Acclaimed filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson finally claims best director Oscar for his quirky hit ‘One Battle After Another’, capping a career of critical acclaim and boundary-pushing cinema
HOLLYWOOD: Director Paul Thomas Anderson received the ultimate insider’s accolade on Sunday, winning the Oscar for best director for his acclaimed film “One Battle After Another”.
The award caps an eclectic career where the Los Angeles native has often been a critical darling on the outside looking in, despite a raft of previous Academy Award nominations.
Anderson also took home the Oscar for best adapted screenplay and shared the award for best picture as a producer of the quirky tale about a pot-addled revolutionary.
“I’m so happy to call the movies home,” Anderson told the audience at the ceremony.
The 55-year-old filmmaker bested a field including Chloe Zhao for “Hamnet” and Ryan Coogler for “Sinners” to claim his first directing Oscar.
He had already won a BAFTA, a Critics Choice Award, a Golden Globe and a Directors Guild Award in the run-up to the Academy Awards.
The film features an all-star cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Teyana Taylor.
Anderson’s breakthrough came with 1997’s “Boogie Nights”, often described as the best big-screen depiction of the porn industry.
It earned him his first Oscar nomination for best original screenplay and burnished the reputations of young actors like Mark Wahlberg and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
He followed it with the 1999 drama “Magnolia”, which earned him another screenplay nod and famously featured a scene where it rains frogs.
The quirky 2002 rom-com “Punch-Drunk Love” starring Adam Sandler was a critical hit but flopped at the box office.
This made funding difficult for his next film, the critically adored “There Will Be Blood”.
That film ended up with eight Oscar nominations and two statuettes, including best actor for Daniel Day-Lewis.
Anderson has built a loyal company of actors who frequently return to work with him.
He teamed again with Hoffman for 1950s-set “The Master”, which centered on a Scientology-inspired cult called “The Cause”.
Joaquin Phoenix worked with Anderson on “Inherent Vice”, earning the director an adapted screenplay nomination.
Day-Lewis returned for 2017’s “Phantom Thread”, winning his third best actor Oscar for the fashion drama.
Anderson tapped into a different talent pool for his nostalgic 2021 film “Licorice Pizza”.
He earned his third directing nomination for that film but came away empty-handed from the 2022 ceremony.
Born in Los Angeles in 1970, Anderson studied at New York University before dropping out after a single semester.
He had already developed a strong interest in film, having made a 30-minute mockumentary about a male porn star during high school.
Away from the screen, Anderson’s partner is actress and comedian Maya Rudolph, with whom he has four children.
The Sun Malaysia
