Paul Thomas Anderson claimed the top honor at the 78th Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards, securing the award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for "One Battle After Another". The prestigious ceremony, hosted by Kumail Nanjiani, took place at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Saturday night.
This marks Anderson's first DGA win after being nominated twice before for "There Will Be Blood" in 2007 and "Licorice Pizza" in 2021. He triumphed over a competitive field of nominees, including Ryan Coogler ("Sinners"), Guillermo del Toro ("Frankenstein"), Chloé Zhao ("Hamnet"), and Josh Safdie ("Marty Supreme"). Anderson's victory at the DGA Awards further solidifies "One Battle After Another"'s position as a frontrunner in this year's awards season, especially since the DGA Award for theatrical film is a reliable predictor for the Best Director Oscar. In the DGA's 77-year history, the winner has gone on to receive the Oscar for Best Director all but eight times, and the winner's film has won Best Picture more than 75% of the time.
During his acceptance speech, Anderson paid a heartfelt tribute to his late assistant director, Adam Somner, who passed away in 2024. Anderson acknowledged Somner's dedication and lightheartedness, saying, "Obviously, we are up here, minus one. A lot of people in this room know our hero, our man, Adam Somner. He took this work so seriously and did not take himself seriously at all. And that was a great gift... He made us feel safe".
On the television side, Amanda Marsalis won the DGA Award for the Dramatic Series for "The Pitt". Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg won the Comedy Series award for "The Studio" episode. Other winners include Shannon Murphy for "Dying for Sex" (Limited & Anthology Series), Stephen Chbosky for "Nonnas" (Movies for Television), Mike Sweeney for "Conan O'Brien Must Go" (Reality/Quiz & Games), Rebecca Miller for "Mr. Scorsese" (Documentary Series/News), Matthew Gangl for Game 7 of the World Series (Sports), and Liz Patrick for the "Saturday Night Live" 50th anniversary special (Variety). Charlie Polinger won the award for Best First-Time Theatrical Feature for "The Plague".
The DGA Awards also honored David Charles with the Franklin J. Schaffner Award and Gregory McCollum with the Frank Capra Achievement Award for their service to the industry and the Guild. Several presenters graced the stage, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael B. Jordan, Steven Spielberg, and Kerry Washington.
With the Oscars just five weeks away, "One Battle After Another" is expected to continue its awards season success at the BAFTA Awards in two weeks and the Producers Guild Awards in three weeks. Anderson has already secured victories at the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes. A win at the Producers Guild Awards on February 28 would further solidify "One Battle After Another"'s chances of winning Best Picture at the Oscars.