The winners of the 2003 Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards and the recipients of the DGA's 2004 Lifetime Achievement Awards were announced tonight at the 56th Annual DGA Awards Dinner at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
Carl Reiner hosted the Awards ceremony which attracted a record 1,750 guests, including the full slate of presenters: Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), Maria Bello (The Cooler), Bob Butler (The Division), Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider), Gil Cates (A Death in the Family and producer of numerous Academy Awards), Patricia Clarkson (The Station Agent), James D'Arcy (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World), Kristin Davis (Sex and the City), Buck Henry (To Die For), Djimon Hounsou (In America), Angelica Huston (Agnes Browne), Christine Lahti (Chicago Hope), Laura Linney (Mystic River), Tobey Maguire (Seabiscuit), Garry Marshall (The Princess Diaries), Rob Marshall (Chicago), Helen Mirren (Calendar Girls), Janel Moloney (The West Wing), Sean Penn (Mystic River), Dan Petrie, Sr. (Inherit the Wind), Naomi Watts (21 Grams) and Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King).

The DGA's Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally served as a near-perfect barometer for the Academy Award for Best Director. Only six times since the DGA Award's inception in 1949 has the winner not gone on to receive the Academy Award for Best Director.

Peter Jackson was declared winner of the 2003 Directors Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for a feature film


Mr. Jackson's Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: Nikolas Korda, Zane Weiner
First Assistant Director: Carolynne Cunningham
Key Second Assistant Directors: Guy Campbell, Marc Ashton

This was Mr. Jackson's third nomination. Mr. Jackson has received two previous nominations for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).