Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Babel, Bill Condon for Dreamgirls, Martin Scorsese for The Departed, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris for Little Miss Sunshine and Steven Frears for The Queen are the DGA's nominees for feature film directors.

Conspicuous by his absence is two-time winner Clint Eastwood. Scorsese has won a Lifetime Achievement award from the DGA, and was nominated for The Aviator, losing to Eastwood in 2005. Frears has been before nominated in the television category.

The DGA is considered to be the most incorruptible of the major awards. Only members can vote, they have to see the films nominated, in theaters--although Dreamworks tried to get around this by sending DVDs of Dreamgirls , and individual popularity isn't supposed to be a factor. Still, NY based directors haven't fared as well as Hollywood guys. The DGA award is also an indicator for the best director Oscar.