Paul Thomas Anderson Wins Directors Guild Award

Paul Thomas Anderson won the Directors Guild of America’s feature-film prize on Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills for One Battle After Another, beating Ryan Coogler, Guillermo del Toro, Josh Safdie and Chloé Zhao. He used his acceptance speech to praise the late assistant director Adam Somner, saying, "We are up here minus one," and recalling "the love I had with him." The DGA prize has been a strong predictor of the Oscars: 18 of the previous 20 DGA winners went on to claim the Oscar for directing.

One Battle After Another has taken top prizes at the Gotham Awards, the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes and is considered the front-runner for best picture; only Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, which earned a record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations, appears poised to challenge it.

Forthcoming awards shows from the producers and actors guilds may offer the best places for that film to prove its momentum.

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