When Killers of the Flower Moon came out in 2023, I was surprised to see Leonardo DiCaprio really campaign for himself, for the film and for Lily Gladstone. Leo got extra credit in my book for using his fame and name to put Lily front and center. It didn’t pay off for him personally – he didn’t receive an Oscar nomination for KOTFM, but Lily, Marty Scorsese and the film all got nominations. Months ago, I wondered if DiCaprio would even bother to campaign for One Battle After Another after what happened with KOTFM. He has, but he’s going about it differently this time around. He’s happy to give space to Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, Benicio del Toro and the rest of the cast, but he’s mostly just hanging out with Paul Thomas Anderson and doing some one-off interviews here and there. It’s working, actually. OBAA is an Oscar favorite, and Leo will probably be nominated across the board. Leo and PTA recently chatted with the Times of London about OBAA, the future of theatrical releases and politics. Some highlights:

The future of the movie theater: “It’s changing at a lightning speed. We’re looking at a huge transition. First, documentaries disappeared from cinemas. Now, dramas only get finite time and people wait to see it on streamers. I don’t know. Do people still have the appetite? Or will cinemas become silos — like jazz bars?”

OBAA’s box office dilemma: One Battle After Another resisted the fast buck of home entertainment rentals for the big screen, taking $204.7 million at the global box office — impressive for a near three-hour movie, but far less than the estimated $300 million needed to break even. It had a reported budget of up to $175 million.

Who will save cinema? “I just hope enough people, who are real visionaries, get opportunities to do unique things in the future that are seen in the cinema. But that remains to be seen.”

Turning down the lead in Boogie Nights: DiCaprio “regrets” turning it down. “I’d put the soundtrack of that movie on and drive around Los Angeles, playing the blues of how much I love that movie.”

On the politics of OBAA: It is a febrile time for Hollywood, when President Trump wades in to criticise perceived enemies and networks can face repercussions from the government too. Was there any fear in taking part in something that sticks pins into authoritarianism and lampoons the American right? “It never even occurred to me to not be part of the film because of its political undertones,” DiCaprio says. “And I don’t think there is any specific political agenda or ideology attached to it. We’ve had reactions from both the left and right, which, to me, says something. And anyway, at the end of the film, Bob is just a dad who’s there for his daughter.”

[From The Times]

Before I saw OBAA, I read some commentary about how “Hollywood loves this film because of what it says politically.” I expected a more overtly political film but that’s not really what it is. I mean, yes, the first twenty minutes are very political and full of “political messages.” But the rest of the film is mostly just an action-drama about a father and daughter. Granted, I thought all of the background action with Sensei Sergio basically running an underground railroad for undocumented immigrants was amazing, but again, I thought the film would be much more heavily political than it was.

As for the discussion about mergers, the future of movie theaters and the business of filmmaking… I rarely go to the movie theater these days, but I grew up going to the movies and I want that for everybody. At some point, it feels like the current “business model” of movie theaters will collapse. I would love to see another rise of independently-owned movie theaters rise up from the ashes.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.