DGA NOMINEES INCLUDE SURPRISE: ‘RAY’S’ HACKFORD

Taylor Hackford was nominated Thursday for the 2004 Directors Guild of America award for “Ray,” an honor that was something of a surprise -- especially to Hackford.

Since the film opened in September, Hackford has been overshadowed by the attention and accolades bestowed on star Jamie Foxx for his virtuoso turn as R&B; legend Ray Charles. Hackford even failed to get a Golden Globe nomination for his direction.

“There are a lot of films out there being talked about,” Hackford said. The filmmaker, 60, said his “Ray” nomination means more to him than his first nomination for a DGA award, for 1982’s “An Officer and a Gentleman.”

“Frankly with this film, I struggled for 15 years to get it made,” he said on the phone shortly after learning of the DGA honor.

“And you have the pressure to get it right. So it’s a great affirmation. The audience discovers a film and the audience responds to ‘Ray.’ ”

The Directors Guild’s other feature director nominees are Alexander Payne for “Sideways,” Clint Eastwood, for “Million Dollar Baby,” Martin Scorsese for “The Aviator” and Marc Forster for “Finding Neverland.”

Forster, 35, was ecstatic to be nominated along with such cinema “icons” as Eastwood and Scorsese. “It is like a dream come true,” he said.

People told him he was “going against the odds” when he decided to make the sentimental “Finding Neverland,” a heart-tugging family film that dramatically envisions how Scottish playwright James M. Barrie was inspired to write “Peter Pan.”

“But I wanted to do something different,” Forster said. “It was important for me to embark on another journey and another challenge.”

Forster, who directed Halle Berry to an Oscar win for best actress in the gritty 2001 indie hit “Monster’s Ball,” is also nominated for a Golden Globe for “Finding Neverland.”

Eastwood, 74, said in a statement that he was grateful for the honor for his elegiac drama about a grizzled old boxing trainer who agrees to manage a scrappy, talented female boxer. This is his third DGA nomination. He won the award for 1992’s “Unforgiven” and received a nomination last year for “Mystic River.” He is nominated for a Golden Globe for best director and was named best of 2004 by the New York Film Critics Circle for “Baby.”

“I am truly honored to be recognized by the DGA with this nomination,” Eastwood said. “ ‘Million Dollar Baby’ is a film that inspired me and captured my heart. It’s not often that a film like this comes along.”

The DGA nomination is a first for Payne, 43, whose dark comedy about a lovelorn wine snob who takes his actor buddy on a road trip to the Santa Barbara wine country ranks as one of the best reviewed movies of the year. He is nominated for a Golden Globe for best director and has received numerous critics’ awards for best director, including from the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.

By contrast, it is Scorsese’s sixth DGA nomination, this time for his epic biography about the filmmaker, womanizer and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes. Scorsese, 62, was previously nominated for 2002’s “Gangs of New York,” 1993’s “The Age of Innocence,” 1990’s “GoodFellas,” 1980’s “Raging Bull” and 1976’s “Taxi Driver.” Two years ago, the DGA presented him with its lifetime achievement award. He is nominated for a Golden Globe for “The Aviator.”

Noticeably absent from the nominees were former DGA winner Mike Nichols, who is a Golden Globe contender for “Closer,” and Michael Mann, who was named best director last month by the National Board of Review for “Collateral.”

The nominations also proved to be yet another snub for Mel Gibson. His blockbuster “The Passion of the Christ,” branded in some circles as anti-Semitic, has been shut out so far this awards season by critics organizations as well as the Golden Globes. It’s a far different scenario than in 1996, when “Braveheart,” the last film he directed, earned him a DGA nomination and Oscars for best picture and director.

The DGA is considered a reliable prognosticator of the Academy Awards. Since the DGA award’s inception in 1949, only six winners have failed to go on to win the Oscar for best director. The last time the Directors Guild and the academy went separate ways was two years ago when Rob Marshall won the DGA award for “Chicago” but lost the Oscar to Roman Polanski for “The Pianist.”

DGA President Michael Apted announced the nominations at the guild headquarters in West Hollywood.

The awards will be presented Jan. 29 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.