Paul Thomas Anderson won the Directors Guild Award Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton. He didn't talk about himself. He talked about Adam Somner.
Somner was Anderson's first assistant director on "One Battle After Another." He died in 2024. Anderson spent most of his acceptance speech honoring him.
That's who Anderson is. He's never separated the work from the people who show up every day to make it happen.
What This Means for Oscar
The DGA has predicted the Best Director Oscar 69 out of 77 times. That's 90%. The last miss? 2020. Sam Mendes won the DGA for "1917," but Bong Joon Ho took the Oscar for "Parasite."
Anderson now has 35 major critics and guild prizes for "One Battle After Another." Coogler has 19 for "Sinners." Big gap.
And here's the thing that really matters: Anderson's film swept all four major critics awards. NBR. LA Film Critics. NY Film Critics. National Society. Only three films have ever done that. "Schindler's List" in 1993. "L.A. Confidential" in 1997. "The Social Network" in 2010.
Of those three, only Spielberg's won Best Picture.
The Other Winners
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg took Comedy Series for "The Studio." They dedicated it to Catherine O'Hara, who died January 30 at 71.
"We grew up in Canada and she is and was our idol since we were children," Goldberg said. "She showed you could be an utter genius and the nicest person in the world."
Kumail Nanjiani hosted. First Pakistani-born host in DGA history. He joked about runaway production ("Welcome to the DGA Awards, excuse me, Vancouver, Budapest, and sometimes Atlanta"), long runtimes, and the Epstein files.
Nolan on the Industry
DGA President Christopher Nolan addressed the room about Hollywood's employment crisis. It wasn't cheerful.
"In 2024 our employment was down about 40%, and that was followed by another decline in 2025," he said.
Contract negotiations with studios start February 9. That's today.
The Nominees
Four of five nominees came from underrepresented communities. That's only happened twice in DGA history. The first was 2017, when del Toro won for "The Shape of Water."
This year's nominees: Anderson, Coogler, Guillermo del Toro ("Frankenstein"), Josh Safdie ("Marty Supreme"), Chloé Zhao ("Hamnet").
Each got their medallion from a collaborator. DiCaprio presented to Anderson. Michael B. Jordan to Coogler. Jacob Elordi to del Toro. Timothée Chalamet to Safdie. Spielberg to Zhao.
What's Next
Final Oscar voting opens February 26. Anderson is the heavy favorite. He's got 11 career nominations and zero wins. That streak probably ends March 15.
But Saturday night wasn't about Oscar. It was about Adam Somner. It was about the hundreds of crew members whose names never make the poster. Anderson knows who actually makes movies. He said so.
The 98th Academy Awards air March 15 on ABC. Conan O'Brien hosts.
For complete DGA Awards results and ongoing Oscar predictions, check our Precursors Tracker.