First Best Casting Oscar Goes to One Battle After Another

The Academy's new Best Casting award went to Cassandra Kulukundis for One Battle After Another. It was the film's first win; Paul Thomas Anderson's picture holds 13 nominations and is also up for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Kulukundis has collaborated with Anderson since starting as an intern on his first feature, Hard Eight.

She made her casting director debut on 1999's Magnolia and has cast his subsequent films, including The Master, There Will Be Blood, and Phantom Thread, as well as other titles such as Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Shattered Glass, Vox Lux, and The Brutalist.

In her speech she thanked her collaborators and acknowledged casting directors who came before her who were not recognized or credited. The ensemble she assembled features Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro, and Sean Penn—each nominated for acting Oscars—alongside Chase Infiniti, Regina Hall, and Tony Goldwyn.

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