Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film One Battle After Another is gearing up to be one of the most talked-about movies of the year. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, it is already garnering much excitement leading up to its theatrical release on Sept. 26. Part of the excitement is that it marks Anderson’s first time working with both Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro; most of the stellar cast are also working with Anderson for the first time. In fact, One Battle marks Chase Infiniti’s feature film debut.
Mashable reporter Ty Cole had the opportunity to sit down with most of the cast — DiCaprio and del Toro, as well as Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and the scene-stealing Infiniti — to discuss the making of One Battle After Another.
DiCaprio took Ty through the premise of the film: “Just the sheer premise of an unexpected, flawed protagonist, that his past comes back to haunt him as he’s trying to raise a daughter. He’s trying to connect with her… You come into this slice of life of him getting stoned, watching TV, getting into an argument with his daughter, and then his sort of political ideology and his past comes back to haunt him, but he can’t remember the password to save his only child.”
When asked what it was like firing a huge machine gun while wearing a massive pregnant belly, Taylor exclaimed, “I was able to rest my gun up on the belly and feel like Tony Montana!” She also went on to describe how the belly itself was actually quite high-tech. “[Paul] wanted me to really feel like I was pregnant, so the belly was heavy… We had to scan my whole body to get that belly. The stomach was high-tech, for sure.”
Infiniti shared the biggest lesson she has learned from working with such an experienced cast: “More than anything, the film taught me how to trust myself more. As an actor, you have to trust yourself and trust that the people around you who are leading you and supporting you throughout everything, they’ve got you. Throughout filming, I learned that I could trust myself more and I could push myself in ways that I never even imagined.”
When asked what is the one battle he is tired of fighting, DiCaprio responded, “Our inability to communicate with one another.”
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