Oscars 2026: Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’ and Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘One Battle After Another’ bag Screenplay honours

Coogler’s win makes him only the second black writer to win the award, after Jordan Peele, who won in 2018 for the horror film Get Out. In the Best Original Screenplay category, Coogler was nominated alongside Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme, Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value, and Robert Kaplow for Blue Moon.

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On the other hand, Anderson won his first ever Oscar for One Battle After Another, which is loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland. He bested Chloé Zhao & Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet, Will Tracy’s Bugonia, Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar’s Train Dreams and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein to win the award.

Accepting the award, Anderson said that he is honoured “to be part of this history”, adding that he owed a “huge debt of of admiration and love” to Pynchon. He went on to thank his family and said, “I wrote this movie for my kids, to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world we’re handing off to them. But also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.”

Meanwhile, Coogler thanked the Academy and his fellow nominees in his acceptance speech. “Memories are all we have. I hope I’ll give you some great ones. And that y’all blessed to live a long life, and your dad becomes just a memory. I want y’all to remember this one thing. I love y’all, I’m wearing anything. Thank you,” he said.