Martin Scorsese has been nominated by his peers for the Directors Guild of America Award, following his latest film Gangs Of New York (2001).

In the 55 years since the LA-based guild began presenting its award, the recipient has gone on to win the best-director Oscar all but five times, including last year when Ron Howard won the Oscar for Beautiful Mind, A (2001).

Scorsese, who tried since the 1970s to make the brutal immigrant saga Gangs of New York, has never won a DGA prize, but was nominated four times previously for 1976's Taxi Driver (1976), 1980's Raging Bull (1980), 1990's Goodfellas (1990) and 1993's Age Of Innocence, The (1993).

The guild had planned to honour the 60-year-old director with a lifetime achievement award, during its 55th annual awards ceremony March 1.

On Sunday he won a Golden Globe for directing Gangs Of New York (2001).

Roman Polanski was also nominated for Pianist, The (2002), the story of a Polish musician fleeing the Nazi invasion. Polanski has had two previous DGA nominations, for 1968's Rosemary's Baby and 1974's Chinatown.

Other nominees were Stephen Daldry for Hours, The (2002), about three women from different eras with ties to the work of author Virginia Woolf, Peter Jackson for the second instalment of the JRR Tolkien fantasy trilogy The Lord Of The Rings: 2 Towers (2002), and first-time feature director Rob Marshall for the jazz musical Chicago: The Musical (2002).

The Hours won best drama at the Golden Globes, while Chicago was honoured as best musical-comedy. Both are considered front-runners for Academy Awards consideration.

Oscar nominations will be announced on February 11, with the awards going out on March 23.

Source: Press Release