Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘One Battle After Another,’ costarring Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall and Teyana Taylor, is in theaters Sept. 26
NEED TO KNOW
- Leonardo DiCaprio told Entertainment Tonight that his character in One Battle After Another is “the opposite of Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible“
- “[Bob] does everything wrong. And he doesn’t land or stick any of his stunts,” the Oscar winner joked of his protagonist in the Paul Thomas Anderson film
- One Battle After Another is in theaters Sept. 26
Leonardo DiCaprio is the anti-Ethan Hunt in One Battle After Another.
Based on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, the thriller focuses on a group of ex-revolutionaries who reunite to face an enemy resurfacing after 16 years. DiCaprio leads One Battle After Another as Bob Ferguson, with Regina Hall as Deandra.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, DiCaprio, 50, compared his character to an action hero who is more equipped to handle dangerous missions.
“He’s trying to raise a daughter, and he doesn’t know how to do it right, when his daughter gets captured,” said the Academy Award winner. “Why take the bathrobe off? You gotta go. You gotta go get your girl.”
“It’s like the opposite of Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible. [Bob] does everything wrong. And he doesn’t land or stick any of his stunts,” DiCaprio joked.
Del Toro, 58, caught up with PEOPLE exclusively at the film’s Los Angeles on Sept. 8. During the conversation, the actor revealed that he had been “admiring” DiCaprio’s work for decades before they finally collaborated.
He also shared that he ultimately shaped his own performance in the movie around what DiCaprio brought to each scene.
“With Leo, you just let him bring the character, and you just … he’s the story. So for me […] with Leo, it’s like, work around him and just [make] sure that we fed the story with my character in it,” del Toro said at the time.
He added, “And Leo is one of those actors that I’ve been admiring for decades, and I never had a chance to work with. So getting this chance to work with him was a great experience and a great opportunity for me, and I hope he feels the same way.”
Hall, 54, told PEOPLE in July that filming One Battle After Another was an “amazing” experience, calling herself a “big fan” of Anderson, 55, and adding that she “was so excited to be a part of a film that he was making.”
Upon reading the script, she recalled, “I was incredibly curious: ‘What is this movie?’ … There’s a lot of laughter, strong messaging, humor, wit.”
“The cast, I loved,” raved Hall, praising the ensemble as “an incredible group … I love Leo, Benicio, Sean Penn — Teyana’s amazing.”
The “genius” of Anderson is that “there’s no part that’s insignificant,” added the Scary Movie actress. “Even if they have one line, he’s so deliberate in his filmmaking. And I’m really excited for audiences to experience the film.”
One Battle After Another is in theaters Sept. 26.
