Director Paul Thomas Anderson has been making movies since he was 18. The acclaimed director, who has since been nominated for 11 Academy Awards, has grown from short mockumentaries made on his Bowflex camera (“The Dirk Diggler Story”) to his latest $130 million dollar epic: “One Battle After Another.”

Yet his filmmaking process remains mostly unchanged. 

“For as big a movie as it is, you look around and it’s still the same 15 or 20 of us that have made big movies or small movies,” Anderson said. “There’s a camera and there’s some sound guy and there’s actors, and it boils down to that.”

On Thursday, Sept. 11, commentator Erik Davis sat down with the cast of “One Battle After Another” for an audience of journalists and members of the press. The panel included Anderson as well as cast members Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall, Sean Penn and newcomer Chase Infiniti. 

The film, loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Vineland,” follows Bob Ferguson (DiCaprio), a former revolutionary who must return to the fight against a dystopian United States when his rebellious daughter Willa (Infiniti) is kidnapped by a Colonel Steven Lockjaw (Penn) who is in charge of a brutal police state. In order to save his daughter and avenge his dead wife Perfidia (Taylor), Bob enlists the help of Willa’s sensei Sergio (Del Toro) and veteran Deandra (Hall). 

“One Battle After Another” marks the feature film debut of Infiniti, who graduated from Columbia College of Chicago in 2022 with a degree in musical theatre.  

“I was very nervous, especially going into my first day,” Infiniti said. “But they all created a space where I felt comfortable to explore with them and show up for the scenes with them, and more than anything, I’m just overall grateful for the experience and everyone’s help.”

Anderson and DiCaprio were nervous about taking care of this new star.

“I think me and Leo were more nervous than her to be honest,” Anderson said. 

“Just from a third party being able to watch these two, it was almost like a coach and a boxer,” DiCaprio said. “They had a shorthand. I was watching off camera as these two worked, Paul would be like, ‘Do this a little…’ And she would. They had this sort of unspoken trust in one another that was magic to watch.”

Hall had been a longtime admirer of Anderson’s before coming to work on the film. 

“I was nervous because I knew him before, and so I was a big PTA fan,” Hall said. “There had been years that passed where I had certainly not forgotten he was PTA, but he had become more than the director. I saw him as a person, a friend. I was just so happy he was normal. I learned so much about being an actor, and he’s an incredible director.”

Taylor plays Perfidia Beverly Hills, a name lifted stylistically from “Vineland” — her character’s name in the book is Frenesi Gates. 

“I love the name Perfidia. Paul played a song, a Spanish song called ‘Perfidia,’ and they pretty much talked about how she wasn’t s—,” Taylor said. “When you hear this record, it’s like she is selfish and she is a massive manipulator, but at the same time, she’s also really badass. We don’t always agree with the things that she does, but we see a woman in survival mode and we see a woman literally show up for herself, which is a rare thing because we’re forced to be strong.”

DiCaprio believes the heart of the film is the strong women that surround his character, particularly Infiniti’s character. 

“The core of the film was Willa’s journey. The film kind of ride-or-dies on her performance.  Needless to say she did a phenomenal job,” DiCaprio said. “Paul doesn’t really do an audition

process. You have dinner, he gives her a karate lesson. We sit around, we improvise. But I think this idea of this generational gap between the two characters in those chemistry reads really came to fruition.”

Hall also praised Infiniti’s performance, highlighting a fellow young actress who stepped up to the plate. 

“She maintained such an innocence, and that was so important for Willa because you want

to protect that,” Hall said. “I just learned she’s just this young, incredible talent. She didn’t know anyone. She came from Chicago with nothing but her talent and her fearlessness. And so I think that was incredible to watch and to work with.”

Anderson believes the film is unique in his filmography due to Infiniti’s performance as Willa, highlighting a sequence in the film where she has to act with nuance within a massive car chase. 

“You could feel collectively in the car that we were all excited by this stretch of road,” Anderson said. “The best part of the idea, without giving too much away, is that it created the most important thing for the story, which was an opportunity for Willa to take advantage and take control of her story. …  The best part is the opportunity for her to turn the tables and start asking the questions around here. That’s the part I love about it the most.”

“One Battle After Another” opened in U.S. theaters on Sept. 26.

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