Paul Thomas Anderson Finally Weighs In On Debate Over Black Women’s Depiction In 'One Battle After Another'

The filmmaker addressed the longtime discourse surrounding his action dramedy after taking home three Oscars on Sunday, including Best Picture.

“One Battle After Another” was one of the most-talked-about films of Sunday’s Academy Awards — though not entirely because it took home several of the night’s biggest awards.

During his post-Oscars press conference, HuffPost asked writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson about the criticism over how his film portrays Black women — particularly Teyana Taylor’s character, Perfidia Beverly Hills.

Anderson had not yet publicly addressed the issue during the film’s awards season run — which concluded with six Oscars, including for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Anderson. But on Sunday, he acknowledged that he knows “a little bit about that critique.”

“I know that Teyana has talked about it a lot,” Anderson remarked, referring to previous interviews in which the Best Supporting Actress nominee discussed strong audience reactions to her character.

“I know that we have the portrayal of many different characters — in particular, her character, who is so flawed and, unfortunately, makes decisions that are detrimental to the revolution that she’s trying to fight,” he added.