Leonardo DiCaprio’s 'One Battle After Another' skewers extremism in satirical fashion

The actor calls his latest role one of the most demanding of his career

LOS ANGELES:

Few Hollywood stars carry the weight of cultural expectation like Leonardo DiCaprio. Whenever he steps into a new project, the attention it draws is as much about the story on screen as it is about what the film might say about the moment we are living in. His latest collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson is no exception.
 For Leonardo DiCaprio, explaining the synopsis for his new action thriller film "One Battle After Another" is no easy feat.

"I think it's probably because it's a complex thing to articulate, but at the heart of it, I think the movie's a lot to do with humanity. It's a lot to do with polarization in the world that we live in, extremism on both ends," the Titanic actor said.

The movie follows Bob Ferguson, played by DiCaprio, and his wife Perfidia Beverly Hills, played by singer Teyana Taylor. They are a loving but strained couple that embark on daring humanitarian missions in modern-day America.

"It's not a film where people are imposing any political beliefs on anyone else," DiCaprio said. "It's satire on both ends. It's a great film to have coming out in today's world. I think it's important."

In the movie, Perfidia suddenly disappears soon after giving birth. Bob changes his identity and goes off the grid to raise their child as a single parent. When an enemy resurfaces after 16 years for revenge, Bob must work to rescue his kidnapped daughter. Writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson is known for his distinct style in films like Licorice Pizza, There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights.

According to DiCaprio, Anderson has "incredible flexibility" and can change whole sequences based on an actor's suggestion. "Not to say that he takes all your ideas, because he certainly doesn't," DiCaprio said. "He's got a great B.S. detector. But when you say that one good idea, I mean, the entire course of the movie may change."

"One Battle After Another" arrives in theaters on Friday. Film critics granted the film, distributed by Warner Bros a 97% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with high praise for Anderson.