Coens on the road to the Oscars

Martin Scorsese (centre) with Ethan (left) and Joel Coen. Photo / Reuters

Joel and Ethan Coen have won the top prize from the Directors Guild of America for No Country for Old Men, giving them the inside track for the same honour at the Academy Awards.

The Coens were only the second two-person team to win the Directors Guild honour, following Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for 1961's West Side Story. As with Martin Scorsese, who as last year's winner for The Departed presented the award to the Coens, the Directors Guild winner almost always goes on to win the same prize at the Oscars.