Paul Thomas Anderson won the top film prize on Saturday at the 78th DGA Awards for Warner Bros’ One Battle After Another, another victory on the awards circuit this season.
Anderson was one of four Oscar-nominated directors in tonight’s marquee Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film race, which also included Sinners’ Ryan Coogler, Marty Supreme’s Josh Safdie and Hamnet’s Chloé Zhao. The other DGA nominee was Frankenstein’s Guillermo del Toro, who lost out on the Oscar list to Sentimental Value’s Joachim Trier.
The DGA winner in the category has matched the Oscars Directing trophy in each of the last five years. Last year, the big DGA win went to Anora’s Sean Baker, who went on to win Directing the Oscars along with that pic scoring Best Picture. Two years ago Christopher Nolan won at the DGAs ahead of picking up Best Director and Best Picture Oscars for Oppenheimer. (Now Nolan is the president of the DGA, which begins labor contract negotiations with studios rep the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Monday.)
On the TV side tonight, Amanda Marsalis won the Dramatic Series prize for HBO Max’s The Pitt, after being nominated for the Emmy in the category. The series ending up winning five Emmys in total last fall including Best Drama Series. On the Comedy Series side, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg repeated their Emmy Directing win (one of 13 total Emmy wins also including Best Drama Series) tonight by taking the category for The Studio.
Shannon Murphy, meanwhile, won Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Limited Series & Anthology for FX on Hulu’s Dying for Sex, while Liz Patrick of NBC’s SNL50: The Anniversary Special took the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety prize.
In the Michael Apted First-Time Theatrical Feature Film category, Charlie Polinger won for the dramatic thriller The Plague tonight, topping a nominees list that included Ava Victor (Sorry, Baby), Hasan Hadi (The President’s Cake), Harry Lighton (Pillion) and Alex Russell (Lurker). The Documentary feature prize went to Mstyslav Chernov for 2000 Meters to Andriivka.
Tonight’s ceremony emceed by Kumail Nanjiani were the Directors Guild of America’s honorary awards, which this year include associate director/stage manager David Charles receiving the Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award, which recognizes extraordinary service to the industry and the guild, and Commercials 1st AD Gregory G. McCollum receiving the Frank Capra Achievement Award, given in recognition of notable career achievements and for outstanding service to the DGA.
Below is the complete winners list.
Film
Theatrical Feature Film
Paul Thomas Anderson
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Will Weiske
- First Assistant Director: Adam Somner
- Second Assistant Director: Trevor Tavares, Ian Stone
- Second Second Assistant Director: Dominic Pacitti, Rafael Sanz-Jimenez
- Additional Second Assistant Director: Nuekellar Hardy, Chunning Chang, Kit Conners, Kasia Trojak, Tyler Young
Michael Apted First-Time Theatrical Feature Film
Charlie Polinger
The Plague (IFC Films)
Documentary Film
Mstyslav Chernov
2000 Meters to Andriivka (PBS)
Television
Drama Series
Amanda Marsalis
The Pitt, “6:00 P.M.” (HBO Max)
- Unit Production Manager: Michelle Lankwarden
- First Assistant Director: Eric Tignini
- Second Assistant Director: Kevin Zelman
- Second Second Assistant Director: Nicole Jones, Rebecca Rogers, Chloe Huckins
- Additional Second Assistant Director: Michelle Akeley
Comedy Series
Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
The Studio, “The Oner” (Apple TV+)
Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Shawn Dyrdahl
- First Assistant Director: Donald Murphy
- Second Assistant Director: Peter Dress
Limited & Anthology Series
Shannon Murphy
Dying for Sex, “It’s Not That Serious” (FX on Hulu)
- Unit Production Manager: Francesca M. Mannix
- First Assistant Director: Julie A. Bloom
- Second Assistant Director: Findlay Ward Zotter
- Second Second Assistant Director: Kristin Dombroski, Laura E. Rizer
Movies for Television
Stephen Chbosky
Nonnas (Netflix)
- Unit Production Manager: Pamela Hirsch, Kara Doherty
- First Assistant Director: Chris Surgent
- Second Assistant Director: Takahide Kawakami
- Second Second Assistant Director: Cary Lee
- Location Manager: Tatiana Forster
Variety
Liz Patrick
SNL50: The Anniversary Special (NBC)
- Associate Director: Michael Mancini, Michael Poole, Laura Ouziel Mack, Janine DeVito, Amy Mancini, Dan Dome
- Stage Manager: Gena Rositano, Chris Kelly, Eddie Valk, Peter Epstein, Karen Tasch Weiss, Steve Bautista, Joey Despenzero, Frank Fernandez, Doug Fogel, Jeffry Gitter, Cyndi Owgang, Elise Reaves, Niclana Tolmasoff, Leslie Williams
Documentary Series/News
Rebecca Miller
Mr. Scorsese, “All This Filming Isn’t Healthy” (Apple TV)
Reality, Quiz & Games
Mike Sweeney
Conan O’Brien Must Go, “Austria” (HBO Max)
- Associate Director: Jason Chillemi
Sports
Matthew Gangl
2025 World Series – Game 7 – Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Toronto Blue Jays (Fox Sports)
- Associate Director: Larry Lancaster, Aaron Stojkov, Bryan Colucci
- Stage Manager: Dominick Tringali, Dan Frank
Commercial
Kim Gehrig (Somesuch)
You Can’t Win. So Win. – Nike | Wieden+Kennedy
- First Assistant Director: Peter Jackson, John Mattern
- Second Assistant Director: Melina Greene
- Second Second Assistant Director: Chelsea Meador
I’m Not Remarkable – Apple | Client Direct
- First Assistant Director: Guy Forgaard
- Second Assistant Director: Amanda Johnson
- Second Second Assistant Director: Michael Dudley, Clyde Broom
