(Connor O'Brien / Heights Editor)
Renowned director, producer, and screenwriter Paul Thomas Anderson spent 10 years writing his upcoming release, One Battle After Another. With phenomenal direction and an acclaimed cast, the question now is whether the movie will live up to the hype, but that’s a question we’ll only find the answer to on Sept. 26, when the movie goes live in theaters.
For now, we can understand a bit more about all the work that went into Anderson’s lengthy project from a Warner Bros. press conference held on Sept. 11 with the film’s cast.
Anderson, a Los Angeles native, has been nominated for 11 Academy Awards over the past two and a half decades since the release of his comedy-drama Boogie Nights (1997), the first of multiple motion pictures that gave Anderson the legendary director title.
Over the years, he has released what are now considered iconic dark, unsettling films, such as Magnolia (1999) and There Will be Blood (2007). Anderson is seemingly returning to his roots with the serious yet comedic genre with his newest film.
One Battle After Another tells the story of Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio), an ex-revolutionary whose days of success are long gone and who is now in a constant state of weed-induced paranoia. A chaotic downturn in his life takes place when Bob’s independent and strong-willed teenage daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), goes missing, forcing the low-spirited man to confront his recently resurfaced nemesis, played by Sean Penn.
The action-comedy movie becomes a tale of father-daughter bonding as the retired radical gets his life together when searching for Willa, the two of them facing the consequences of his turbulent past.
Bob is DiCaprio’s first role in an Anderson movie. When asked what it was about the role that drew him to it, the actor highlighted the multifaceted, complex personality of the character.
“I guess the humanity of the character, in a strange way,” said DiCaprio. “You have an incredibly flawed protagonist and the unexpected choices … but his real heroism is the idea that he just keeps relentlessly moving forward to protect his daughter.”
The film will also be Infiniti’s on-screen debut. Her lack of experience, however, did not get in the way of her nothing-short-of-stellar performance. DiCaprio described the relationship between Infinity and Anderson as “magic.”
“From a third party being able to watch these two, it was almost like a coach and a boxer,” said DiCaprio. “They had this sort of unspoken trust in one another that was magic to watch.”
With both seasoned veterans and first-time performers in the cast, One Battle After Another seems poised to easily blend Anderson’s hallmark intensity with themes of family.
An early screening of One Battle After Another is scheduled for Sept. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Coolidge Corner Theatre. While the film has built some early buzz, the real measure of its success will come from how audiences respond when Anderson’s decade-long project finally arrives on screen.