Jackson given top honour by fellow directors

LOS ANGELES - Peter Jackson won a key pre-Oscar award last night as the Directors Guild of America named him best director for 2003 for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

The award continued to add weight to speculation that Jackson and The Lord of the Rings will take out the major Oscars when the Academy Awards are announced in a few weeks time.

The DGA award is one of the Oscar indicators. Only six times since 1949 has its winner not received an Oscar for best director and there is an historically high correlation between best director and best picture Oscar winners.

Jackson accepted the award with humility, praising his cast and co-workers and saying "I had the most amazing time" making the film which he described as a tale of "courage, friendship and faith."

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King has raked in about US$925 million worldwide.

Nominated against it for the Oscars are Clint Eastwood's crime thriller "Mystic River," Gary Ross's horse racing drama "Seabiscuit," Peter Weir's seafaring adventure "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" and Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation," a low-budget tale of two Americans in Tokyo who are disconnected from their lives and marriages.

The American Society of Cinematographers announces its awards on Sunday night and the Screen Actors Guild names its favorites on February 22.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Lord of the Rings