One Battle After Another is a 2025 American black comedy action thriller film[a] written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.[11] It is loosely inspired by the 1990 novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon.[12] The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti. It follows an ex-revolutionary who is forced back into his former combative lifestyle when he and his daughter are pursued by a corrupt military officer.
Anderson had wanted to adapt Vineland since the early 2000s and, eventually, incorporated his own stories into the narrative while writing the screenplay.[13][14][15] The film was shot in California between January and June 2024 using VistaVision, becoming one of the first films to use this format for principal photography since the 1960s.
One Battle After Another had its premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on September 8, 2025, and was released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on September 26.[16] The film received critical acclaim, grossing $205.2 million on a $130–175 million budget.[2][17][18] The most expensive film of Anderson's career, while considered a box-office failure, it also became his highest-grossing film. One Battle After Another was nominated for nine awards at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, receiving the most nominations of any film that year; del Toro, DiCaprio, Infiniti, Penn, and Taylor all received nominations for their performances.[19] Since its release, it has been regarded as one of the best films of the 2020s and the 21st century so far.[b]
Plot
"Ghetto" Pat Calhoun and Perfidia Beverly Hills are members of a far-left revolutionary group, the French 75. While breaking out detained immigrants from Otay Mesa Detention Center, Perfidia sexually humiliates the commanding officer, Steven J. Lockjaw, who afterward becomes obsessed with her. Pat and Perfidia become lovers. When Lockjaw catches Perfidia planting a bomb, he releases her after she agrees to his demand to have sex with him.
After Perfidia gives birth to a girl named Charlene, Pat tries to persuade her to settle down, but she instead abandons Pat and Charlene to continue her revolutionary activities. She is arrested after murdering a security guard in an armed bank robbery. Lockjaw arranges for her to avoid prison in exchange for names and whereabouts of key French 75 members. Perfidia enters witness protection, while Lockjaw uses the information she provided to hunt down and summarily execute her comrades. French 75 member Howard Sommerville gives Pat and Charlene stolen identities as Bob and Willa Ferguson, while Perfidia flees witness protection for Mexico.
Sixteen years later, living off-the-grid in the sanctuary city of Baktan Cross, California, Bob has become a paranoid stoner. He is protective of Willa, now a free-spirited teenager who resents his substance abuse, and has led her to believe Perfidia was a hero. Through his vehement anti-immigration efforts, Lockjaw has become a colonel and a prominent figure within the U.S. security agencies. When Lockjaw is invited to become a member of the Christmas Adventurers Club, a white supremacist secret society, he seeks to kill Willa to hide his past interracial relationship with Perfidia. He hires the Indigenous bounty hunter Avanti Q to capture Howard, causing a distress signal to go out to the French 75.
Lockjaw sends troops to Baktan Cross using an immigration and drug operation as cover. French 75 member Deandra rescues Willa before her school dance is raided. While at home, Bob is warned by the French 75 about Lockjaw, whose men then raid his house. Escaping through a tunnel, Bob tries to coordinate with the resistance over a payphone, but cannot remember their greeting code. Sergio St. Carlos, Willa's karate teacher and community leader, helps him while evacuating immigrants via a hidden passage. While fleeing with Sergio's students across rooftops, Bob falls and is arrested. Deandra takes Willa to a convent of revolutionary nuns, where she is told the truth about her mother's betrayal of the cause.
The Christmas Adventurers find evidence of Lockjaw's relationship with Perfidia, and send member Tim Smith to kill him and Willa. Lockjaw locates Willa at the convent, where Deandra is arrested. Holding Willa hostage, he tests their DNA in front of her, confirming she is his daughter. Sergio arranges Bob's escape and drives him to the convent, throwing him out of the car when police begin to pursue them and later stalls the police when they catch up to his car. Bob steals another car and reaches the convent, unsuccessfully attempting to kill Lockjaw with Sergio's rifle. Lockjaw hires Avanti to kill Willa, but after refusing over her age, Avanti is told to deliver her to a far-right militia instead. Tim tracks down Lockjaw and shoots him in the face, causing his car to crash and leaving him presumed dead. Bob finds the crash site while searching for Willa.
Avanti brings Willa to the militia, but, after a change of heart, frees her and is killed in a shootout with the militia. Willa takes Avanti's car and pistol and escapes, only for Tim to begin tailing her with Bob frantically trying to catch up. Willa lures Tim into a crash by exploiting a blind summit. She shoots him dead when he fails to recite the revolutionary countersign. Bob arrives and finds Willa, who demands the countersign at gunpoint, but Bob convinces her to stand down. They tearfully embrace and drive away, while Lockjaw is revealed to have survived.
Some time later, a severely scarred Lockjaw is seemingly welcomed into the Christmas Adventurers, but is fatally gassed and cremated shortly afterward. Returning home with Willa, Bob gives her a letter from Perfidia, where she apologizes for her actions and vows to some day reunite with her family. Later, Bob gives Willa his blessing as she departs for a protest in Oakland.
Cast
- Leonardo DiCaprio as "Ghetto" Pat Calhoun / "Rocketman" / Bob Ferguson, a washed-up former member and explosive device expert of a revolutionary group known as the French 75
- Sean Penn as Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw, a corrupt military officer who pursues the French 75
- Benicio del Toro as Sergio St. Carlos, Willa's Karatedo teacher and a leader of the undocumented community in Baktan Cross
- Regina Hall as Deandra / "Lady Champagne", a French 75 member
- Teyana Taylor as Perfidia Beverly Hills, a French 75 member, Willa's mother and Pat's partner
- Chase Infiniti as Willa Ferguson / Charlene Calhoun, Bob and Perfidia's daughter
- Wood Harris as Laredo, a French 75 member
- Alana Haim as "Mae West", a French 75 member
- Paul Grimstad as Howard Sommerville / "Billy Goat" / "Gringo Coyote", a French 75 member
- Shayna McHayle as "Junglepussy", a French 75 member
- Tony Goldwyn as Virgil Throckmorton, a member of the Christmas Adventurers Club, a secret, wealthy cabal of white supremacists
- John Hoogenakker as Tim Smith, a member of the Christmas Adventurers Club
- Starletta DuPois as Grandma Minnie, Perfidia's mother
- Eric Schweig as Avanti, a bounty hunter
- D. W. Moffett as Bill Desmond, a member of the Christmas Adventurers Club
- Kevin Tighe as Roy More, a member of the Christmas Adventurers Club
- Jim Downey as Sandy Irvine, a member of the Christmas Adventurers Club
- James Raterman as Colonel Danvers, Lockjaw's second-in-command
- Dijon Duenas as "Talleyrand", a French 75 member
- Dan Chariton as Comrade Josh, a French 75 member
- Jon Beavers as 1776 James, a white nationalist gang member
- Tisha Sloan as Willa's teacher
- Jena Malone as the voice of the French 75 greeting code
Production
Development
Paul Thomas Anderson had considered adapting the 1990 novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon since the early 2000s, but struggled, believing his love for the novel would get in the way of his ability to fairly rework it. Instead, he set aside working on an adaptation, and envisioned two ideas: one about an "action car-chase movie" and one about a "female revolutionary". One Battle After Another emerged as a combination of those two stories with some elements of Vineland, particularly the father-daughter dynamic.[13][14][15]
Casting
In June 2023, Anderson's next film, rumored to star Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Viggo Mortensen and Joaquin Phoenix, found its home at Warner Bros. Pictures.[26] In January 2024, DiCaprio and Hall were confirmed to star, with Sean Penn joining the cast.[27] In February, Alana Haim, Wood Harris, Chase Infiniti, Shayna McHayle, and Teyana Taylor joined the cast.[28] DiCaprio reportedly received his standard $25 million fee for his involvement.[29]
Filming
Principal photography began in California in January 2024.[30][31][32] The film, under the working title BC Project, filmed for eleven days across Humboldt County in Arcata, Cutten, Eureka, Kneeland, and Trinidad.[c] Local experts, including the Sisters of the Valley, on which the Sisters of the Brave Beaver in the film was based, were consulted.[39] Anderson and his crew attended the prom at Eureka High School to make observations about music and fashion trends; students were cast as extras for a key scene.[40] On February 3, production moved to Sacramento, with filming at the Sacramento County Administration Building and Sacramento County Courthouse.[41] A homeless encampment was cleared to allow for filming, sparking controversy.[42] The former Sacramento mansion of then-Governor Ronald Reagan served as exterior shots for the Christmas Adventurers' Club headquarters.[39]
The production took a two-and-a-half-month break from filming because del Toro had a scheduling conflict with Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme (shot between March and June 2024).[43][44] On-location filming also took place in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Borrego Springs in May 2024, and El Paso, Texas, including El Paso Streetcars, in June 2024.[45][46] Other filming locations included La PurÃsima Mission,[38] the Westgate Hotel,[47] and the city of San Diego and Otay Mesa near the Mexico–United States border.[39][48][49]
Cinematography
The film was shot by Michael Bauman on 35 mm movie film using VistaVision cameras, marking his third collaboration with Anderson, following Phantom Thread (2017) and Licorice Pizza (2021).[50][51][52][53] Between 75–80% of the film was shot on VistaVision.[54] Actor Giovanni Ribisi is thanked in the film's end credits for allowing the production to use VistaVision cameras that he had personally restored.[13][55][56]
Post-production
Editing was completed by Andy Jurgensen, who had previously edited Licorice Pizza.[57] As a frequent collaborator of Anderson's, Jurgensen knew how to best be "fluid" in his work on the film to match his director's sensibilities. Discussing the final car chase sequence, Jurgensen said, "It was shot over a number of days and there really weren't storyboards for it, [Anderson] just had ideas for the beginning, middle, and end. It was really a matter of shooting the cars from the different perspectives [...] We just had to make sure we had all the pieces. I did a string out of all the different perspectives as we were shooting the scenes so that we made sure that we had good moments from all the angles, then it was finding the best bits and starting to assemble. It was just a long sequence going through all of Willa's shots of her eyes, looking at both the rear-view mirror and the side view mirror looking behind at the reflections. You're just slowly kind of whittling down the best fits."[58] Additionally, Jurgensen was on location and got to view dailies with Anderson on a vintage VistaVision horizontal projector, which they borrowed from Warner Bros. "I was the only one traveling from editorial, and then I could supervise setting up the screening room and be there for all the screenings, which was really helpful," said Jurgensen. "And then while they were shooting, I also brought my computer system, getting digital dailies and making more notes, assembling stuff. You're with the crew and it's just so much better. You understand what everyone's going through and you're part of the process. But that's Paul's style."[59]
In February 2024, Variety reported that the film had been greenlit with a $115 million production budget.[60] In August 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported the budget was "more than $140 million", noting that Anderson's highest-grossing film, There Will Be Blood (2007), only made $76 million, but that "Warner executives say DiCaprio's box-office track record justifies the budget for Anderson".[61] That month, sources indicated the film had been titled The Battle of Baktan Cross as rumors circulated that it was loosely inspired by Pynchon's Vineland; Anderson previously adapted Pynchon's Inherent Vice (2009) into a feature film in 2014.[62][63][64] By August 2025, Variety reported the film's final budget as $175 million, while Warner Bros. said it cost $130 million.[2] The film is the most costly of Anderson's career.[65] Deadline Hollywood reported that below-the-line, on-location shooting in California cost $101.6 million, with a tax credit of $8.4 million.[66] By September 2025, Variety reported that an additional $70 million was spent on marketing.[67]
Beginning in January 2025, the film had multiple test screenings, which reinforced the rumored connection to Vineland.[68] It marked the first time since Boogie Nights (1997) that Anderson agreed to audience testing; based on the feedback, he cut eight to ten minutes.[69] The film's title was confirmed in March, with Warner Bros. debuting a teaser trailer.[70][71] One Battle After Another marks Anderson's sixth feature film collaboration with composer and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood,[72] and the sixth with Anderson and first assistant director and producer Adam Somner, who died in November 2024; the film is dedicated to Somner.[73][74][75]
Music
The score was composed by Greenwood, and recorded with the London Contemporary Orchestra and conductor Hugh Brunt. It was released by Nonesuch Records on September 26, 2025.[76] The film also features two songs by Jon Brion, marking Anderson and Brion's first collaboration since Punch-Drunk Love (2002).[7
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