Everything Everywhere filmmakers the Daniels win Best Director Oscar, but aren't first duo to do so

Everything Everywhere All at Once filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert just joined a prestigious list of Hollywood elites who've won Best Director as pairs throughout Oscars history.

The directing duo won Best Director at the 2023 Oscars ceremony Sunday night, for their work making the sci-fi multiverse hit. Their victory places them in esteemed company as only the third duo to take the prize since the first Academy Awards in 1929.

Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise became the first directors to share the honor when they won in 1962 for West Side Story, which went on to claim 10 Oscars in all. It took 46 years for another two-person team to win Best Director, as Joel and Ethan Coen took home the prize in 2008 for directing No Country for Old Men.

"We want to dedicate this to the mommies, all the mommies of the world, to our moms, specifically my mom and dad, Ken and Becky, thank you for not squashing my creativity when I was making really disturbing horror films or really perverted comedy films or dressing in drag as a kid, which is a threat to nobody," Scheinert said upon accepting the award.

"I know every director agrees with me when I say a director is nothing without their incredible cast and crew. This is my family and friends. If our movie has greatness and genius it's only because they have greatness and genius flowing through their hearts and souls and minds. They gave that precious gift to our film," Kwan added. "There is greatness in every single person, it doesn't matter who they are. You have a genius waiting to erupt, you just need to find the right people to unlock that. Thank you to everyone who has unlocked my genius."

Kwan and Scheinert directed Everything Everywhere All at Once — about a laundromat owner (Michelle Yeoh) navigating familial struggles across various universes — to become A24's highest-grossing release of all time, as it crossed the $100 million mark in global ticket sales in 2022. It also became an awards season darling, racking up impressive victories from the Producers Guild of America as well as the Ensemble prize from the Screen Actors Guild.

The Daniels triumphed in this year's Best Director category over Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans), Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin), Todd Field (Tár), and Ruben Östlund (Triangle of Sadness).

"We were both like, that would be fun, but it's not a movie, it's just a kind of fight scene gimmick," Kwan previously told EW of discussing the idea for the film with Scheinert. "Then, maybe a year or so later, the story started to take shape, tapping into other universes [that] would send you on an existential spiral in addition to giving you some powers. That was when we said, whoa, this is exciting; we get to do existential crisis and fight scenes. They're our two favorite things!"

See the full list of 2023 Oscars winners.

Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights leading up to all the major award shows.

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