How Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio Made 'One Battle After Another'

“I’d like a Coke, with ice,” Paul Thomas Anderson says, addressing the waiter standing before his table.

“And I’d like a Coke, with ice, ” Leonardo DiCaprio echoes, emphasizing the words to the point that the renowned filmmaker sitting to his right immediately starts laughing as the server walks off.

Anderson turns to the Oscar-winning star, who’s endured vicious bear attacks and disastrous ocean-liner cruises onscreen, and, in the voice of a 12-year-old kid from the San Fernando Valley, goes: “I’d like a McDonald’s Coke, with iiiice !”

“ Crunch-yyy ice !” DiCaprio replies, sounding equally preadolescent, and both break into giggling fits.

“Wait, are we going?” Anderson says, suddenly noticing the red light on my recorder. He composes himself, kind of. “OK. Right. What do