After earning 14 Oscar nominations without a win, is Paul Thomas Anderson finally on the path to Oscar gold?
It would seem so. On Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, the “One Battle After Another” filmmaker won the feature-film prize from the Directors Guild of America, a top honor that has proved to be a strong Oscar predictor: 18 of the previous 20 DGA winners went on to claim the Oscar for directing.
“We are up here minus one,” said Anderson, who used his acceptance speech to praise the late assistant director Adam Somner, who worked on many of his films, and to recall “the love I had with him.”
The other DGA nominees were Ryan Coogler (“Sinners”), Guillermo del Toro (“Frankenstein”), Josh Safdie (“Marty Supreme”) and Chloé Zhao (“Hamnet”). Anderson faces the same competition at the Oscars with the exception of del Toro. Instead, Joachim Trier (“Sentimental Value”) landed in the fifth spot.
Though Anderson has been a contender in past awards races for films like “There Will Be Blood” and “Phantom Thread,” this season has been particularly kind to him. “One Battle After Another” has taken the top prize at every major ceremony so far, including the Gotham Awards, the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes, and is considered the front-runner for the best-picture Oscar.
Only one contender appears strong enough to challenge “One Battle After Another”: Coogler’s vampire drama, “Sinners,” which earned a record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations last month. If that feat has given “Sinners” renewed momentum, forthcoming awards shows from the producers and actors guilds may offer the best places to prove it.
The DGA prize for the first-time theatrical filmmaker went to Charlie Polinger for “The Plague,” while Mstyslav Chernov won the documentary-feature prize for “2000 Meters to Andriivka.”
Here are the top winners. For the complete list, including reality shows, go to dga.org.
Film
Feature
Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”
First-Time Feature
Charlie Polinger, “The Plague”
Documentary
Mstyslav Chernov, “2000 Meters to Andriivka”
Television
Drama Series
Amanda Marsalis, “The Pitt,” “6 p.m.”
Comedy Series
Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg, “The Studio,” “The Oner”
Limited and Anthology Series
Shannon Murphy, “Dying for Sex,” “It’s Not That Serious”
Movies for Television
Stephen Chbosky, “Nonnas”
Kyle Buchanan is a pop culture reporter and also serves as The Projectionist, the awards season columnist for The Times.
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