Veteran director Martin Scorsese was given the Directors Guild of America Awad for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, for crime thriller The Departed last night, cementing his position as the front-runner for the Oscar on Februay 25.
The 64-year-old director has been nominated for an Academy Award six times but has never won, despite being given a lifetime achievement award in 2003.
But pollsters are now tipping the Taxi Driver director to break his duck, since in the 58 years of the DGA awards, the winner has gone on to scoop the Oscar on all but six occasions.
Scorcese's adaptation of Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs also marks his first victory at the DGA awards in LA, marking his only win out of seven nominations.
Accepting the award from director Steven Spielberg, Scorsese said: "I didn't think I'd be standing here tonight. I was just trying to make a good picture."
He beat of competition from Bill Condon (Dreamgirls), Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine), Stephen Frears (The Queen) and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel).
Other directors honoured for their work were Walter Hill for TV movie Broken Trail, Richard Shepard for comedy directing in Ugly Betty, John Cassar for TV drama direction in 24 and Chicago and Rob Marshall for musical variety for Tony Bennett: An American Classic.
Arunas Matelis also scooped an award for best feature-film documentary direction for Before Flying Back To The Earth - a portrait of children with leukaemia.
