who lived through Apollo 13. Thank you, [Apollo 13 astronaut] Jim Lovell and company for surviving and providing us with an inspiring and moving story to tell.”

Howard’s producing partner, Brian Grazer, carefully avoided criticizing the academy for overlooking his friend, whose films also include “Splash,” “Backdraft” and “The Paper.”

“I think he wishes he would have been nominated for the Oscar,” Grazer said in Los Angeles. “This is the most coveted award for him.” Directors Guild nominees Gibson and Radford attended the ceremonies Saturday night at the Century Plaza Hotel in L.A., while Howard, Figgis and Lee were in New York for the East Coast segment.

In Los Angeles, director Mick Jackson won for dramatic television special for “Indictment: The McMartin Trial,” an HBO television film.

Offstage, Jackson recounted how his nerves were tested while directing the TV movie because screenwriter Abby Mann’s house had burned to the ground during the first few days of shooting.

“That was pretty scary--to know that this stuff can arouse passions that strong,” Jackson said. “They broke into his house and poured gasoline in his bed and in his office. . . . Nobody knows for certain who did it . . . but I was pretty scared.”

The documentary film award went to Terry Zwigoff for “Crumb,” an intimate portrait of the underground artist Robert Crumb. It contained haunting glimpses of the Crumb family taken over a period of years. A perturbed Zwigoff told reporters he “felt really bad” about how some people have interpreted the real-life characters in his movie.

“Anybody with $7 can see this film and say, ‘OK, these people are creeps’ and pass judgment,” he said. “These are real people. It’s not a fictitious story with actors.”

Gordon Hunt won for comedy for a segment of the NBC sitcom “Mad About You,” which co-stars his daughter, actress Helen Hunt.

Christopher Chulack won for dramatic nighttime series for a segment of NBC’s “ER.” Matthew Diamond took top honors in the musical variety category for the PBS show “Some Enchanted Evening.” William Ludel and Alan Pultz received the daytime drama award for ABC’s “General Hospital,” while Robert Lieberman won the commercial directors category for spots on Merrill Lynch and Hallmark.

Among the special awards conferred, Woody Allen received the D.W. Griffith Award for lifetime directorial achievement. Allen was performing in Vienna and actress Mira Sorvino accepted for him in New York, while Allen offered his thanks via videotape.

“I recently turned 60 years old. Practically a third of my life is over,” Allen said on the tape. “I hope in the rest of my life, I can live up to the honor you’ve bestowed on me.”