No malfunction as Prince rocks halftime
Phew! CBS got through the halftime show without a "wardrobe malfunction." The Artist Formerly Known as a Munchkin of Wardrobe Dysfunction began by singing "Let's Go Crazy," but he didn't.
Prince, who became a Jehovah's Witness in the mid-1990s, no longer wears yellow, butt-baring pants as he did at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards (prompting Howard Stern's send-up at the '92 VMAs). The closest thing to a fashion statement Sunday night was an odd kerchief on his head. So the NFL had no repeat of the 2004 Janet Jackson/ Justin Timberlake show, which happened the last time CBS broadcast the game.
The 48-year-old Prince, who rose to stardom in the '80s with his distinctive fusion of R&B, funk, soul and rock, once looked androgynous and produced songs that (lest we forget) drove Tipper Gore nuts (and made her a fat target for anti-censorship types like Frank Zappa).
Musically, the diminutive, erstwhile prodigy from Minneapolis kept it old-school, rockin' the house with "Purple Rain" and other golden hits.
He delivered one of the best Super Bowl halftime shows — ever. Consequently, he didn't come across as a painfully safe choice — or a has-been, the rap against the previous couple of Super Bowl halftime acts, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones.
Before and after Prince took the midfield stage (shaped like his symbol when he was The Artist Formerly Known As Prince), Jim Nantz and Phil Simms gave a bravura performance in the booth. Now in their third season together, the duo have a nice rapport.
Making his Super Bowl play-by-play debut, Nantz kept viewers on top of the action. Simms managed to be self-effacing about at least one comment that was off the mark. He insisted the weather would not be a factor; but the rain got heavier than he anticipated, and after the third of four turnovers in the first quarter, he chuckled about what he said.
"The rain is absolutely having a little effect," he acknowledged.
It had an effect on CBS, too.
CBS Sports spokeswoman Leslie Anne Wade explained that the production crew kept cutting away from cameras that had condensation from the soggy conditions and kept wiping down the lenses as fast as possible between shots. In the control truck, they could see which of the 48 cameras needed to be cleared up.
"They're working pretty hard, and they're getting pretty clear pictures for the most part, for what the weather's like here," she said.
"Not easy conditions for anyone. Even our crew," Nantz noted on the air.
Maybe high-definition TV owners annoyingly got more than their money's worth, being able to see every drop and just how sharp — or not — fog can look on their fancy flat screens.
But it certainly was refreshing to see the elements affect a Super Bowl.
As usual, much of the day's viewing diet had more to do with quantity than quality.
But, how can the nation's highest-rated TV program — and the run-up to it — NOT be bloated?
Ingesting 10-plus hours of Super Bowl coverage forces you to act like an anaconda: Just unhinge your jaws, swallow your prey and try not to be too conscious of your distended, distorted body.
There isn't enough party dip in the world to give you that much indigestion (although the food segment with chef Bobby Flay came close).
The six-plus hours of pregame hoo-ha began at noon EST with an NFL Films recap of the season, "Road to the Super Bowl," with Tom Selleck capably filling the old John Facenda role of narrator.
Next came "Phil Simms All-Iron Team," which the neurotic Caveman from the Geico commercials gave a lighthearted beginning, middle and end.
The ever-needy Caveman tried to wheedle the picks out of Simms on the golf course before they were announced on the selection show — with limited success, and limited satisfaction.
Derrick Brooks? "I just don't get it," said the Caveman, who would have picked, uh, Bonnie Raitt.
The quality of the players' character (including Brooks') was a big determinant in being chosen for Simms' squad, which gave the show a heartwarming touch and made it appealing to casual fans.
Then came the four-hour "The Super Bowl Today," which — in the true commercial spirit of the whole affair — began with Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr., who also was promoting the upcoming film "Norbit."
Just like every other Sunday of the football season, the CBS studio quartet of host James Brown along with analysts Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason and Shannon Sharpe made you miss the guys on Fox. They simply lack the chemistry of Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long et al. And no one on either show is as funny as Fox's Frank Caliendo.
The heart-tugging stories really kicked in during the last pregame extravaganza, almost ad nauseam — among them, Everson Walls' willingness to donate a kidney to former Dallas Cowboys teammate Ron Springs; Chicago Bears running back Thomas Jones' supportive family; a visit with soldiers in Iraq; and Bill Walsh's much-chronicled battle against cancer.
They even went all the way back to the tragically early deaths of long-ago Bears running backs Walter Payton and Brian Piccolo. (Hmmm. Might Netflix get a run on "Brian's Song"?)
Almost all of the ground covered was well-trod: Indianapolis Colts receiver Marvin Harrison's taciturn tendencies; the Jekyll-Hyde performances of Rex Grossman; the matchup between the first two black coaches to lead their team to the NFL title game.
As you can imagine, all the feel-good segments got a lot more airtime than, say, the story about the Bears' Tank Johnson needing a judge's OK to get out of house arrest on gun-possession charges and travel to Miami.
The story barely got four minutes (remember: out of four hours!) including Esiason, Sharpe and Marino weighing in on whether Johnson should have been allowed to play. (Predictably, Esiason opposed Tank's participation, Sharpe defended it, and Marino came down hard in the middle of the issue).
Katie Couric, who can chant "We're No. 3" about CBS News, joined the guys, for yet another "very touching story indeed," as Brown put it after introducing the high-priced "Evening News" anchorwoman by citing her sports reporting credibility. ("She brings a sports background to the desk. She ran track — an outstanding cheerleader").
She tackled the topic of Hines Ward, last year's Super Bowl MVP, and his Korean mother, who was shunned in her native country because of her biracial marriage, winding up a single mother here, and the bigotry that mother and son were subjected to.
But isn't this a year-old story? Where's the fresh, hard-hitting news?
Before all those hours fully dedicated to hyping the game, "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer was broadcast from Dolphin Stadium. At least the conversation was a little more serious with new league commissioner Roger Goodell as a guest.
Meanwhile, Tim Russert's "Meet the Press" was busy with presidential candidate John Edwards. Who cares about that, right?
Colts tame Bears for Super Bowl victory
MIAMI - A wet and wild Super Bowl, the winning conditions for Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. A team built for indoors found its footing on a rain-soaked track and outplayed the Chicago Bears to win the NFL title 29-17 Sunday night.
The Colts were far less sloppy, particularly their star quarterback, who proved he can indeed win the big game — the biggest game.
That's what it was for Tony Dungy, too. He became the first black coach to win the championship, beating good friend and protege Lovie Smith in a game that featured two black coaches for the first time in Super Bowl history.
It was a game of firsts: the first rainy Super Bowl and the first time an opening kickoff was run back for a touchdown when sensational Bears rookie Devin Hester sped downfield for 92 yards.
And not since the Buffalo Bills self-destructed with nine turnovers in losing to Dallas 14 years ago had there been so much messiness. The first half was marred by six turnovers, three for each team. Even football's most clutch kicker, Adam Vinatieri, missed a chip-shot field goal, and an extra point attempt was botched, too.
The second half wasn't quite so ugly, but when much-maligned Bears quarterback Rex Grossman's wobbler was picked off and returned 56 yards for a touchdown by Kelvin Hayden with 11:44 remaining, it was over.
Chicago (15-4), which led the league in takeaways this season, finished with five turnovers, including two interceptions by Grossman.
The Colts (16-4) will take it. It's their first title since the 1970 season, when they played in Baltimore.
Manning ended up 25-for-38 for 247 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, and was the game's most valuable player.
It was confirmation of his brilliance, even if he didn't need to be dynamic. The son of a quarterback who never got to the playoffs, Manning has been a star throughout his college career at Tennessee and his nine pro seasons with the Colts.
Now he is a champion.
It also was a validation of Dungy's leadership. He helped build Tampa Bay, one of the NFL's worst franchises, into a contender before being fired after the 2001 season. The next year, the Bucs won the Super Bowl under Jon Gruden.
The Colts hoisted their coach on their shoulders and he switched his blue Colts cap for a white one that read "NFL champions." Dungy was carried from the sideline, then was lowered so he could share a long embrace and a handshake with Smith.
Then Dungy waded through the mob to find his quarterback, giving him a big hug.
The Colts reached the pinnacle by winning four postseason games with a defense that made a complete turnaround in the playoffs.
And with a running game that perfectly complemented Manning, thanks to Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes, who combined for 190 yards — 113 on 21 carries by Rhodes and 77 on 10 carries by Addai, who also had 66 yards receiving.
Chicago was denied its first Super Bowl title since the powerhouse 1985 team. These Bears could have used Da Coach, Sweetness and their buddies.
It rained from start to finish; there was even "Purple Rain" during halftime when Prince sang some of his signature songs. And though Vinatieri twice was a victim of the slop, he kicked three field goals.
Hester's spectacular return provided a stunning beginning — and a severe jolt to the Colts. The local product and only rookie All-Pro this season pumped his arms to excite the crowd before the kickoff, then lifted the fans from their seats with an electrifying run on which he never was touched.
He barely touched the ball again as Indy went to squibbing kickoffs.
Leading 16-14 at halftime, the Colts spent half the third quarter with a march to Vinatieri's 24-yard field goal. Twice on the drive, Manning fell to the ground while throwing. But he completed them.
Grossman had it even worse on Chicago's initial possession of the second half, twice in a row slipping and getting sacked. Maybe he would have done better on icy turf.
Thomas Jones, forced to carry the Bears' entire rushing load when Cedric Benson was hurt in the first half, was Chicago's best player. But with Grossman ineffective, even inept, all the Bears managed in the second half was Robbie Gould's 44-yard field goal late in the third period.
After Hester's opening dagger, Manning tried to force a pass to Marvin Harrison in double coverage and was picked off by Chris Harris to spoil Indy's first possession, but the Colts struck back on their next series, converting three third-downs. The final one was the most important as Manning got everything on a long pass to the uncovered Reggie Wayne even though Tank Johnson had his hands on the quarterback. Wayne trotted into the end zone for a 47-yard score.
Then the rain ruined three straight plays.
Holder Hunter Smith dropped the snap on the extra point and Vinatieri couldn't get off a kick. Then Vinatieri, well aware of who was lurking deep, squibbed the kickoff to tight end Gabe Reid, who fumbled at his 35, with Tyjuan Hagler recovering for the Colts.
But Manning and Addai botched the handoff on the next snap and Chicago's Mark Anderson recovered, the third turnover in the first 8 1/2 minutes.
Couldn't anybody play this game?
Jones certainly could. He used a sharp cutback to break a 52-yard run, the longest of his career, to the Colts' 5, and Grossman found Muhammad in the front of the end zone for a 14-6 lead.
Jones finished with 100 yards rushing.
A fourth giveaway in the opening quarter, by Benson on his first carry before injuring his knee, didn't damage Chicago.
Vinatieri, who made two Super Bowl-winning kicks for New England, nailed a 29-yard field goal early in the second period but was wide left from 32 y ards at the end of the half.
Vinatieri still set a record with 49 postseason points.
'Fall Out Boy' high on new album
For a band founded and so deeply invested in the MySpace generation, nude Internet photos on the run are just par for the course.
In this case, we're talking about pop-punk icon's Fall Out Boy, bassist/lyricist/melodramatist Pete Wentz and a series of photos in which the emo rocker can be seen posing with his naked goods in his hands for all to see.
"If I was reading this, my first impression would be, 'Oh, this guy probably released the photos himself,' or something like that, no matter what the guy says and I think people keep that in the back of their heads when they're talking to me," says Wentz, during an interview backstage at the band's recent MTV Live gig in Toronto. "The only thing I can say is that I'd probably put out better pictures if I was going to do it myself."
Wentz says someone hacked into his PDA and went buckwild on the web (shortly thereafter, the bassist topped an AOL poll of the most popular Internet search keyword, ahead of second and third place searches -- Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton). No real word on why the bassist was carrying around nude photos of himself. Although, he suggests it was just a pre-fame thing.
"The pictures were actually taken like a year before (they were released) and, at that time, I was this dude who no one cared about, 'cause, otherwise, I don't think I'd have those," he says. "Somebody just decided to put them out and it's pretty much the most terrible thing ever. Having the choice between three million people seeing me naked or three million people not seeing me naked, well, everyone would pick the latter."
It certainly hasn't hurt the plight of Fall Out Boy, who are set to release their sophomore major label album, Infinity On High, on Tuesday.
After premiering the record's first single, This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race, during a live performance at the American Music Awards in November, the track went No. 1 as a digital single in its opening week, selling 162,000 copies.
This, after selling more than three million copies of their major label debut, From Under The Cork Tree (which went double-platinum in Canada alone).
It was pretty hard to get away from either of the album's singles last year, particularly the ruthlessly catchy summer anthem Dance, Dance.
Much Music and MTV have showered the group -- rounded out by vocalist/guitarist Patrick Stump, guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andrew Hurley -- with awards and the Grammys nominated the emo troupe for best new artist last year.
Despite their initial success, Fall Out Boy's staying power has come as a bit of a surprise in this fast-food/pop-music climate -- the same one where bands like The All-American Rejects and Jimmy Eat World come out strong and fizzle out quicker than the kids can delete them from their MySpace friends list.
"Some of the bands that have really exploded in the past couple of years need to show that they can stick around for a couple records," says Wentz. "I think a band like Green Day are a good example of a band that can have ups and downs in their career then come back and have even more success than before. It's something we really look up to."
If Fall Out Boy doesn't work out, Wentz has built up quite the proverbial emo empire to fall back on. He founded Decaydance Records (and promptly signed Panic! At The Disco) and started his own hoodies-and-tees clothing line, Clandestine Industries (the clothes bear the same bat-and-heart shaped image that the bassist has tattooed above his you-know-what, as can be seen in the infamous rogue photos).
If that ain't enough, there are Fall Out Boy dolls and a self-published Wentz-penned book for the hardcore fans. Rumour has it that Wentz is set to release a novel in 2007 called Rainy Day Kids.
"Fall Out Boy is the most important thing and is the basis for all of that because no one would care about anything else any of us did if it wasn't for Fall Out Boy," says Wentz. "That's the thing we take the most care with -- it's always important that the outside projects aren't superseding the band. When you're in a band and you get to the level that we're at, you have to interact with corporations and I always think, 'Why can't you just be the corporation?' Then you'll always know what ideals are and then you can sleep at night."
Wentz insists his side projects are not his Fall Out Boy-insurance policy.
"I don't think it's a safety net; I think it's the other way around. I think Fall Out Boy is the safety net," he says. "If Fall Out Boy goes away, who would ever care what I was doing?"
Smokey puts film under fire
UNLIKE so many cineplex offerings these days, the big-screen adaptation of "Dreamgirls" does not open with the tagline "inspired by a true story" — even if the movie and the smash Broadway musical that preceded it have done little to conceal their real-life inspiration: Motown Records supremo Berry Gordy and his management of Diana Ross and the Supremes in the '60s and '70s.
As the film has made its inexorable march through award season toward the Oscars, doing increasingly big business at the box office along the way, neither Gordy nor Ross have offered their opinions. But "Dreamgirls," which leads the field with eight Academy Award nominations, has roiled another Motown legend: Smokey Robinson.
" 'Dreamgirls' is an affront to Berry, to Motown, to Diana Ross, to our legacy," Robinson says. "It defames something we've been building for 50 years. And for a group of people who weren't there and don't know what went on at the time to come along and distort Motown — for people all over the world who don't know the true story — that's not acceptable to me."
The soul crooner voices anger at the filmmakers but also particular disappointment with "Dreamgirls" stars Eddie Murphy, Beyoncé Knowles and Jamie Foxx — performers he feels have lost sight of their African American cultural heritage.
"For them to depict [Gordy] as this shyster who was underhanded from the very first moment, paying people off, manipulating everybody and he's hooked up with the Mafia and doctoring the books at his house — that's unacceptable," Robinson explains in uncharacteristically heated tones.
Specifically addressing Robinson's displeasure with "Dreamgirls," the film's distributor, DreamWorks/Paramount, issued this statement:
"On behalf of the filmmakers, we would like to remind Mr. Robinson that 'Dreamgirls' is a work of fiction based on a Broadway play. We also take exception to Mr. Robinson's unwarranted attack on the cast of 'Dreamgirls,' who are all at the zenith of their careers."
The studio's piquant rejoinder notwithstanding, Robinson remains resolute that amends are in order. "Let them tell me why they depicted us in such a negative light," he says. "Berry Gordy broke down racial barriers and brought people together through music. He and Diana Ross deserve an apology."
No Longer a 'Wonder' Boy
''Buffy'' creator Joss Whedon announces he's no longer attached to direct a ''Wonder Woman'' movie
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon announced today on the fan website Whedonesque that ''I'm no longer slated to make Wonder Woman.''
Whedon had been attached to the long-gestating Warner Bros. project as a writer-director since March 2005. The announcement comes a day after a Hollywood Reporter story about a separate Wonder Woman script written by two unknown scribes that was ''quietly'' being purchased by Warner Bros. and Silver Pictures.
That story suggested that the studio was attempting to avoid any conflict with Whedon's now-defunct script.
Reps for Whedon, Silver, and Warner Bros. were not immediately available for comment.
Bond star Daniel Craig named best actor
LONDON - Daniel Craig was honored but Helen Mirren was denied Sunday at the 34th annual Evening Standard British Film Awards.
Craig was named best actor for "Casino Royale," his debut outing as James Bond. Craig, who has won both critical praise and box office favor as the first blond Bond, is also up for the best-actor prize at next week's British Academy Film Awards.
Mirren, who is an Academy Awards favorite for her turn as Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen," lost the best actress prize to Judi Dench, awarded for her portrayal of a predatory schoolteacher in "Notes on a Scandal."
The best-film prize went to "United 93," Paul Greengrass' harrowing dramatization of the final flight of one of the planes hijacked in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Peter Morgan won the screenplay award for two scripts — "The Queen" and "The Last King of Scotland."
Sacha Baron Cohen, creator of the gauche Kazakh journalist Borat, won the Peter Sellers Award for comedy.
Stephen Frears, director of "The Queen," received a special award for "for making British film reverberate around the world." The veteran director's socially conscious films include "My Beautiful Laundrette," "Dangerous Liaisons" and "Dirty Pretty Things."
The Evening Standard awards are sponsored by London's afternoon newspaper and selected by a jury of film critics.
`The Messengers' delivers No. 1 debut
LOS ANGELES - The made-in-Regina fright film "The Messengers," about a city family that moves into a creepy haunted house in the country, debuted as the top weekend movie with $14.5 million in ticket sales.
Opening in second place was Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore's mother-daughter comedy "Because I Said So," the Universal release taking in $13 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The latest in a string of horror hits from Sony, "The Messengers" bumped off the previous weekend's No. 1 flick, 20th Century Fox's "Epic Movie," which slipped to third place with $8.2 million, raising its 10-day total to $29.4 million.
It was a quiet weekend at theaters as many fans were preoccupied with Sunday's Super Bowl. The top 12 movies took in $71.6 million, down 12.5 percent compared to the same weekend last year.
"The Messengers" — starring Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller, John Corbett and Kristen Stewart — is the first English-language film from Hong Kong siblings Danny and Oxide Pang, whose horror tales include "The Eye."
It was the seventh-straight year that Sony had the No. 1 movie on Super Bowl weekend, many of them similar low-budgeted horror hits such as last year's "When a Stranger Calls." "The Messengers" was shot on a thrifty $16 million budget.
"This business model of creating these modestly budgeted horror films is just something that consistently works for Sony," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
Key Academy Awards contenders continued cashing in on their honors, including best-picture nominees "The Queen" (Miramax) with a $2.7 million weekend, "The Departed" (Warner Bros.) with $2.3 million and "Babel" (Paramount Vantage) and "Letters From Iwo Jima" (Warner Bros.) with $1.7 million each.
Paramount's "Dreamgirls," which led the field with eight nominations, pulled in $4 million, while foreign-language nominee "Pan's Labyrinth" (Picturehouse) remained a top 10 hit with $3.7 million.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Messengers," $14.5 million.
2. "Because I Said So," $13 million.
3. "Epic Movie," $8.2 million.
4. "Night at the Museum," $6.75 million.
5. "Smokin' Aces," $6.3 million.
6. "Stomp the Yard," $4.2 million.
7. "Dreamgirls," $4 million.
8. "Pan's Labyrinth," $3.7 million.
9. "The Pursuit of Happyness," $3.1 million.
10. "The Queen," $2.7 million.
Shaye has new CD, reality show
Cameras are rolling on a new reality show featuring the three women of Canadian pop group Shaye.
Kim Stockwood, Damhnait Doyle and Tara MacLean are starring in the series (also titled Shaye) that will debut this summer on CH stations followed by a run on Global Television and Country Music Television.
The show will chronicle the trio’s efforts to achieve fame and fortune following the release of its sophomore CD, Lake of Fire, on Feb. 6. Shaye enjoyed some success with its 2003 debut album, The Bridge – thanks in large part to the hit single Happy Baby.
All three women, originally from the East Coast, had solo careers before coming together as Shaye.
"Shaye will afford our viewers a rare, inside look at the journey of an accomplished, Juno award-nominated Canadian musical group," said Christine Shipton, Vice President of Original Programming for CanWest MediaWorks, in a release. "We love this series because it features more than just music from a talented trio of women. It gets to the heart of what it takes to make it in the music industry both personally and professionally."
Shaye collaborated with EMI Music Canada to ensure the packaging for Lake of Fire was made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper. And the trio made a “zero footprint” commitment by replacing the resources used in production of the CD through tree planting.
The band will showcase its new songs with live performances Feb. 3 in Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square, Feb. 5 on CTV’s Canada AM and at the East Coast Music Awards on Feb. 18 (airing on CBC Television).
Scorsese wins DGA prize for 'Departed'
LOS ANGELES - Martin Scorsese won the top honor Saturday from the Directors Guild of America for his mob saga "The Departed," moving him a step closer to finally receiving Hollywood's biggest filmmaking prize at the Academy Awards.
Scorsese was chosen as filmmaker of the year by his peers, his first win at the guild awards after six previous nominations. The guild winner usually goes on to win the best-director Oscar.
The self-deprecating Scorsese said he was pleased at the apparent success of the film but that he only became convinced it was doing well when the studio called with box-office revenues from the first couple of weekends.
"If you look at the graph at the spikes at where the picture is doing really great figures, it's like looking at a veritable map of the American underworld," such as Boca Raton, Fla., Scorsese said. "Vegas, forget about it, it was amazing."
Adapted from the Hong Kong crime thriller "Infernal Affairs," "The Departed" stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a cop who's undercover in a Boston crime outfit, Matt Damon as a mob mole who has infiltrated the police, and Jack Nicholson as the merciless gang leader pulling everyone's strings.
It has become Scorsese's biggest commercial hit, and critics praised it as a welcome return to the vivid, bloody crime genre whose modern conventions the director helped pioneer in such films as "Taxi Driver" and "Goodfellas."
"I started watching his work when I was 15 years old, said DiCaprio, who has starred in Scorsese's last three films and introduced the director to the guild audience earlier in the evening. "It was like entering a seamless cinematic reality."
Walter Hill won the guild's directing honor for TV movies for the Western "Broken Trail."
Other TV winners included Richard Shepard for comedy directing on the pilot episode of "Ugly Betty," Jon Cassar for drama directing for an episode of "24," and "Chicago" filmmaker Rob Marshall for musical variety directing for " Tony Bennett: An American Classic."
Arunas Matelis won for feature-film documentary for "Before Flying Back to the Earth," a portrait of children hospitalized with leukemia. The film won over two Oscar nominees, "Deliver Us From Evil" and "Iraq in Fragments."
"The Departed" marked Scorsese's sixth nomination for best director at the Academy Awards, an honor that also has eluded him. A sixth loss at the Oscars would put Scorsese in the record books as the filmmaker with the most nominations without winning.
But many awards watchers feel this is Scorsese's year, labeling him the front-runner for the Feb. 25 Oscars. A Directors Guild win helps give him the inside track.
The guild prize is a solid forecast for who might win the directing honor at the Academy Awards. Only six times in the 58-year history of the guild awards has the winner failed to go on to receive the directing Oscar.
The other guild nominees were Bill Condon for the musical "Dreamgirls," Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris for the road-trip tale "Little Miss Sunshine," Stephen Frears for the palace saga "The Queen" and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for the ensemble drama "Babel."
Scorsese, Inarritu and Frears were the only three of the five guild nominees who also earned best-director slots for the Oscars. The other Oscar nominations went to Clint Eastwood for the World War II epic "Letters From Iwo Jima" and Paul Greengrass for the Sept. 11 docudrama "United 93."
"Dreamgirls" had been viewed as a potential best-picture favorite at the Oscars, but it missed out on a nomination, as did director Condon. With Condon out of the race, Scorsese's path to Oscar victory could prove a bit easier.
Scorsese was coy backstage when asked if it was his year to win at the Oscars.
"I don't know," Scorsese said. "It's good to have a nomination, especially for this picture."