Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another continued its awards-season surge at the 78th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards, where the Warner Bros. drama claimed the top theatrical prize Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton in a ceremony hosted by Kumail Nanjiani before 1,000 guests.
The win keeps Anderson squarely in the center of the Oscar conversation, with the DGA’s best-director recipient having missed the corresponding Academy Award only eight times since the Guild first began handing out trophies in 1948.
After an intro from new DGA president Christopher Nolan, Nanjiani opened the show with a monologue that skewered the room of filmmakers with affectionate bite. “I would ask you to keep your speeches short but I’ve seen your movies so that’s not going to happen,” he deadpanned, before branding “sexy” as the year’s unofficial theme: “Jacob Elordi played a sexy monster in Frankenstein. Paul Mescal played a sexy William Shakespeare in Hamnet and Leonardo DiCaprio played a sexy Seth Rogen in One Battle after Another.”
He also noted there was no lifetime achievement award this year and reminded the audience that, until 1999, it carried the name of The Birth of a Nation director D.W. Griffith, pointedly invoking the industry’s ongoing reckoning with its racist past.
While Anderson prevailed in the marquee theatrical category over Ryan Coogler (Sinners), Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein), Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme) and Chloé Zhao (Hamnet), the first-time feature award went to Charlie Polinger for The Plague, beating out Hasan Hadi (The President’s Cake), Harry Lighton (Pillion), Alex Russell (Lurker) and Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby).
In documentary, Mstyslav Chernov was recognized for 2000 Meters to Andriivka, topping fellow nominees Geeta Gandbhir (The Perfect Neighbor), Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eini (Cutting Through Rocks), Elizabeth Lo (Mistress Dispeller), and Laura Poitras and Mark Oppenheimer for Cover-Up.
Television winners underscored the breadth of work across platforms. In dramatic series, Amanda Marsalis earned the DGA trophy for The Pitt episode “6:00 P.M.,” over fellow contenders Liza Johnson (The Diplomat, “Amagansett”), Janus Metz (Andor, “Who Are You?”), Ben Stiller (Severance, “Cold Harbor”), and John Wells (The Pitt, “7:00 A.M.”).
Comedy series honors went to Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg for The Studio episode “The Oner,” besting episodes of Hacks, The Bear and The White Lotus. They gave over their acceptance speech as a tribute to the late Catherine O’Hara, a fellow Canadian they said they had admired since they were children, and loved working with her in The Studio.
Shannon Murphy took the limited/anthology series prize for the Dying for Sex episode “It’s Not That Serious.
Stephen Chbosky won in movies for television for Nonnas, and Liz Patrick was cited in the variety category for SNL50: The Anniversary Special, with sports, reality/quiz and documentary series/news trophies going to Matthew Gangl (2025 World Series Game 7), Mike Sweeney (Conan O’Brien Must Go, “Austria”) and Rebecca Miller (Mr. Scorsese, “All This Filming Isn’t Healthy”), among other winners.
Many of the night’s honorees shouted out Steven Spielberg, who was on hand to present the DGA medallion to Chloé Zhao for Hamnet, which he executive produced; onstage, he noted that Zhao is only the third woman in history to earn two DGA nominations, a milestone that resonated in a room still grappling with issues of representation and access.
Star wattage remained high throughout the show, with Jacob Elordi presenting to Guillermo del Toro, Michael B. Jordan introducing Ryan Coogler, Timothée Chalamet saluting Josh Safdie, and Leonardo DiCaprio bringing Anderson to the stage for One Battle after Another.
