AARP has unveiled the nominees for the annual Movies for Grownups Awards, with “Hamnet,” “A House of Dynamite,” “One Battle After Another,” “Sinners” and “Train Dreams” leading as the best picture contenders.
The best actress race includes Laura Dern (“Is This Thing On?”), Jodie Foster (“A Private Life”), Lucy Liu (“Rosemead”), Julia Roberts (“After the Hunt”) and June Squibb (“Eleanor the Great”).
The best actor category has George Clooney (“Jay Kelly”), Leonardo DiCaprio (“One Battle After Another”), Joel Edgerton (“Train Dreams”), Ethan Hawke (“Blue Moon”) and Dwayne Johnson (“The Smashing Machine”).
Best director nominees include Paul Thomas Anderson (“One Battle After Another”), Kathryn Bigelow (“A House of Dynamite”), Scott Cooper (“Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere”), Guillermo del Toro (“Frankenstein”) and Spike Lee (“Highest 2 Lowest”).
“These nominees prove that powerful storytelling transcends age,” AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan said in a statement on Wednesday. “At AARP, we believe representation matters—not just for audiences, but for the industry itself. By honoring these actors and creators, we’re shining a light on the richness, depth, and diversity of experience that deserves to be seen and celebrated.”
The award ceremony will take place on Jan. 10, 2026, at the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Alan Cumming returns to host the Movies for Grownups Awards. which will be broadcast by “Great Performances” on Feb. 22, 2026, on PBS and the PBS app.
See the full list of nominees below.
- Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups: “Hamnet,” “A House of Dynamite,” “One Battle After Another,” “Sinners,” “Train Dreams”
- Best Actress: Laura Dern (“Is This Thing On?”), Jodie Foster (“A Private Life”), Lucy Liu (“Rosemead”), Julia Roberts (“After the Hunt”) and June Squibb (“Eleanor the Great”)
- Best Actor: George Clooney (“Jay Kelly”), Leonardo DiCaprio (“One Battle After Another”), Joel Edgerton (“Train Dreams”), Ethan Hawke (“Blue Moon”), and Dwayne Johnson (“The Smashing Machine”)
- Best Supporting Actress: Regina Hall (“One Battle After Another”), Amy Madigan (“Weapons”), Helen Mirren (“Goodbye June”), Gwyneth Paltrow (“Marty Supreme”), and Sigourney Weaver (“Avatar: Fire and Ash”)
- Best Supporting Actor: Benicio Del Toro (“One Battle After Another”), Delroy Lindo (“Sinners’), Sean Penn (“One Battle After Another”), Michael Shannon (“Nuremberg”), and Stellan Skarsgård (“Sentimental Value”)
- Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson (“One Battle After Another”), Kathryn Bigelow (“A House of Dynamite”), Scott Cooper (“Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere”), Guillermo del Toro (“Frankenstein”) and Spike Lee (“Highest 2 Lowest”)
- Best Screenwriter: Paul Thomas Anderson (“One Battle After Another”), Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer (“Jay Kelly”), Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett, and Mark Chappell (“Is This Thing On?”), Julian Fellowes (“Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale”), and James Vanderbilt (“Nuremberg”)
- Best Ensemble: “A House of Dynamite,” “Jay Kelly,” “Nuremberg,” “One Battle After Another,” “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery”
- Best Intergenerational Film: “Eleanor the Great,” “The Lost Bus,” “Rental Family,” “Rosemead,” “Sentimental Value”
- Best Period Film: “Dead Man’s Wire,” “Marty Supreme,” “Nuremberg,” “Sinners,” “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere”
- Best Documentary: “Becoming Led Zeppelin,” “Cover Up,” “My Mom Jayne,” “Riefenstahl,” “Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost”
- Best Foreign-Language Film: “It Was Just an Accident,” “No Other Choice,” “Nouvelle Vague,” “The Secret Agent,” “Sentimental Value”
- Best TV Series or Limited Series: “Adolescence,” “Hacks,” “The Pitt,” “The Studio,” “The White Lotus”
- Best Actor (TV): Walton Goggins (“The White Lotus”), Stephen Graham (“Adolescence”), Gary Oldman (“Slow Horses”), Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”), Noah Wyle (“The Pitt”)
- Best Actress (TV): Kathy Bates (“Matlock”), Kathryn Hahn (“The Studio”), Catherine O’Hara (“The Studio”), Parker Posey (“The White Lotus”), Jean Smart (“Hacks”)
