'Gravity,' '12 Years a Slave' share Hollywood producers' top prize

'AMAZING YEAR IN CINEMA'

Matthew McConaughey wins at SAG Awards

Spotlights at Screen Actors Guild Awards 2014

Gravity, Hustle top nods

The film from Fox Searchlight Pictures is based on the true-life story of Solomon Northup, a free man tricked and sold into slavery in Louisiana plantations who witnesses and is subjected to horrific treatment. He is played by British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor.

"Gravity," from Mexican director and producer Alfonso Cuaron, is based on a script he wrote with his son Jonas Cuaron inspired by their own setbacks as filmmakers. It is about an astronaut played by Sandra Bullock who is stranded in space after a space station is destroyed and her fight to return to Earth and a life marked by deep loss.

Cuaron said that it took more than four years for him and co-producer David Heyman to make "Gravity" and that the director (himself) "was difficult, stubborn and uncompromising".

Cuaron tested the patience and budget of Warner Bros. with his technical innovation to portray the weightlessness and the vastness of space.

Cuaron also touched on one of the big themes of the year, the extraordinarily high number of quality films that have made this awards season a celebration of a thriving industry.

"This has been an amazing year in cinema and I am talking about these amazing films that were nominated and many other films that were not nominated," Cuaron said.

The next big test for these films comes at next Saturday's Directors Guild Awards. Cuaron, McQueen and Russell are all nominated for the top DGA award and for the Oscar for best director.

But the longer time lag this year between Oscar nominations, voting and the ceremony could spell some unpredictable voting among Academy members, adding more uncertainty to the highly competitive race.