Alfonso Cuaron Improves His Oscar Chances Even Further With DGA Award Win

Alfonso Cuaron with his shiny and impressive award

Alfonso Cuaron looks like a firm favourite to take home the Academy Award for Best Director when the Oscars roll around this March. The Gravity director was given the top gong at last night's (25 Jan.) Directors Guild Of America Awards, an honour than can only heighten his chances of taking home Hollywood's top prize in a few weeks.

In only seven instances in the DGA Awards' 66 year history has the Best Director Oscar gone to someone who has not won the top honour for directors, with the last instance of this happening coming last year when Ben Affleck won the award, but was not even nominated for the Best Director category at the Oscars for his work on Argo. According to Oddschecker.com, Cuaron is the odds on favourite to take home the Best Director gong in March's ceremony, with 12 Years A Slave director Steve McQueen his nearest competitor.

Cuaron with last years winner Ben Affleck

Other winners on the night included Vince Gilligan, who won in the Dramatic Series category for 'Felina,' the final episode of his remarkable Breaking Bad series. He was up against the show's star, Bryan Cranston, in the same category, who was nominated for his work on the episode 'Blood Money.' Cranston was nominated for a second time in the Comedy Series category for his work on the Modern Family episode 'The Old Man & The Tree,' losing out to Beth McCarthy-Miller, who directed the 30 Rock episode 'Hogcock!/Last Lunch.'

Steven Soderbergh was victorious in the Movies for Television and Mini-Series category, for his work on the Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra. Soderbergh also won the Robert B Aldrich Service Award in recognition of his extraordinary service to the Directors Guild of America and to its membership.

Soderbergh announced his retirement from feature film directing last year

Next Page: Full list of winners and nominees

Film

Alfonso Cuarón - Gravity

Paul Greengrass - Captain Phillips

Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave

David O Russell - American Hustle

Martin Scorsese - The Wolf of Wall Street

Dramatic Series

Vince Gilligan - Breaking Bad: 'Felina' - WINNER

Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad: 'Blood Money'

David Fincher - House of Cards: 'Chapter 1'

Lesli Linka Glatter - Homeland: 'The Star'

David Nutter - Game of Thrones: 'The Rains of Castamere'

Movies for Television and Mini-Series

Steven Soderbergh - Behind the Candelabra - WINNER

Stephen Frears - Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight

David Mamet - Phil Spector

Beth McCarthy-Miller (director) and Rob Ashford (theatrical director) - The Sound of Music Live!

Nelson McCormick - Killing Kennedy

Documentary

Jehane Noujaim - The Square - WINNER

Zachary Heinzerling - Cutie and the Boxer

Joshua Oppenheimer - The Act of Killing

Sarah Polley - Stories We Tell

Lucy Walker - The Crash Reel

Comedy Series

Beth McCarthy-Miller, - 30 Rock: 'Hogcock!/Last Lunch' - WINNER

Mark Cendrowski - The Big Bang Theory: 'The Hofstadter Insufficiency'

Bryan Cranston - Modern Family: 'The Old Man & The Tree'

Gail Mancuso - Modern Family: 'My Hero'

Anthony Rich - The Big Bang Theory: 'The Love Spell Potential'

Variety/Talk/News/Sports - Regularly Scheduled Programming

Don Roy King - Saturday Night Live: Saturday Night live with Host Justin Timberlake - WINNER

Dave Diomedi - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: Episode #799)

Andy Fisher - Jimmy Kimmel Live: Episode #13-1810

Jim Hoskinson - The Colbert Report: Episode #10004

Chuck O'Neil - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Episode #19018

Variety/Talk/News/Sports - Specials

Glenn Weiss - The 67th Annual Tony Awards - WINNER

Louis CK - Louis CK: Oh My God

Joel Gallen - 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Louis J Horvitz - The 55th Annual Grammy Awards

Don Mischer - The 85th Annual Academy Awards

Children's Programmes

Amy Schatz - An Apology to Elephants - WINNER

Stephen Herek - Jinxed

Jeffrey Hornaday - TeenBeachMovie

Jonathan Judge - Swindle

Adam Weissman - ANT Farm: 'influANTces'

Reality Programmes

Neil P DeGroot - 72 Hours: 'The Lost Coast' - WINNER

Paul Starkman - Top Chef: 'Glacial Gourmand'

Matthew Bartley - The Biggest Loser: '1501'

J Rupert Thompson - The Hero: 'Teamwork'

Bertram van Munster - The Amazing Race: 'Beards in the Wind'

Commercials

Martin de Thurah - Human Race: Acura MDX & The Man Who Couldn't Slow Down: Hennessy VS - WINNER

Fredrik Bond - Voyage: Heineken & From the Future: Johnny Walker

John X Carey - Real Beauty Sketches: Dove

Noam Murro - Basketball: Guinness, Kids: DIRECTV & Mask: Volkswagen

Matthijs van Heijningen - Perfect Day: Sony Playstation & #Forty Eight: Verizon

Robert B Aldrich Service Award

Steven Soderbergh

DGA Diversity Award

Shonda Rhimes & Betsy Beers

Frank Capra Achievement Award

Lee Blaine

Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award

Vincent DeDario