‘One Battle After Another’ Scores 3rd Oscar With Best Adapted Screenplay Win

If there was one Oscar that long-overdue writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson was always going to come away with this year, it was Best Adapted Screenplay. One Battle After Another, inspired by Thomas Pynchon‘s postmodern novel Vineland, was the first screenplay since The Social Network in 2010 to sweep all the major precursor awards, including the Critics’ Choice, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and, most recently, the WGA Awards last weekend. On Sunday night, the war was finally won, as Anderson snagged his writing win for the darkly comedic political action thriller.

Although his win seemed pre-ordained, Anderson wasn’t without worthy competition. Also nominated for Adapted Screenplay were Bugonia, penned by Will Tracy,…