Paul Thomas Anderson’s acclaimed comedy thriller One Battle After Another has emerged as the frontrunner for Best Picture as awards season begins.
The Thomas Pynchon adaptation, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as an ex-revolutionary searching for his daughter, was named best feature at Monday’s Gotham Awards. “Actually, I wasn’t expecting it,” Anderson said on stage. “I started thinking I didn’t know what was going on.”
The writer-director has been nominated for 11 Oscars for films including Phantom Thread and Liquorice Pizza, but has yet to win.
Gothams, which was created to celebrate independent film, recently removed its $35m budget limit, allowing studio films like Barbie, Challengers and Poor Things to compete.
One Battle After Another, released by Warner Bros., has an estimated budget of at least $130m. It has grossed $202 million at the worldwide box office.
Other winners at last night’s ceremony included My Father’s Shadow’s Ọpẹ́ Dírísù for Outstanding Lead Performance and Sinners’ Wunmi Mosaku for Outstanding Supporting Performance. Ryan Coogler’s blockbusting vampire epic is also expected to be a major contender in this year’s Oscar race.
After this, One Battle After Another was given the Best Film Award by the New York Film Critics Circle on Tuesday. Benicio del Toro was also awarded Best Supporting Actor for his role.
Other winners included If I Had Legs I’d Kick You for Best Actress, The Secret Agent’s Wagner Moura for Best Actor, and Weapons’ Amy Madigan for Best Supporting Actress.
Both organizations also honored Jafar Panahi with the directing award for his critically acclaimed thriller It Was Just an Accident. His award comes the same week he was sentenced in his absence to a year in prison by Iran for “propaganda activities.” His film was also awarded the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Panahi said in Gothams, “I hope this dedication will be considered a small tribute to all those filmmakers who are deprived of the right to be seen and shown, but continue to create and exist.”
The Golden Globe nominations will be announced next week before the ceremony on January 11. Oscar nominations will be announced on January 22.
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