Anonymous Ballot: Director Favors ‘Sinners’ and Ryan Coogler as the Filmmaker of the Future

With final Oscar balloting closed on March 5, we’re running our ninth annual series of anonymous interviews with Academy voters from different branches for their unfiltered takes on what got picked, overlooked, and overvalued in the 2026 award season. Voters’ picks are in bold. Interview edited for brevity.

This director saw over 300 movies last year, turned off “Avatar: Fire & Ash” midway through, and skipped, like many Oscar voters, Animated Feature, Song, and shorts. These categories are voted on by a small number of members.

Best Director: Ryan Coogler, “Sinners.”

For me, it’s down to three: “One Battle After Another,” “Sentimental Value,” and “Sinners.”

I drove all the way to Burbank to see “One Battle After Another” in VistaVision. It’s a thrilling movie, and I’m going to overlap a little here into editing with that movie, because it has one of the most exciting sequences of the year, and that’s when Leonardo [DiCaprio] can’t remember his password, which, in and of itself, would be great. It’s so funny. But what the director pulls off about structuring is that Benicio del Toro’s character is emptying out all the immigrants and hiding everyone. So you’ve got a vast action sequence, which is a difficult staging event with constant movement, and making it clear what’s going on. Get your shot with one man on the phone. This should not work. This is such a hard thing to do, to go between them, and he blends it so perfectly that every time you see it, it’s like a magic act.

I’ve seen “Sentimental Value” three times now. The intricacies of it, the quality of the script, the direction and the acting are bound so tightly together. Here’s my analogy: a trio sonata is about how you use three notes and repeat them in different patterns. This movie is infinite variations on the father and the two daughters and the guest actress from America. And it’s so beautifully wrought, and there’s no wrong edges in it. And the ending sequence, when you realize you’re in the movie, each time, surprises me. And the depth of the performances. I went to see [Joachim Trier] speak on it at the Academy, and he was just fascinating. So I love that movie.

Renate Reinsve, Joachim Trier, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, and Elle Fanning at the “Sentimental Value” Los Angeles premiere after party held at Laurel Hardware on November 05, 2025 in West Hollywood, California.Tommaso Boddi/Variety

I also love “Sinners,” because I’ve loved that director since “Fruitvale Station.” His work has been outstanding. The movie he did that was in the “Rocky “series [“Creed”]. He didn’t have to make that great a movie. And to do a whole round of boxing in one shot. I mean Jesus. And the new political level that you see in African-American cinema subtext these days, the blending of genres and using the genres for your artistic needs, this movie does brilliantly.

They’re all good directors. Coogler is in as director. He is in a position of power now that’s earned, and I want him to continue to make more movies the way he wants to make movies. So voting for him is my vote for the future.

Best Picture: “Sinners.” All the same ones except “Hamnet,” which struck a real chord, because my son passed away when he was young, and watching this movie became an emotionally excruciating experience. It was transcendental. The making of “Hamnet” was an aesthetic period challenge. You have to give everyone something personal to hang on to. You have to give them a genre trope or melodrama or something, so you can take them by the hand to where you want them to go, and that’s what [Chloé Zhao] did in that last 10 minutes of that movie. I don’t think I was breathing.

And “Marty Supreme.” The intensity of “Marty Supreme” is like punk rock, because it’s repetitive and it just pounds on you. But the audacity to make a movie with such an unlikable character, and to counter that, to cast it with someone everyone seems to like [Timothée Chalamet] as Dylan was a nice counterbalance. I liked the movie when I saw it with four women. [Two] walked out. Couldn’t stand it. Hated him. Hated the movie. My daughters had seen his other movies, but they sat through it, and they didn’t like it either, and everyone came to the same conclusion that by the time you get to the end and he gets the baby, it’s not earned. He won it on a decision. I came away from it saying, “I don’t care if I ever see this again.” I see what it is, but compared to the uplift I felt from other movies and other movies that are difficult, like “Sirāt,” this didn’t do that for me after all.

“One Battle After Another” is a brilliant movie, but politically, it doesn’t add up. What I loved is how Benicio Del Toro and the daughter are the only sane people in that movie, correct? It was a big swing, and he tried to stretch things as far as he could and didn’t break it. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a roller coaster ride, and the use of those long lenses at the end, coming from a man who’s directed more than a few car chases. That was one I had not seen before. So I ended up voting for “Sinners.”

[I ranked the movies] “Sinners” first, “One Battle After Another” second, “Sentimental Value” third, “The Secret Agent” fourth, “Hamnet” fifth, “Frankenstein” sixth, and I had to put “Marty Supreme” last.

‘One Battle After Another’©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

Best Actor: Michael B Jordan (“Sinners”). Yeah, I just love everything he did in “Sinners.” But Wagner Moura was invisible as an actor. There was no acting showing. They are in the place where they are the person, and there’s no artifice, yes, and that’s the performance.

Supporting Actor: Delroy Lindo (“Sinners”). As much as Sean Penn was fun, Benicio Del Toro was great, and so was Delroy Lindo. I picked him before [the BAFTAs and Actors Awards]. I picked him because he’s such a great actor, and I once worked with him. I couldn’t write in Jesse Plemons [“Bugonia”], they wouldn’t allow me.

Best Actress: Jessie Buckley (“Hamnet”). For all the reasons we’ve said about that last 15 minutes of the movie. But Rose Byrne — “wow” — from beginning to end.

Supporting Actress: Amy Madigan (“Weapons”). You started out as Amy Madigan, and you came back a star, OK?

Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson (“One Battle After Another”) for all the reasons that the screenplay and directing were seamless together.

Original Screenplay: Ryan Coogler, “Sinners.” The same thing with “Sinners.” When you have such talented writer/directors, it’s a whole new thing.

Casting: Francine Maisler (“Sinners“), because every time you see her name on a movie, it’s going to be good. It was a great cast.

Cinematography: Autumn Durald Arkapaw (“Sinners”). They’re all so great: “Train Dreams” for the purity of the location and the view of nature. It’s right up there with “The Revenant,” that kind of beauty. “Marty Supreme,” the cinematography kept the frantic nature alive. “Frankenstein,” his work is operatic. I voted for “Sinners.” She did a really, really good job. She had a strong point of view.

Costume Design: Kate Hawley (“Frankenstein“). The “Sinners” costumes are fantastic. [Ruth Carter] is, at the moment, the GOAT when it comes to costumes. But the detail work on “Frankenstein!”

‘Frankenstein’Ken Woroner/Netflix

Documentary Feature: “The Perfect Neighbor.” They’re all so powerful. “The Alabama Solution” struck me hard. But “The Perfect Neighbor” was such a unique concept. The thought of going through all that footage and finding the narrative in that was unique.

Editing: “One Battle After Another.” The editing skills on all this stuff are so high.

International Feature: “Sentimental Value.” And “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” the structure of that movie, wow!

Makeup and Hair Styling: “The Ugly Stepsister.” It’s body horror. Oh my God! I jumped out of my skin. It’s “The Substance.” It’s David Cronenberg. It’s a Cinderella story combined with a feminist subtext of the torture that women have gone through through the ages to be beautiful. Except now they show you the torture. You know you’re seeing what it takes to be beautiful in a close-up. I watched it in coordination with [Norwegian director Emilie Blichfeldt]’s appearance on Joe Dante’s “The Movies That Made Me” podcast. She’s such a funny, charming woman, and grew up above the Arctic Circle.

Production Design: “Frankenstein.”

Score: “Sinners.” The blending of genres and using the genres for your artistic needs. And then when you just had your full meal, you had a great movie, they bring out dessert, and it’s Buddy Guy.

Sound: “Sinners.” The sound mix and the choice of songs. The difficulty in combining score and song. This is on a level with what Spike Lee can do, and [Martin] Scorsese and Quentin [Tarantino] and Jonathan Demme. This is a big swing, OK? And “Sirāt,” when it’s all said and done, I thought, “This is the best Pink Floyd movie I ever saw.”

Visual Effects: “Sinners.” I guess everyone’s going to vote for “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” I turned it off. I didn’t much like “Jurassic Park.” “The Lost Bus” was good. “F1” has really good effects.