Leonardo DiCaprio Reveals What Sets One Battle After Another Apart

Leonardo DiCaprio is doing the victory lap thing, and honestly, he earned it. After his black comedy thriller One Battle After Another hit in September 2025, TIME named him its 2025 Entertainer of the Year. In that new interview, he broke down why the movie connected and why it was a risk in the first place.

What Leo means by 'original'

DiCaprio, 51, has been mulling over how rare it is to get a movie like this through the system. No franchise, no historical tie-in, no pre-existing characters, not even a clear genre hook. And definitely no vampires or ghosts.

I have been thinking a lot about how often there have been truly original story ideas like this.

He admits the studio took a gamble and, in his view, bet on Paul Thomas Anderson's reputation and process. DiCaprio calls Anderson's approach fiercely original and says the film is ultimately about regular people trying to speak up or stand for something in a world that makes that feel risky. His take: the world is scary, and the movie taps into that.

He also loves that the film actually gets people talking. In his circle, the debates have been lively, which he considers a small win: if a movie gets a conversation going and nudges people even a little, that is the point.

PTA on working with a very big movie star

Anderson returned the praise with some very clear-eyed, behind-the-scenes perspective. When your lead is a massive star, he said, their behavior sets the tone for everyone else. With DiCaprio, that meant showing up, being available, and keeping things unfussy — no nonsense.

Production was a marathon: nine months, over 100 shooting days. Anderson joked that if that pace does not make you cranky, nothing will, and he seemed genuinely happy that, after all that, the team still liked each other.

The basics

• Project: One Battle After Another (black comedy thriller)
• Release: September 2025
• Why Leo is talking: TIME named him 2025 Entertainer of the Year
• Leo's point: the film is a true original — no IP, no historical angle, no pre-existing characters, no tidy genre label, and no supernatural crutches
• Theme (as he sees it): people trying to speak their minds in a world that makes that scary
• What he values: it sparks conversation and might actually move people, even a bit
• PTA on Leo: leadership by presence, availability, and being unfussy — zero BS
• Production grind: shot over nine months, more than 100 days, and somehow the cast and crew still loved each other by the end