Paul Thomas Anderson has won the Oscar for best director for One Battle After Another at the 98th Academy Awards.
This marks the much-admired director’s second ever Oscar, following his win earlier in the evening for best adapted screenplay. He has been nominated three times previously for best director, for There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread and Licorice Pizza.
“There will always be some doubt in your heart that you deserve it,” said Anderson, “but there is no question at the pleasure of having it for myself.”
He added: “I’m here because of people’s faith in me – that give me their faith and their time, and that’s the best part about being on a film crew, is being with people. We need each other. This is a wonderful gift, and I’m so happy to call the movies home. This is really terrific. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love it.”
Anderson, 55, defeated a strong field of Ryan Coogler for Sinners, Chloé Zhao for Hamnet, Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme, and Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value.
A loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, One Battle After Another stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a former revolutionary with a teenage daughter, played by Chase Infiniti.
Anderson has already won a string of prizes for the film, including best director at the Baftas, the Golden Globes and the Directors Guild of America awards.
Other films include Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, The Master and Inherent Vice, which was also based on a Pynchon novel.
