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Twelve score for can’t-lose ‘Lincoln’ amid directors ‘cut’

Talk about your emancipation proclamations!

It’s now extremely difficult to imagine a scenario where Steven Spielberg’s historical drama “Lincoln’’ — which led the field with 12 Oscar nominations yesterday — doesn’t go home with Best Picture on Feb. 24.

That’s because in one of the biggest shockers of recent years, the academy’s directors branch yesterday KO’d what were widely considered the Spielberg film’s strongest competitors by denying them crucial nominations.

Only three films in 83 years have won Best Picture without a Best Director nomination, none since the 1990 film “Driving Miss Daisy.”

“Argo,’’ “Les Misérables’’ and “Zero Dark Thirty,’’ along with the more problematic “Django Unchained,” failed to receive Best Director nods — voted on strictly by the directors branch — to go with their Best Picture nominations, bestowed by the academy’s entire membership (which votes on virtually all awards on the final ballot).

It was a huge surprise because on Tuesday, all of the above films, except “Django Unchained,’’ received nods from the Directors Guild of America Awards, long considered the most accurate predictor of the Oscars.

While there’s some overlap between the two groups, the DGA voters also include directors and assistant directors who work exclusively in TV.

The directing Oscar snubs for Ben Affleck (“Argo’’) and recent winners Kathryn Bigelow (“Zero Dark Thirty’’) and Tom Hooper (“Les Misérables’’) were still close to inexplicable, especially in the first two cases.

“Zero Dark Thirty’’ has generated controversy because of its depiction of using torture to interrogate suspected terrorists, while Hooper’s use of extreme close-ups and live performances in musical numbers has polarized audiences.

Instead, the Oscar nods for Best Director went to helmers responsible for the other Best Picture nominees: Austrian Michael Haneke, for the French-language end-of-life drama “Amour,’’ the biggest surprise of the bunch; Benh Zeitlin, for the no-budget bayou fantasy “Beasts of the Southern Wild,’’ a somewhat milder surprise; Ang Lee, for the mystical adventure “Life of Pi’’; and David O. Russell, for the quirky comedy “Silver Linings Playbook.’’

It’s the latter two titles that have the slightest prayer of pulling off an upset, since they share with “Lincoln’’ nominations for Best Film Editing — and no film has won Best Picture without a nod in that category since 1980’s “Ordinary People.”

“Playbook’’ has struggled to find box-office success commensurate with its glowing reviews and popular stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Both received lead-acting nominations yesterday, along with supporting nods for Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver, as well as for “Playbook” director Russell’s adapted screenplay.

Another surprise yesterday was a Best Actor nomination for Joaquin Phoenix — who has expressed disdain for the Oscars in interviews — for his alcoholic sailor in “The Master.’’

At the same time, the actors branch snubbed John Hawkes, widely considered a shoo-in for his performance as a polio-stricken poet trying to lose his virginity in “The Sessions.’’

The prohibitive favorite for Best Actor remains Daniel Day-Lewis of “Lincoln,’’ whose only possible obstacle might be a reluctance by Oscar voters to make him the first-ever three-time winner of this coveted prize.

That’s not a problem with his director, Spielberg, who’s positioned to cop Oscar No. 3 — following in the footsteps of three-time winners Frank Capra and William Wyler. (John Ford holds the record, with four.)

The oddest category is Best Actress, where the oldest-ever nominee, Emmanuelle Riva, 85, as a dying woman in “Amour,’’ will be competing with the youngest-ever nominee, 9-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis, the wild child of “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”

The real showdown in this category, however, is between Jessica Chastain of “Zero Dark Thirty’’ and Lawrence.

The latter holds an edge, thanks to her film’s strong showing yesterday — and because Lawrence’s flamboyant performance as a randy widow fits the Oscar pattern more closely than Chastain’s more restrained work as a CIA analyst tracking down Osama bin Laden.