Production
In June 2023, Paul Thomas Anderson's next film, rumored to star Regina Hall, Viggo Mortensen, and Joaquin Phoenix, found its home at Warner Bros. Pictures. [5] In January 2024, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Regina Hall were confirmed to star [6] In February 2024, Alana Haim, Wood Harris, Teyana Taylor, Shayna McHayle and Chase Infiniti joined the cast. [7] Dicaprio earned $20 million for his involvement. [8]
Principal photography began in California on January 22, 2024. [9] [10] [11] The film, under the working title BC Project, filmed for eleven days across Humboldt County in Arcata, Cutten, Eureka, and Trinidad. [12] On February 3, production moved to Sacramento, with filming at the Sacramento County Administration Building and Sacramento County Courthouse. [13] Some controversy was garnered when a homeless encampment was cleared to allow for filming. [14] On-location filming also took place in El Paso, Texas, in June 2024. [15] The film was shot on 35 mm film using VistaVision cameras. [16]
In February 2024, Variety reported that the film had been greenlit with a $115 million production budget. [1] In August 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported the budget to be "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". [2] That month, sources indicated the film had been titled The Battle of Baktan Cross as rumors circulated that it was loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland (1990), Anderson having previously adapted Pynchon's Inherent Vice (2009) into a feature film. [17] [18] In January 2025, a test screening in Phoenix, Arizona, at the Harkins Theatres Norterra 14, revealed the film's title to be One Battle After Another and confirmed its connection to Vineland. [19]
The film marks the sixth feature film collaboration between Anderson and composer Jonny Greenwood, [20] and the fifth and final between Anderson and first assistant director Adam Somner, who died in November 2024. [21]