98th Oscars: ‘One Battle After Another’ Wins Best Picture, Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another has won Best Picture at the 98th Academy Awards, with Anderson also collecting hardware for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film earned a total of six wins, with Film Editing and Sean Penn taking Best Supporting Actor.
One Battle After Another had dominated, the season, winning PGA, DGA, BAFTA, Critics Choice and the Golden Globes, as well as dozens of guild and critics wins.
Sinners, which broke the all time record for most Oscar nominations for a single film with 16, took home four awards, including Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan. Jordan became just the sixth Black actor ever to win the Best Actor Oscar and the first person ever in this category to do with just a SAG Award.
Autumn Durald Arkapaw had already made Oscar history as the first woman of color to be nominated for Best Cinematography for her work on Sinners and now is the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography in the 98 years of the Academy
Amy Madigan (Weapons) won Supporting Actress and came into the night with Critics Choice and SAG (but also as her film’s only nomination). At 40 years, Madigan now holds the record for longest gap between a first Oscar nominations and win for an actress, beating Helen Hayes’ record of 39 years.
The inaugural year of the Best Casting Oscar went to Cassandra Kulukundis for One Battle After Another. The category was introduced by five stars of the nominated films: Paul Mescal (Hamnet), Gwyneth Paltrow (Marty Supreme), Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another), Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent) and Delroy Lindo (Sinners).
For the first time in 13 years and only the third time ever, there was a tie. Live Action Short Film saw two winners with both The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva taking home the award.
Every Avatar film has won the Visual Effects Oscar and Avatar: Fire and Ash is the first non-Best Picture nominee to beat a Best Picture nominee in the category since 2015’s Ex Machina.
This year, Oscars produced chose to expand the In Memoriam section with tributes to Rob Reiner, Diane Keaton and Robert Redford during the segment from Reiner’s cast, Rachel McAdams and Barbra Streisand, who performed a verse of “The Way We Were” live on stage.
McAdams, who starred with Keaton in The Family Stone, spoke on the Oscar winner along with a handful of other female stars that passed this year, including Diane Ladd and Catherine O’Hara.
“For over 50 years, luminous on screen and indelible in life, believe me when I say there isn’t an actress of my generation who is not inspired by and enthralled with her absolute singularity,” said McAdams. “She wore so many hats, literally and figuratively, actress, artist, author, activist, but no hat more important to her than being a mother to her two children. She meant so much to so many of us. I remember she used to sing this old Girl Scout song she used to sing on set, which is just so her: ‘Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, and the other is gold. A circle is round, it has no end. That’s how long I’ll be your friend.’ And so to our friend, Diane Keaton, celebrating a life in silver and gold, a legend with no end.”
Speaking on her co-star and fellow Oscar winner Robert Redford talked about his first reading of the script for The Way We Were.
“After I read the first script of The Way We Were, I could only imagine one man in the role and that was Robert Redford,” Streisand said. “But he turned it down because he said the character had no backbone. He doesn’t stand for anything, and he was right. So many drafts later, Bob finally agreed to do it. He was a brilliant, subtle actor, and we had a wonderful time playing off each other because we never quite knew what the other one was going to do in a scene. And I’m thrilled that The Way We Were is now considered a classic love story, but it’s also about a dark time in our history, the late ’40s and early ’50s, when people were informing on each other and subject to loyalty oaths,” referring to director Elia Kazan during the HUAC trials.
“Now, Bob had real backbone on and off the screen. He spoke up to defend freedom of the press, protect the environment and encouraged new voices at his Sundance Institute, some of whom are up for Oscars tonight, which is so great. He was thoughtful and bold. I called him an intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail, and won the Academy Award for best director, and I miss him now more than ever, even though he loved teasing me. He’d call me Babs, and I’d say, ‘Bob, you know, do I look like a Babs? I’m not a Babs, you know.’ But the way he said it made me laugh.”
Then, in one of the night’s biggest surprises, Streisand sang 40 seconds of “The Way We Were,” despite her notorious stage fright.
Here is the complete list of winners of the 98th Academy Awards.
Best Picture
Bugonia (Focus Features); Ed Guiney & Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone and Lars Knudsen, Producers
F1 (Apple Original Films); Chad Oman, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers
Frankenstein (Netflix); Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Scott Stuber, Producers
Hamnet (Focus Features); Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes, Producers
Marty Supreme (A24); Eli Bush, Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie, Anthony Katagas and Timothée Chalamet, Producers
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.); Adam Somner, Sara Murphy and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers – WINNER
The Secret Agent (NEON); Emilie Lesclaux, Producer
Sentimental Value (NEON); Maria Ekerhovd and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Producers
Sinners (Warner Bros.); Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian and Ryan Coogler, Producers
Train Dreams (Netflix); Marissa McMahon, Teddy Schwarzman, Will Janowitz, Ashley Schlaifer and Michael Heimler, Producers
Best Director
Hamnet (Focus Features), Chloé Zhao
Marty Supreme (A24), Josh Safdie
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.), Paul Thomas Anderson – WINNER
Sentimental Value (NEON), Joachim Trier
Sinners (Warner Bros.), Ryan Coogler
Best Actor
Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme (A24)
Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics)
Michael B. Jordan in Sinners (Warner Bros.) – WINNER
Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent (NEON)
Best Actress
Jessie Buckley in Hamnet (Focus Features) – WINNER
Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (A24)
Kate Hudson in Song Sung Blue (Focus Features)
Renate Reinsve in Sentimental Value (NEON)
Emma Stone in Bugonia (Focus Features)
Best Supporting Actor
Benicio Del Toro in One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein (Netflix)
Delroy Lindo in Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Sean Penn in One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.) – WINNER
Stellan Skarsgård in Sentimental Value (NEON)
Best Supporting Actress
Elle Fanning in Sentimental Value (NEON)
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in Sentimental Value (NEON)
Amy Madigan in Weapons (Warner Bros.) – WINNER
Wunmi Mosaku in Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Teyana Taylor in One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Bugonia (Focus Features); Screenplay by Will Tracy
Frankenstein (Netflix); Written for the Screen by Guillermo del Toro
Hamnet (Focus Features); Screenplay by Chloé Zhao & Maggie O’Farrell
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.); Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Train Dreams (Netflix); Screenplay by Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar
Best Original Screenplay
Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics); Written by Robert Kaplow
It Was Just an Accident (NEON); Written by Jafar Panahi; Script collaborators Nader Saïvar, Shadmehr Rastin, Mehdi Mahmoudian
Marty Supreme (A24); Written by Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie
Sentimental Value (NEON); Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
Sinners (Warner Bros.); Written by Ryan Coogler – WINNER
Best Animated Feature
Arco (NEON); Ugo Bienvenu, Félix de Givry, Sophie Mas and Natalie Portman
Elio (Walt Disney/Pixar); Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina and Mary Alice Drumm
KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix); Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans and Michelle L.M. Wong – WINNER
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (GKIDS); Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han, Nidia Santiago and Henri Magalon
Zootopia 2 (Walt Disney); Jared Bush, Byron Howard and Yvett Merino
Best International Feature
Brazil, The Secret Agent (NEON)
France, It Was Just an Accident (NEON)
Norway, Sentimental Value (NEON) – WINNER
Spain, Sirât (NEON)
Tunisia, The Voice of Hind Rajab (WILLA)
Best Documentary Feature
The Alabama Solution (HBO Documentary Films); Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman
Come See Me in the Good Light (Apple Original Films); Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro and Stef Willen
Cutting Through Rocks; Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni
Mr. Nobody Against Putin (PINK); David Borenstein, Pavel Talankin, Helle Faber and Alžběta Karásková – WINNER
The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix); Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Nikon Kwantu and Sam Bisbee
Best Animated Short
Butterfly (Sacrebleu Productions); Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens
Forevergreen; Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears
The Girl Who Cried Pearls (National Film Board of Canada); Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski – WINNER
Retirement Plan; John Kelly and Andrew Freedman
The Three Sisters (Polydont Films/Rymanco Ventures); Konstantin Bronzit
Best Casting
Hamnet (Focus Features); Nina Gold
Marty Supreme (A24); Jennifer Venditti
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.); Cassandra Kulukundis – WINNER
The Secret Agent (NEON); Gabriel Domingues
Sinners (Warner Bros.); Francine Maisler
Best Cinematography
Frankenstein (Netflix), Dan Laustsen
Marty Supreme (A24), Darius Khondji
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.), Michael Bauman
Sinners (Warner Bros.), Autumn Durald Arkapaw – WINNERS
Train Dreams (Netflix), Adolpho Veloso
Best Costume Design
Avatar: Fire and Ash (Walt Disney); Deborah L. Scott
Frankenstein (Netflix); Kate Hawley – WINNER
Hamnet (Focus Features); Malgosia Turzanska
Marty Supreme (A24); Miyako Bellizzi
Sinners (Warner Bros.); Ruth E. Carter
Best Documentary Short
All the Empty Rooms (Netflix); Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones – WINNERS
Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (HBO); Craig Renaud and Juan Arredondo
Children No More: “Were and Are Gone” (Sky); Hilla Medalia and Sheila Nevins
The Devil Is Busy (HBO); Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir
Perfectly a Strangeness (Second Sight Pictures); Alison McAlpine
Best Film Editing
F1 (Apple Original Films); Stephen Mirrione
Marty Supreme (A24); Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.); Andy Jurgensen – WINNER
Sentimental Value (NEON); Olivier Bugge Coutté
Sinners (Warner Bros.); Michael P. Shawver
Best Live-Action Short (TIE)
Butcher’s Stain (Tel Aviv University Steve Tisch School of Film and Television); Meyer Levinson-Blount and Oron Caspi
A Friend of Dorothy; Lee Knight and James Dean
Jane Austen’s Period Drama; Julia Aks and Steve Pinder
The Singers (Netflix); Sam A. Davis and Jack Piatt – WINNER
Two People Exchanging Saliva (Canal+/The New Yorker); Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata – WINNER
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Frankenstein (Netflix); Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey – WINNER
Kokuho (GKIDS); Kyoko Toyokawa, Naomi Hibino and Tadashi Nishimatsu
Sinners (Warner Bros.); Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine and Shunika Terry
The Smashing Machine (A24); Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin and Bjoern Rehbein
The Ugly Stepsister (Independent Film Company/Shudder); Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg
Best Original Score
Bugonia (Focus Features); Jerskin Fendrix
Frankenstein (Netflix); Alexandre Desplat
Hamnet (Focus Features); Max Richter
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.); Jonny Greenwood
Sinners (Warner Bros.); Ludwig Göransson – WINNER
Best Original Song
“Dear Me” from Diane Warren: Relentless (MasterClass/Greenwich Entertainment); Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix); Music and Lyric by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon and Teddy Park – WINNER
“I Lied to You” from Sinners (Warner Bros.); Music and Lyric by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Goransson
“Sweet Dreams of Joy” from Viva Verdi! (Viva Verdi!); Music and Lyric by Nicholas Pike
“Train Dreams” from Train Dreams (Netflix); Music by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner, Lyric by Nick Cave
Best Production Design
Frankenstein (Netflix); Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau – WINNER
Hamnet (Focus Features); Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton
Marty Supreme (A24); Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.); Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino
Sinners (Warner Bros.); Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Monique Champagne
Best Sound
F1 (Apple Original Films) Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo and Juan Peralta – WINNER
Frankenstein (Netflix) Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke and Brad Zoern
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.); José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio and Tony Villaflor
Sinners (Warner Bros.); Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor and Steve Boeddeker
Sirāt (NEON); Amanda Vil
Best Visual Effects
Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th Century/Walt Disney); Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett – WINNER
F1 (Apple Original Films); Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington and Keith Dawson
Jurassic World Rebirth (Universal Pictures); David Vickery, Stephen Aplin, Charmaine Chan and Neil Corbould
The Lost Bus (Apple Original Films); Charlie Noble, David Zaretti, Russell Bowen and Brandon K. McLaughlin
Sinners (Warner Bros.) Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter and Donnie Dean
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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