“Oppenheimer” continued to steamroll its path to Oscar glory on Sunday night, claiming the top prize at the 2024 Producers Guild of America Awards.
Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Chuck Roven and their producing team took home the Darryl F. Zanuck Award, which recognizes excellence in producing for a theatrical feature film. The prize has become perhaps the most important precursor to nabbing the Academy Award for best picture.
Thomas told the crowd that many may not know that Nolan, the film’s writer and director, excelled most in his role as producer: “He’s absolutely brilliant, we’ve worked on 12 films now.”
Nolan himself noted that he and Thomas had never won the Zanuck award, despite previous nominations. “Every time we’ve been in this room, we’ve felt so much support,” he said.
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Another unstoppable awards force which won big at this weekend’s Screen Actors Guild Awards — Hulu’s “The Bear’ — won the PGA’s Danny Thomas Award for episodic comedy series. “RuPaul’s Drag Race” won best competition series producing, and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” took the top spot in the variety category.
The ceremony also saw several career achievement awards. Sarah Michelle Gellar stepped out to present super-producer Gail Berman, who made the former a star with “Buffy the Vampire Slater,” with a trophy named for Norman Lear.
“When I say that not a single person on this earth was interested in buying that television show, I mean not a single person on earth was interested in buying that television show,” Berman told the crowd at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood. She persisted and wound up creating an iconic character that empowered young women around the world. Berman dedicated her award to the people who “lift me up when there’s barely any air left in the punching bag,” her husband and children.
“Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler turned out to honor Charles D. King, the trailblazing Black talent agency honcho turned content CEO, with the PGA Milestone Award. King, who noted he was the first African American to ever receive the award, said he “stands on the shoulders of all the incredible producers, executives, my parents and my ancestors who kicked down doors, made sacrifices and blazed a trail for me to do what I’m blessed to do.”
While thanking his wife, Macro chief branding officer Stacey Walker King, the producer shared that in early days the couple lived on the same street as the awards venue, Hollywood’s Orange Drive.
At the evening’s end, Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro gave a moving tribute to Martin Scorsese, the 2024 recipient of the David O. Selznick Achievement Award. While celebrating his defining works like “Taxi Driver” and “Goodfellas,” del Toro said Scorsese is currently living one of the more transformative moments in his professional life.
“An artist’s spirit cannot be tamed,” del Toro said. “It will remain vital, savage and even undomesticated — even in the fourth or fifth decade of a prestigious career.”
Scorsese brought the ballroom to its feet with a standing ovation. He recalled meeting a previous winner of the Selznick award, director Alfred Hitchcock, who had advice for producers in his own PGA acceptance speech.
“When you receive such an award, you want to pinch yourself to make sure it isn’t being made posthumously,” Scorsese recalled Hitchcock saying. The “Psycho” director also lectured filmmakers on “runaway productions,” or films that ran too long and over budget.
“Make producers and directors more faithful to their wives,” Hitchcock advised the crowd, per Scorsese.
Read the full list of winners from the 2024 Producers Guild Awards:
Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures
- “American Fiction” (MGM)
- “Anatomy of a Fall” (Neon)
- “Barbie” (Warner Bros.)
- “The Holdovers” (Focus Features)
- “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures)
- “Maestro” (Netflix)
- “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures) (WINNER)
- “Past Lives” (A24)
- “Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures)
- “The Zone of Interest” (A24)
Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures
- “The Boy and the Heron” (GKids)
- “Elemental” (Pixar)
- “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (Sony Pictures) (WINNER)
- “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (Illumination/Universal Pictures)
- “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” (Paramount Pictures)
Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Drama
- “The Crown” (Netflix)
- “The Diplomat” (Netflix)
- “The Last of Us” (Max)
- “The Morning Show” (Apple TV+)
- “Succession” (Max) (WINNER)
Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Comedy
- “Barry” (Max)
- “The Bear” (FX) (WINNER)
- “Jury Duty” (Amazon Freevee)
- “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu)
- “Ted Lasso” (Apple TV+)
David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Limited or Anthology Series Television
- “All the Light We Cannot See” (Netflix)
- “Beef” (Netflix) (WINNER)
- “Daisy Jones and the Six” (Prime Video)
- “Fargo” (FX)
- “Lessons in Chemistry” (Apple TV+)
Award for Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures
- “Black Mirror: Beyond the Sea” (Netflix)
- “Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie” (Peacock)
- “Quiz Lady”
- “Reality” (Max)
- “Red, White & Royal Blue” (Prime Video)
Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television
- “60 Minutes”
- “The 1619 Project” (Hulu)
- “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life”
- “Being Mary Tyler Moore” (Max)
- “Welcome to Wrexham” (FX) (WINNER)
Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures
- 20 Days in Mariupol
- American Symphony (WINNER)
- Beyond Utopia
- The Disappearance of Shere Hite
- The Mother of All Lies
- Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
- Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)
Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment, Variety, Sketch, Standup & Talk Television
- “Carol Burnett: 90 Years Of Laughter + Love” (NBC)
- “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage” (Netflix)
- “Dave Chappelle: The Dreamer” (Netflix)
- “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (Max) (WINNER)
- “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
Award for Outstanding Producer of Game & Competition Television
- “The Amazing Race” (CBS)
- “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (MTV) (WINNER)
- “Squid Game: The Challenge” (Netflix)
- “Top Chef” (Bravo)
- “The Voice” (NBC)
The Award for Outstanding Sports Program
- 100 Foot Wave
- Beckham (WINNER)
- Formula 1: Drive to Survive
- Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets
- Shaun White: The Last Run
The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program
- Goosebumps
- Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai
- Sesame Street (WINNER)
- Star Wars: The Bad Batch
- The Velveteen Rabbit
The Award for Outstanding Short-Form Program
- Carpool Karaoke: The Series
- I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
- The Last of Us: Inside the Episode
- Only Murders in the Building: One Killer Question
- Succession: Controlling the Narrative (WINNER)
