Paul Thomas Anderson won the marquee feature prize at the 78th Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards on Saturday night (2/7) for One Battle After Another. This makes Anderson the frontrunner to win the Best Director Oscar. Only eight times over the past 77 years has the DGA Award winner not gone on to win the Academy Award. That happened most recently in 2020 when Sam Mendes won the DGA Award for 1917 while Bong Joon-ho scored the Oscar for Parasite. Anderson topped a field of DGA nominees which also included Ryan Coogler for Sinners, Guillermo del Toro for Frankenstein, Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme, and Chloé Zhao for Hamnet. In his acceptance speech, Anderson paid tribute to his first assistant director Adam Somner, who died in 2024. Anderson described Somner as someone who took his work “so seriously” but “did not take himself seriously at all”--that was part of his beauty. Anderson affirmed that Somner was “a great AD” who “made us feel safe,” mitigating the hazards that often accompany ambitious production. Anderson wished other directors in the audience a colleague like Somner. And if they already have one, Anderson advised them to hold that AD close in love and appreciation. The other DGA theatrical motion picture award--named after the late filmmaker Michael Apted in recognition of outstanding achievement by a first-time feature director--went to Charlie Polinger for The Plague. On the TV side, winners included Amanda Marsalis who topped the dramatic series category for the “6:00 P.M.” episode of The Pitt; Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg who took comedy series honors for “The Oner” episode of The Studio; Shannon Murphy for the... Read More