Leonardo DiCaprio is making his Paul Thomas Anderson debut with a trippy political satire film.
Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” which is inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1997 novel “Vineland,” stars DiCaprio as a civil rights activist who joins an anti-government group to combat an “alt-right” white supremacist organization. Teyana Taylor, Regina Hall, and Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza” alum Alana Haim co-star as DiCaprio’s fellow activists; Sean Penn, who also had an iconic supporting role in “Licorice Pizza,” plays a white nationalist leader. Benicio del Toro, Shayna McHale, Wood Harris, and “Presumed Innocent” actress Chase Infiniti, who plays DiCaprio’s onscreen daughter, also star.
Anderson wrote the script and produced the film alongside Sara Murphy and the late Adam Somner. The feature, which was shot on 35mm film using VistaVision cameras, is getting an IMAX release from Warner Bros. This is Anderson’s first film since his 2021 feature “Licorice Pizza.”
“One Battle After Another” reportedly a final runtime of 2 hours and 30 minutes. It’s rumored that “One Battle After Another” is inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1997 novel “Vineland” about a “zone of blessed anarchy in Northern California that is the last refuge of hippiedom,” per the book’s synopsis.
The full novel description reads: “Here, in an Orwellian 1984, Zoyd Wheeler and his daughter Prairie search for Prairie’s long-lost mother, a Sixties radical who ran off with a narc. ‘Vineland’ is vintage Pynchon, full of quasi-allegorical characters, elaborate unresolved subplots, corny songs (“Floozy with an Uzi”), movie spoofs (Pee-wee Herman in The Robert Musil Story), and illicit sex (including a macho variation on the infamous sportscar scene in V.).” It is known, though, that Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” is set in the present day.
DiCaprio made his YouTube debut to launch the trailer. This marks his first foray into a new social platform in years as he already boasts over 60 million followers on Instagram, nearly 20 million followers on Facebook, 18.5 million followers on X, and over 6 million followers on Threads.
DiCaprio has a slew of other projects in the works, including various Martin Scorsese collaborations. The long-awaited “Devil in the White City” adaptation is now set at 20th Century, with Scorsese directing and DiCaprio starring. “Home” is also in the works at Apple with Scorsese producing. The rumored Frank Sinatra biopic with DiCaprio portraying the singer (and Scorsese directing) has since been shelved.
“One Battle After Another” premieres in theaters September 26 from Warner Bros. Check out the trailer below.
