Paul Thomas Anderson wins first Oscar after 28-year drought

Paul Thomas Anderson Wins First Oscar for ‘One Battle After Another’

Paul Thomas Anderson won his first Academy Award on Sunday night, taking home Best Adapted Screenplay at the 98th Academy Awards for “One Battle After Another,” his black comedy action-thriller adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel “Vineland.” The win ended one of the longest droughts in modern Oscar history — Anderson had amassed 11 personal nominations across nearly three decades without a single victory.instagram

A Long Time Coming

Anderson’s losing streak stretched back to 1998, when he first earned a nomination for Best Original Screenplay for “Boogie Nights.” In the years since, he collected nominations for writing, directing, and producing films including “Magnolia,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Inherent Vice,” “Phantom Thread,” and “Licorice Pizza” — all without a win. At the 80th Academy Awards, “There Will Be Blood” earned eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Anderson, but lost all three to the Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men.”wikipedia

With “One Battle After Another,” Anderson adapted Pynchon’s sprawling postmodern novel into a propulsive thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob Ferguson, a former revolutionary on a desperate quest to rescue his kidnapped daughter from a white supremacist military officer played by Sean Penn. The film earned 13 nominations at this year’s ceremony, second only to Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” which set an all-time record with 16.kutv

Awards Season Dominance

The screenplay win was widely expected after Anderson swept every major precursor award. He won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay in January, the USC Scripter Award later that month, and the BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay in February, where “One Battle After Another” claimed six prizes including Best Film. Anderson also won the Directors Guild of America Award and the Producers Guild Award, making him the heavy favorite for Best Director and Best Picture as the ceremony continues.kalshi

In his BAFTA acceptance speech, Anderson thanked “Thomas Pynchon, who wrote a great book that we adapted” and producer Sara Murphy, “who read 500,000 drafts.” Earlier in the evening at the Oscars, the film also won the inaugural Best Casting award for casting director Cassandra Kulukundis.youtube

The Night Ahead

With Best Director and Best Picture still to be announced, Anderson is positioned to join a rare group of filmmakers who have won the Oscar trifecta of Picture, Director, and Adapted Screenplay — a feat not accomplished since “Slumdog Millionaire” in 2009. His chief competition remains Coogler’s “Sinners,” which won the SAG Ensemble Award and earned a historic nominations haul.apnews