Sasha Stone and I felt so cranked and elated about Anora‘s recent triumphant double-win (the top DGA + PGA awards on Saturday, 2.8) that we had to talk it all out. And so we did yesterday around noon.

We wondered aloud why every last Gold Derby handicapper but one picked The Brutalist‘s Brady Corbet to win the top DGA prize, and what their blind spot was all about.

I’ll tell you what the GD blind spot is about. The Gold Derby guys are easily intimidated sheep…they sense a certain herd instinct in the wind and vote accordingly. They have no balls, no moxie, no backbone, no critical integrity…they just go “baaaahh!” and let the barking sheep dogs push them around.

I was a huge Anora fan from the get-go in Cannes last May, but I was frankly fearful of what would happen with the DGA and PGA awards. My mood was grim. Either way I generally steer clear of predictions until the guilds start to be heard because what do I know?

As I said the other day, Sean Baker will almost certainly take the Best Director Oscar now. It goes without saying that Anora is currently very well positioned to take the Best Picture Oscar as well.

Favorite line from yesterday’s reaction piece: “Brady Corbet is almost certainly wearing a long face right now. The pot-bellied director of HE’s least favorite film of the year has come up short, and all the angels in heaven are singing a joyful hymn composed by Miklos Rozsa.”