LOS ANGELES, Feb 3, (Agencies): Ben Affleck has won the top film honor from the Directors Guild of America for his CIA thriller “Argo,” further sealing its status as best-picture front-runner at the Academy Awards. Saturday’s prize also normally would make Affleck a near shoo-in to win best-director at the Feb 24 Oscars, since the Directors Guild recipient nearly always goes on to claim the same prize at Hollywood’s biggest night. But Affleck surprisingly missed out on an Oscar directing nomination, along with several other key favorites, including fellow Directors Guild contenders Kathryn Bigelow for “Zero Dark Thirty” and Tom Hooper for “Les Miserables.” Affleck’s Oscar snub has not hurt “Argo” and may even have earned it some favor among awards voters as an underdog favorite. “Argo” has dominated other awards since the Oscar nominations.

“I don’t think that this makes me a real director, but I think it means I’m on my way,” said Affleck, who won for just his third film behind the camera. The Directors Guild honors continued Hollywood’s strange awards season, which could culminate with a big Oscar win for Affleck’s “Argo.” The guild’s prize for best director typically is a final blessing for the film that goes on to win best-picture and director at the Oscars.
Affleck can go only one-for-two at the Oscars, though. While “Argo” is up for best picture, the director’s branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences overlooked him for a directing slot. Backstage at the Directors Guild honors, Affleck said he had nothing but respect for the academy and that “you’re not entitled to anything.”

With 12 Oscar nominations, Steven Spielberg’s Civil War saga “Lincoln” initially looked like the Oscar favorite over such other potential favorites as “Argo,” ‘’Les Miserables” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” since films generally have little chance of winning best picture if they are not nominated for best director. Only three films have done it in 84 years, most recently 1989’s best-picture champ “Driving Miss Daisy,” which failed to earn a directing nomination for Bruce Beresford. But Affleck’s “Argo,” in which he also stars as a CIA operative who hatches a bold plan to rescue six Americans during the hostage crisis in Iran, has swept up all the major awards since the Oscar nominations. “Argo” won best drama and director at the Golden Globes and top film honors from the Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild of America.
Many of the same film professionals who vote in guild awards also cast ballots for the Oscars, so all the wins for “Argo” are a strong sign that the film has the inside track for best picture.

Attend
Milos Forman, a two-time Directors Guild and Oscar winner for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus,” received the group’s lifetime-achievement award. Guild President Taylor Hackford let the crowd in a toast to Forman, who was ill and unable to attend. Malik Bendjelloul won the guild’s documentary award for “Searching for Sugar Man,” his study of the fate of critically acclaimed but obscure 1970s singer-songwriter Rodriquez. The film also is nominated for best documentary at the Oscars. Jay Roach won the guild trophy for TV movies and miniseries for “Game Change,” his drama starring Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in her 2008 vice-presidential run. Roach said that he watched John McCain rush to choose Palin as his running-mate, potentially putting her second in line for the presidency. “I said, ‘We gotta talk about this,’” Roach joked. “Girls” star Lena Dunham earned the guild honor for TV comedy, while Rian Johnson won for drama series for “Breaking Bad.”

Won
Dunham won for directing the pilot of “Girls,” which focuses on the lives of a group of women in their 20s.
“It is such an unbelievable honor to be in the company of the people in this room, who have made me want to do this with my life,” Dunham said. Filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“Babel,” ‘’Amores Perros”) won for best commercial for a Procter and Gamble spot he directed.

Among other TV winners:
* Reality program: Brian Smith, “Master Chef.”
* Musical variety: Glenn Weiss, “The 66th Annual Tony Awards.”
* Daytime serial: Jill Mitwell, “One Life to Live.”
* Children’s program: Paul Hoen, “Let It Shine.”

Affleck’s win Saturday nicks the Directors Guild record as a strong forecast for the eventual directing recipient at the Oscars. Only six times in the 64-year history of the guild awards has the winner there failed to follow up with an Oscar. This will be the seventh, since Affleck is not up for the best-director Oscar. Peer loyalty might play in Affleck’s favor at the Oscars. The acting branch in particular, the largest block of the academy’s 5,900 members, might really throw its weight behind “Argo” because of Affleck’s directing snub. Actors love it when one of their own moves into a successful directing career, and Affleck — who’s rarely earned raves for his dramatic chops — also delivers one of his best performances in “Argo.” Affleck has had no traction in acting honors this season, and he’s joked that no one considered it a snub when he wasn’t nominated for best actor. So a best-picture vote for “Argo” might be viewed as making right his omission from the directing lineup and acknowledging what a double-threat talent he’s become in front of and behind the camera.

A best-picture prize also would send Affleck home with an Oscar. The award would go to the producers of “Argo”: George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Affleck. But it’s not as though Affleck has never gotten his due at Hollywood awards before. He and Matt Damon jump-started their careers with 1997’s “Good Will Hunting,” for which they shared a screenplay Oscar. The Hollywood directors’ recognition for Affleck, however, is an awkward result for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which failed to nominate him for Best Director in what is considered one of the biggest snubs of this year’s Oscars. Since 1948, there have been only six occasions when the Directors Guild of America (DGA) winner has not gone on to win the Oscar for Best Director. “I have nothing but respect for the Academy,” Affleck said after collecting his first DGA award. The Hollywood star, a producer of “Argo”, said he was thrilled the film was nominated for the Oscars’ Best Picture award. “You are not entitled to win anything,” he said. “Argo” has picked up the three top awards from the industry’s guilds, whose members are also often members of the Academy.

On Saturday, Affleck bested four directors who had all previously won the top DGA honor and gone on to win the Best Director Oscar. It has been a particularly tough awards season for Spielberg, nominated by the DGA for the 11th time with “Lincoln” and a two-time winner for “Schindler’s List” in 1994 and “Saving Private Ryan” in 1999. “What an incredible year for movies,” said Spielberg. “Maybe I’ve had moments when I wished it wasn’t such an incredible year.” Affleck also beat out Kathryn Bigelow, nominated for Osama bin Laden-manhunt thriller “Zero Dark Thirty,” Ang Lee for his 3D adaptation of the bestselling novel “Life of Pi”, and Tom Hooper, for his screen adaptation of the hit musical “Les Miserables”.

“There was a point in my life where I was really down and really confused ... didn’t know what was going to happen and I thought ‘I could be a director’,” Affleck told the high-powered Hollywood crowd on Saturday. “I don’t believe this makes me a real director, but I think I am on my way,” he said. Another young director also collected a top award on Saturday - Lena Dunham for Best Comedy Series for “Girls”, the HBO show about four girls in Brooklyn and their travails over sex, work and making it in the big city. “This is surreal, which I know is an over-used Los Angeles word,” said Dunham, who often appears in the show she created wearing little or no clothes.