Paul Thomas Anderson wins DGA Award for ‘One Battle After Another’, strengthening his Oscar front-runner status

Paul Thomas Anderson claimed the apical grant astatine the Directors Guild of America Awards connected Saturday night, winning Outstanding Directorial Achievement successful Theatrical Feature Film for One Battle After Another. The ceremonial was held astatine the Beverly Hilton Hotel and marked Anderson’s archetypal DGA triumph aft aggregate erstwhile nominations.

The triumph is simply a important milestone successful Anderson’s career, coming aft earlier DGA nods for There Will Be Blood and Licorice Pizza. Long regarded arsenic 1 of modern cinema’s astir influential filmmakers, Anderson has present secured the industry’s astir reliable predictor of the Academy Award for Best Director. Twenty of the past 23 DGA winners person gone connected to triumph the Oscar successful the aforesaid category.

Accepting the award, Anderson delivered an affectional code that reflected connected collaboration, community, and loss. He paid tribute to his longtime archetypal adjunct manager Adam Somner, who passed distant successful precocious 2024, calling their moving narration 1 of the astir meaningful of his life. Anderson besides acknowledged the Directors Guild arsenic a originative location that sustains filmmakers done some occurrence and uncertainty.

The evening underscored the DGA’s accent connected solidarity wrong the industry, with Guild president Christopher Nolan addressing concerns astir employment declines portion reaffirming the value of directors arsenic innovators and storytellers. Several high-profile filmmakers nominated alongside Anderson besides took the stage.

With One Battle After Another present firmly positioned arsenic a large awards contender, Anderson’s DGA triumph places him astatine the forefront of the awards play conversation, mounting up what could beryllium his archetypal Academy Award for directing aft years of captious acclaim.

Here is simply a afloat database of large winners from the Director’s Guild of America Awards 2026:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement successful Theatrical Feature Film

Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another

Ryan Coogler – Sinners

Guillermo del Toro – Frankenstein

Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme

Chloé Zhao – Hamnet

Michael Apted Award for First-Time Theatrical Feature

Winner: Charlie Polinger – The Plague

Hasan Hadi – The President’s Cake

Harry Lighton – Pillion

Alex Russell – Lurker

Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby

Outstanding Directorial Achievement successful Documentary

Winner: Mstyslav Chernov – 2000 Meters to Andriivka

Geeta Gandbhir – The Perfect Neighbor

Sara Khaki & Mohammadreza Eyni – Cutting Through Rocks

Elizabeth Lo – Mistress Dispeller

Laura Poitras & Mark Obenhaus – Cover-Up

Outstanding Directorial Achievement successful Dramatic Series

Winner: Ben Stiller – Severance (“Cold Harbor”)

Amanda Marsalis – The Pitt (“6:00 P.M.”)

Liza Johnson – The Diplomat (“Amagansett”)

Janus Metz – Andor (“Who Are You?”)

John Wells – The Pitt (“7:00 A.M.”)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement successful Comedy Series

Winner: Christopher Storer – The Bear (“Bears”)

Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg – The Studio (“The Oner”)

Lucia Aniello – Hacks (“A Slippery Slope”)

Janicza Bravo – The Bear (“Worms”)

Mike White – The White Lotus (“Denials”)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement successful Limited oregon Anthology Series

Winner: Lesli Linka Glatter – Zero Day (“Episode 6”)

Shannon Murphy – Dying for Sex (“It’s Not That Serious”)

Jason Bateman – Black Rabbit (“The Black Rabbits”)

Antonio Campos – The Beast successful Me (“Sick Puppy”)

Ally Pankiw – Black Mirror (“Common People”)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement successful Movies for Television

Winner: Kyle Newacheck – Happy Gilmore 2

Stephen Chbosky – Nonnas

Jesse Armstrong – Mountainhead

Scott Derrickson – The Gorge

Michael Morris – Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy