Filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (“Phantom Thread,” “Punch Drunk Love”) has always thrived in the tension between chaos and control, whether charting the manic highs of the porn industry in “Boogie Nights” or plumbing the dark well of faith and ambition in “There Will Be Blood.” With “One Battle After Another,” his latest, the filmmaker pushes that contradiction further than ever. As we wrote in our review, it’s “an urgent, powder-kegged call to arms, a rollickingly comic spectacle, a soulful meditation on the sins of our past, and a moving examination of the trials of fatherhood.” A sprawling, nearly three-hour epic about Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a stoner revolutionary whose daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) is targeted by old enemies, the film veers from insurgent action and political revolt to absurdist comedy and tender family drama. Alongside Benicio del Toro as Sensei Sergio, and a cast that includes Teyana Taylor, Regina Hall, Alana Haim, Sean Penn, Tony Goldwyn, and more, Anderson delivers his most ambitious work to date—a storm of controlled chaos anchored by DiCaprio’s disheveled gravitas and del Toro’s bemused calm.
At a recent press day, DiCaprio and del Toro spoke with us about the film’s premise, the allure of Anderson’s writing, and why working with him is unlike anything else.
For DiCaprio, the collaboration had been decades in the making. He famously almost starred in “Boogie Nights” in the mid-’90s, a near miss that left him waiting more than twenty years for the right Anderson project to materialize. “It was about the right time,” he said. “Paul’s one of those visionary directors. His films live in the ecosystem of my mind. I keep thinking about his work, like I collect art, and it’s like looking at a painting. They become part of your DNA, or your conversations with friends, reference points.”
That long anticipation, he explained, only heightened his appreciation for Anderson’s strange balance of absurdity and intimacy. “I love these worlds that he creates. They’re so unique, they’re bizarre. In a lot of ways, this might be his most commercial film. It’s got spectacle, it’s got comedy, it’s this massive epic. There’s action, but he lets you in through the eyes of very flawed characters.”
He also relished the irony of his protagonist. “The revolutionary doesn’t have all the answers. He’s fighting for a just cause, but when his daughter gets kidnapped, he’s sitting at home too stoned to remember the password. Half the movie, he can’t remember. His daughter’s life is at stake. It’s the polar opposite of what you’d expect. And the only person he can turn to for backup against these formidable forces is the local karate teacher. It’s an amazing premise from which to launch a film. And it’s from the mind of PTA.”
READ MORE: Paul Thomas Anderson Says He Began Working On ‘One Battle After Another’ 20 Years Ago
On the other hand, Del Toro arrived knowing Anderson’s rhythms well. He played the anarchic lawyer Sauncho Smilax in “Inherent Vice,” a gonzo riff on Thomas Pynchon that cemented his ease with Anderson’s blend of comedy and paranoia. Calling the new script irresistible, he said, “When I read the script, it was a page-turner. When Paul asks you to be a part of his film, I don’t know any actor who would say, ‘Let me think about it.’ Any actor in the world would jump at the opportunity.”
He sees “One Battle After Another” as a career peak for the director. “It’s one hell of a ride,” he said. “Here’s a filmmaker who’s been making great movies for decades, and this movie, which I think is one of his best—arguably—I think it’s extraordinary. It’s great performances, great music, funny, makes you think, makes you really think. And it’s an honor to be a part of it. And a film that’s so topical, too.”
Asked what sets Anderson apart on set, del Toro pointed to his openness. “He collaborates, and he creates a great atmosphere to explore your character. He really wants to hear what you have to say,” he explained. “He also enjoys actors and the process of actors. That’s a lot of fun for an actor.”
He added that the way Anderson writes is inseparable from how he directs. “The characters are three-dimensional. They’re not stereotypes. He’ll go against type, and then he allows the actor to go in there and do it. That makes him unique in a way.”
The ensemble underscores that unpredictability. Teyana Taylor blazes as the radical Perfidia Beverly Hills, Regina Hall and Alana Haim flesh out the French 75 collective, and Sean Penn delivers one of his most grotesque, magnetic turns as Col. Lockjaw, a right-wing ideologue undone by obsession. Our review called Penn’s villain “grotesque and riveting,” a performance as contradictory as the film itself. For DiCaprio, those contradictions are what give the movie its bite. “You’re laughing one moment, terrified the next, but always connected to the humanity in the chaos,” he said.
“One Battle After Another” opens Friday, September 26, via Warner Bros.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
