00:00That felt rooted the first day. I was like, okay, I get this guy. He's trying to be a parent the
00:04best he can. He's an ex-revolutionary. One battle after another marks Oscar-winning actor Leonardo
00:11DiCaprio's first collaboration with filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson. DiCaprio and more of the
00:17movie's stars, including Tiana Taylor and Benicio Del Toro, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter all
00:22about the highly anticipated project. Benicio, your character in the movie quotes Nina Simone
00:28and says that freedom means having no fear. What's a scene that you remember filming it
00:33and you felt totally fearless and totally free? I think pushing Leo out of my car going 40 miles
00:41an hour. You know, I mean, you should ask him though, because I was driving the car. There was
00:48some fear there, but I felt freedom when we got it done. I don't know the answer. There's always a
00:56little bit of fear in every scene that you do, because you want to connect with the character
01:00and connect with the story. I guess like one of my opening sequences where I'm just, you know,
01:05a dad smoking pot going to go check up on how his daughter's doing in high school. You know,
01:10that was, that felt rooted the first day. I was like, okay, I get this guy. He's trying to be a parent
01:16the best he can. He's an ex-revolutionary. You know, he thinks the world is, you know, corrupt and
01:22society is, is fragmenting. Yet, you know, I've got to go do this, you know, daddy-daughter
01:29meeting and, and keep the wheels, you know, on the truck, so to speak, and keep going forward,
01:35keep on trucking. Definitely when I was shooting the gun, like that was to be able to just yell.
01:41I feel like honestly, like, uh, even when you were shooting the gun, I feel like that was a,
01:45that was a moment. Yes. Like that was like, she was her mother's child. And I think just like that,
01:51ah, like at this point, I don't care who walking up. I don't care if the daddy walking up,
01:55the op walking up. It's just like to see that level of like freedom in your face and also like
02:00in your voice is what I feel like shooting those guns and just like letting everything go.
02:05Like that scream for sure, for me personally. I think one of mine is probably like the first time
02:11that you see, will it take charge? Yeah. In her story. I think that was probably a moment that I
02:17was like, I'm free. I can do anything that I need to do. This is an announcement on revolution.
02:25The message is clear. I'll be seeing you very soon. Not if I see you first.
02:30All three of you give just such amazing performances in this movie. I just want to give
02:35you a chance to give each other flowers. You're looking at generations, right? Like,
02:40you know, this one and this one who are so talented. It is so, um, rich to watch. And because
02:51they are both so amazing in this film, but they are amazing people. You, when you get to work with
02:57someone who is, um, who you respect as an artist and as a person, like, I feel like that's when you
03:05hit the lottery. Like you can genuinely, when they're not around and someone says, so give me
03:10you know, tell me, how was it? And you can be like, nah, they, they, they're, they're pretty epic.
03:14And she's a Sag. So that's just like, her points just went on. It was already to the sky, but it's just like,
03:20We sat at that dinner table. We were both Sages. And we were like, mm.
03:23And then she's really, really, she's already a legend in her own right. But to me, she's really like a legend
03:27in my world and icon in my world. Cause it's like, it goes back to paid in full. It goes back to like
03:31so many things that you've done. And being a Harlem girl, you know, paid in full was like,
03:36you know, so it's just like, so it's crazy. Cause it's like being in scary movies like that is like
03:42amazing. But I seen her in a serious space before I seen her in a funny space, you know?
03:48So when people are like shocked that she's like one of the goats, I'd be like,
03:53y'all just, y'all not watching enough because my girl like been in this bag for a very, very long time.
03:59Me and mom, we used to run around and do some real bad.
04:04They got hurt. Now they're coming after us.
04:08While the film is a dramatic, epic action thriller, it's also infused with humor.
04:12For each of you, what was it like balancing the intensity with the levity?
04:16You know, I think the levity was, was there because of the circumstances, because of the plot.
04:22So now you can play against it a little bit. You can, you can, and let, be, be in the moment.
04:28And I think, I think in order to be funny, you have to be serious.
04:34You know, I never felt like I was laughing at my character or laughing at his character.
04:42I felt like if something happened that was funny, it was real, you know?
04:45And I think that's how I feel when I see the movie.
04:47One battle after another hits theaters on September 26th.
04:51For more on the film, go to THR.com.
04:54For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.
Comments