Los Angeles, February 8, 2026 — Paul Thomas Anderson is now the clear frontrunner for the Best Director Oscar, following a decisive win Saturday night. It’s a thrilling development as awards season heats up, and a potential turning point for the acclaimed filmmaker.
Anderson Secures DGA Win, Bolstering Oscar Hopes
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Paul Thomas Anderson took home the Directors Guild of America’s (DGA) top prize for directing “One Battle After Another,” significantly increasing his chances of winning the Academy Award.
- Anderson’s DGA win for “One Battle After Another” marks his first-ever victory with the guild.
- The DGA Award is a highly reliable predictor of the Best Director Oscar, boasting a 21-of-25 success rate.
- This year’s DGA and Academy nominations didn’t fully align, with some differences in the directors recognized.
Anderson secured the Best Film Director award at the 78th Annual DGA Awards, a powerful endorsement that provides substantial momentum as final Oscar voting approaches. This victory is particularly noteworthy as it represents Anderson’s first-ever DGA Award. Historically, the DGA’s feature film award has proven to be the Academy’s most dependable indicator, with the guild’s winner going on to claim the Best Director Oscar 21 times out of the last 25 years. That streak includes a perfect five-for-five run in recent years, recognizing Chloé Zhao (Nomadland), Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer), and Sean Baker (Anora).
DGA and Academy Alignments Differ
This awards season, the DGA and Academy director nominations weren’t perfectly aligned. Guillermo del Toro received a DGA nomination for Frankenstein, while the Academy recognized Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value. Chloé Zhao, a previous DGA winner, returned with Hamnet, Ryan Coogler was nominated for Sinners, and Josh Safdie earned his first DGA nomination for Marty Supreme. Ultimately, Anderson emerged as the consensus choice.
Beyond the feature film category, Charlie Polinger won the DGA Award for Best First-Time Feature Film Director for The Plague. In television, Amanda Marsalis was honored with Best Drama Series Directing for The Pitt (“6:00 P.M.”), and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg took Best Comedy Series Directing for The Studio (“The Oner”).
2026 DGA Award Winners
Film Director
— Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein
Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Chloé Zhao, Hamnet
Film First-Time Directing
Hasan Hadi, The President’s Cake
Harry Lighton, Pillion
— Charlie Polinger, The Plague
Alex Russell, Lurker
Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby
Film Documentary Director
— Mstyslav Chernov, 2000 Meters to Andriivka
Geeta Gandbhir, The Perfect Neighbor
Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni, Cutting Through Rocks
Elizabeth Lo, Mistress Dispeller
Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, Cover-Up
TV Drama Directing
Liza Johnson — The Diplomat, “Amagansett”
— Amanda Marsalis — The Pitt, “6:00 P.M.”
Janus Metz — Andor, “Who Are You?”
Ben Stiller — Severance, “Cold Harbor”
John Wells — The Pitt, “7:00 A.M.”
TV Comedy Directing
Lucia Aniello — Hacks, “A Slippery Slope”
Janicza Bravo — The Bear, “Worms”
— Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg — The Studio, “The Oner”
Christopher Storer — The Bear, “Bears”
Mike White — The White Lotus, “Denials”
TV Limited Series Directing
Jason Bateman — Black Rabbit, “The Black Rabbits”
Antonio Campos — The Beast in Me, “Sick Puppy”
Lesli Linka Glatter — Zero Day, “Episode 6”
— Shannon Murphy — Dying for Sex, “It’s Not That Serious”
Ally Pankiw — Black Mirror, “Common People”
TV Movie Directing
Jesse Armstrong, Mountainhead
— Stephen Chbosky, Nonnas
Scott Derrickson, The Gorge
Michael Morris, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Kyle Newacheck, Happy Gilmore 2
TV Documentary Series/News Directing
Marshall Curry — SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, “Written By: A Week Inside the SNL Writers Room”
Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin — Billy Joel: And So It Goes, “Part Two”
— Rebecca Miller — Mr. Scorsese, “All This Filming Isn’t Healthy”
Alexandria Stapleton — Sean Combs: The Reckoning, “Official Girl”
Matt Wolf — Pee-Wee as Himself, “Part 1”
TV Variety Directing
Yvonne DeMare — The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, “Julia Roberts; Sam Smith”
Andy Fisher — Jimmy Kimmel Live!, “Stephen Colbert; Kumail Nanjiani; Reneé Rapp”
Beth McCarthy-Miller — SNL50: The Homecoming Concert
— Liz Patrick — SNL50: The Anniversary Special
Paul Pennolino — Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, “Public Media”
TV Reality/Quiz and Game Directing
Lucinda M. Margolis — Jeopardy!, “Ep. 9341”
Adam Sandler — The Price Is Right, “10,000th Episode”
— Mike Sweeney — Conan O’Brien Must Go, “Austria”
TV Sports Directing
— Matthew Gangl — 2025 World Series — Game 7 — Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Steve Milton — 2025 Masters Tournament — Augusta National Golf Club
Rich Russo — Super Bowl LIX — Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Commercial Directing
[WINNER] — Kim Gehrig
You Can’t Win. So Win. — Nike | Wieden+Kennedy
I’m Not Remarkable — Apple | Client Direct
