DGA nominations 2012: old timers have their time again

The Oscar engravers will be sharpening their chisels: the Directors' Guild of America has released its nominations. Since 1948 the winner of that award – this year to be held on January 28 in a ceremony hosted by Kelsey Grammer – has progressed to win the best director award at the Oscars 58 times out of 64. This year's shortlist contained no surprises, just genuflection: Woody Allen, 76, who won for Annie Hall in 1977 and picked up a lifetime achievement award in 1996, is nominated for Midnight in Paris . He's up against fellow veteran Martin Scorsese, 69, for Hugo ; Scorsese won for The Departed in 2006, three years after picking up a lifetime achievement award. The young bucks hustling for the crown are Alexander Payne, 50, for The Descendants , David Fincher, 49, for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , and Michel Hazanavicius, 44, for The Artist . The most notable omission looks to be Steven Spielberg, who did not get a nod for War Horse . Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life has been all but ignored in the awards race so far.