RICHARD LINKLATER’S 12 years of toiling on coming-of-age tale “Boyhood” reaped a coveted nomination Tuesday for the top Directors Guild Award, which has correctly predicted the best director Oscar for 10 of the last 11 years.

    Two-time DGA winner Clint Eastwood, 84, earned his fourth nomination for outstanding directorial achievement for his Iraq war film “American Sniper,” while Alejandro G. Inarritu was nominated for “Birdman,” his second nod from the Directors Guild of America for a feature film.

    Rounding out the list of five were first-time DGA nominees Morten Tyldum for “The Imitation Game” and Wes Anderson for “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

    “Boyhood,” which follows a boy and his family and used the same actors over a dozen years, won the 54-year-old Linklater his first Golden Globe for best director Sunday. The film also won the coveted best drama Golden Globe, making it a frontrunner for the Oscar best picture.

    Inarritu, 51, was also considered a strong contender for director awards for his first comedy, a surreal satire of show business that appears to be filmed in one long take in the cramped confines of a Broadway theater.

    The DGA award will be handed out Feb. 7, before Oscar voting concludes Feb. 17.