Directors Guild nominates Anderson, Coogler, del Toro, Safdie and Zhao for its top prize

Audio By Carbonatix

Paul Thomas Anderson, Ryan Coogler, Guillermo del Toro, Chloé Zhao and Josh Safdie have been nominated for the Directors Guild’s top prize. The organization announced feature film and first-time director nominees Thursday for the 78th annual Directors Guild Awards.

The five films singled out for the top prize, “One Battle After Another,” “Sinners,” “Frankenstein,” “Hamnet” and “Marty Supreme,” exactly mirrored Wednesday's ensemble Actor Award nominees, further narrowing the field of this season’s top contenders days before the Golden Globe Awards.

Directors Guild nominees often closely align with those of the Academy Awards. Over the past two decades, the winner of the DGA award has almost always also triumphed at the Oscars, including last year when Sean Baker won for “Anora.” Oscar nominations are still a few weeks away, however, set for Jan. 22.

Both Zhao and del Toro have won the award before, for “Nomadland” and “The Shape of Water.” It’s the first time Safdie and Coogler have been nominated for the prize. Although Anderson, previously nominated for “There Will Be Blood” and “Licorice Pizza,” is seemingly the front-runner, if Coogler wins it would be a first for a Black filmmaker.

Directors nominated for first features include Eva Victor for “Sorry, Baby,”Alex Russell for “Lurker,” Charlie Pollinger for “The Plague,” Harry Lighton for “Pillion” and Hasan Hadi for “The President’s Cake.”

On Wednesday, the guild also announced documentary filmmaker nominations, including Mstyslav Chernov for “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a co-production between The Associated Press and PBS Frontline, Geeta Gandbhir for “The Perfect Neighbor,” Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni for “Cutting Through the Rocks,” Elizabeth Lo for “Mistress Dispeller” and Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus for “Cover-Up.”

DGA President Christopher Nolan congratulated the nominees on behalf of the guild community and, in a statement, said, “We could not be prouder to recognize the incredible work of this year’s nominees for their dedication to the art of filmmaking.”

The winners will be announced at an untelevised ceremony in Los Angeles on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026.