Leonardo DiCaprio (left) and Benicio del Toro pose for a portrait at The Aster hotel on Sept. 9, 2025, where the two Oscar-winning actors discussed their new movie "One Battle After Another."
Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio, left) comically parts from Sensei Sergio (Benicio del Toro) in "One Battle After Another."
Director Paul Thomas Anderson speaks with Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro before shooting a car-chase scene with cameras mounted on the hood. DiCaprio eventually crawled out the window.
Leonardo DiCaprio (right) and Benicio del Toro share a laugh while posing for a portrait at The Aster hotel in Los Angeles on Sept. 9, 2025. DiCaprio and del Toro star in director Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film “One Battle After Another.”

LOS ANGELES − Amid serious themes of political struggle, oppression and resistance in Paul Thomas Anderson's big-budget satire "One Battle After Another," there's laugh-out-loud comedy − especially when Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro share the screen for the first time.

DiCaprio, 50, subverts his Hollywood leading man image by wearing a ratty red robe, unkempt hair and oversized sunglasses as former revolutionary and current stoner Bob Ferguson, who is forced back into action to save himself and his daughter (Chase Infiniti) from paramilitary enforcers.

There are clear parallels to Jeff Bridges' "The Dude" role in the Coen Brothers' "The Big Lebowski."

"Think about 'The Dude,' if he was put into a modern context and was a revolutionary," DiCaprio says of the robe, speaking in a joint interview with del Toro for the new movie (in theaters Sept. 26). "We had a lot of discussions, because I have one costume. Bob's got his cape: the red robe he was getting stoned in at home alone when giant forces tried to ruin his life."

Del Toro, 58, steps in as local karate instructor Sensei Sergio St. Carlos, who preaches calming deep breathing while helping his harried friend.

"Paul wants to laugh − you could see him looking to laugh," says del Toro as DiCaprio mimics their director's restrained, behind-the-camera chuckle.

If DiCaprio fans were imagining debonair "Great Gatsby" moments in the 2-hour, 40-minute caper, think again. Bob is the Dude-like stoner who detests the world's smarmy millionaires.

"These flawed characters are just trying to find their way against these imperialistic forces," DiCaprio says. "It's genius, because it subverts all expectations."

"One Battle" catches up with Ferguson, the former terrorist who has been hiding out for 16 years with Willa (Infiniti), his daughter with his long-ago captured partner Perfidia (Teyana Taylor). When obsessed pursuer Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn) finally tracks Bob down, the paranoid but loving dad has smoked copious amounts of marijuana on his couch.

The surprise raid explains why Bob's red plaid loungewear becomes his outfit as he runs − and then pursues Lockjaw, who abducts Willa. Anderson had suggested Bob don a military poncho.

"But I asked, 'Why's he wearing a poncho if it's not raining?'" DiCaprio says. And Anderson said: " 'All right, we're keeping the robe. That's it.' Bob is not a traditional hero. His heroism is just relentless pursuit and going forward. That's why we had to keep the robe."

Sensei Sergio is swept up in the drama off-hours in his martial arts gi with sandals and socks. "It's go, go, go, so we keep the karate pants the whole way," del Toro says.

Bob's escape apparel over the two-day fight for his daughter's survival features cataract-protecting sunglasses snatched comically from a drugstore rack. DiCaprio personally picked the unflattering shades.

"There's the weird 'Star Wars' theme to this movie," DiCaprio says. "I had this vision of these wraparound optical glasses like Boba Fett. Those are the ones I had to choose."

The film’s trailer teases its comedy − including a gag where the dynamic duo separate as Sensei Sergio drops through a trapdoor that’s instantly concealed by a spring-loaded rug.

"That carpet rolling is funny, like the Three Stooges or Buster Keaton," says del Toro, who throws down a French term for undefinable admiration. "It's just that little je ne sais quoi."

"That cherry on top," DiCaprio adds, helpfully.

Benicio del Toro drove the car with 'the diamond' Leonardo DiCaprio hanging out

The two reunite for a brief road trip that gets sullied by pursuing police. DiCaprio praises del Toro's acting while driving. "There's a lot of plot to cover while he's driving at 40, 50 miles per hour through an abandoned town outside El Paso," DiCaprio says. "He's making hairpin turns with VistaVision cameras on the hood."

Del Toro says he drove with extreme caution for scenes when his red-robed screen partner climbed out the open window.

"I had Leo, the diamond, hanging outside the car. I couldn't drop the diamond."

The revolutionary satire was perfect viewing for DiCaprio's "peace-loving hippie" father, George, who attended the movie's Hollywood world premiere. "He loved the themes of this movie," DiCaprio says.

George even beat his famous son to appearing in an Anderson film, making his movie debut with a cameo in 2021's "Licorice Pizza" as a wig shop owner and waterbed salesman. "I got the call from Paul and I thought he was calling me for something," DiCaprio says. "And Paul was like, 'Actually, I want to talk to your dad.' "

Leo DiCaprio is happy to be in 'One Battle After Another' after his 'biggest regret': turning down 'Boogie Nights'

Del Toro played maritime lawyer Sauncho Smilax in Anderson's 2014 noir comedy "Inherent Vice."

"It's one of those career checks to work with Paul," del Toro says.

"For me, too," adds DiCaprio, who is at peace after passing on the Dirk Diggler role in Anderson's 1997 "Boogie Nights," which the actor has called his "biggest regret." (The role went to Mark Wahlberg.)

"Yeah, it's a regret. But it's just out of my admiration for a seminal film of my generation. I just love the worlds (Anderson) creates. They're lasting pieces of art. So it's less of it being a regret, but, wow. I wanted to be a part of that magic. And thank God, I'm here more than 25 years later getting to do this."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Leonardo DiCaprio finally checks this off his bucket list, ends his biggest regret

Reporting by Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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