The full list of nominees:

• Ben Affleck, Argo
• Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
• Hooper, Les Miserables
• Ang Lee, Life of Pi
• Steven Spielberg, Lincoln.

"The five films recognized by the Directors Guild of America are among the sure things for the Academy’s best picture race. But this has been one of the most closely contested Oscar races in recent memory, with no single film breaking away as a clear front-runner, although Lincoln is starting to edge ahead. I’d put Silver Linings Playbook in the group of likely best picture players, too, although its director, David O. Russell, was left out of the DGA noms. Others who didn’t make the guild’s cut: Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained, and Michael Haneke for the aching end-of-life love story Amour."