Paul Thomas Anderson won the Directors Guild of America’s top feature-film prize Saturday night, taking Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for One Battle After Another, a win that bolsters the movie’s standing as Oscar voting nears. The ceremony took place Feb. 7 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, hosted by Kumail Nanjiani.
The DGA’s feature-film honor credits the director and the core on-set leadership team. In the guild’s published listing, the directorial team for “One Battle After Another” includes unit production manager Will Weiske and first assistant director Adam Somner, plus multiple second and additional assistant directors. The structure sets the DGA apart from many awards bodies by putting assistant directors and production management in the official record beside the director.
Anderson used his acceptance to salute Somner, a longtime first AD who worked on the film and later died after a cancer diagnosis. “A lot of people in this room know our hero… Adam Somner… His wife Carmen… is here,” Anderson said, according to Deadline. Entertainment Weekly reported that Somner, 57, died Nov. 27 last year and that the film carries a dedication to him in its end credits.
The win came from a nominee field that also included Ryan Coogler for Sinners, Guillermo del Toro for Frankenstein, Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme and Chloé Zhao for Hamnet. DGA President Christopher Nolan, announcing the nominees in January, praised the directors’ “dedication to the art of filmmaking.”
Awards strategists treat the DGA trophy as a major predictor, since the guild’s feature winner has aligned with the Academy’s best-director winner in most years, with a small set of historical exceptions. Still, the two voting groups do not overlap perfectly, and late-season swings can reshape the race once Oscar nominations lock in.
