Directors Guild of America overlooks trio for directorial achievement prize, traditionally regarded as Oscars bellwether

The 2013 Oscar hopes of film-makers such as Quentin Tarantino, David O Russell and Paul Thomas Anderson have suffered a setback after they were snubbed by the influential Directors Guild of America awards.

Announcing its nominations for directorial achievement in film-making over the past year, the guild named Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), Tom Hooper (Les Miserables), Ben Affleck (Argo) and Ang Lee (Life of Pi) as its nominees for 2013. The organisation's annual rundown is seen as one of the most reliable indicators of Oscar success because many of its members also vote for the best director prize at the Academy awards. In both 2011 and 2012, four out of the guild's five nominees subsequently found themselves in the frame for the equivalent Oscar.

The news means that Tarantino may not receive an Oscar nod...