- - “One Battle After Another” star Chase Infiniti explains that Sean Penn scene, and Regina Hall shares cut scene with Teyana Taylor

Gerrad HallDecember 16, 2025 at 1:00 AM

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Warner Bros

'One Battle After Another' stars Regina Hall and Chase Infiniti

Chase Infiniti hit the jackpot for her big-screen debut: One Battle After Another, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, with Leonardo DiCaprio playing her dad. She also gets to spend a portion of the film on the run with Regina Hall, whose character Deandra's mission is to protect Infiniti's character Willa from Col. Lockjaw, played by Sean Penn.

Spoiler alert: Lockjaw catches up to them. What comes next, though, Infiniti says she didn't anticipate.

"When I first got to read that script, at first I started flying through it, because I was like, this is so incredible and the story is so great," Infiniti, who just earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance, says on the latest episode of The Awardist podcast. "And then I had to go back and I was like, okay, don't zoom through it. You have to let it take you on the journey. You can't rush through it. And so when I finally got to that scene and the script, I was so invested. And I had a sneaky suspicion. I had a sneaky suspicion. But while reading it, I was like, no, please don't let it be true."

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

Chase Infiniti and Regina Hall in 'One Battle After Another'

That suspicion has to do with Lockjaw's questions about her paternity; While Willa's mom, Perfidia (Teyana Taylor), was involved with Pat (DiCaprio), she had sex with Lockjaw so he would release her after catching her planting a bomb.

Sixteen years later, after catching Willa, Lockjaw performs a DNA test on her to determine if he's her biological father.

"When I finished that scene and finished the script entirely, I was so excited to do that scene because it goes through so many emotions, and where it starts versus where it ends is incredible," Infiniti says.

Excited...and not nervous to go toe-to-toe with Sean Penn?

"Yeah, I was so excited to shoot it, so excited. No, listen, listen, the second that we started shooting, I was like, this is game time. You were prepared for this one, you have nothing to be scared for," she recalls. "That scene I was very excited to tackle because I knew it was gonna be an important sequence, and it was an important scene overall for the entire film."

Warner Bros.

Sean Penn in 'One Battle After Another'

As for Penn, "that also was so wonderful because Lockjaw's a very intense character and Sean, when he's acting, very intense, very scary, especially as Lockjaw, [but when the] camera cuts, could not be a kinder human being and nothing like Lockjaw at all. But getting to do that scene with him, I really wanted to make sure that, because he is incredible at not letting you know his next move, he would keep me on my toes, and I was really making sure that I was keeping him on his toes as much as I could and throw him those different dynamics in the scene that we had either previously discussed, or me and Paul had discussed. And so that was also something that was really fun to get to do with him."

Hall's research into revolutionary groups like French 75, which Deandra, Perfidia, and Pat are members of, included documentaries, but more crucially, speaking with two women who were Black Panthers. She wanted to know "why they joined it, what was the time like, and then, what they lost," she explains on The Awardist. "You don't know Deandra's backstory, it's not on the screen, but I think for me, creating what she had already lost in those decisions and those women, one of them particularly, there's a lot of sacrifice."

One scene in particular informed Hall a lot about Deandra, a scene that ultimately hit the cutting room floor.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

Regina Hall in 'One Battle After Another'

"The conversations were cut where you really would understand Deandra's reason for the cause. And also, there was a conversation between Perfidia and Deandra. They were actually best friends, and she actually did let Deandra know, "I've been caught, and you've gotta take care of the child. But they were talking in code: 'Take care of those little socks for me.' And so in that, she makes a promise and she says, 'I swear.' So her return is noble, but also, that was her girl. And that's the last thing they said to each other before we don't see Perfidia again...'I got you. I promise.'"

Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV, movies, and more.

Listen to Infiniti's and Hall's full interviews on The Awardist, below, where Infiniti shares more on her long audition process and sets the record straight on shaving DiCaprio's face in one of their first meetings, the physicality of the role, and more; and Hall explains how being Anderson's neighbor helped her land her role, her time on the road with Infiniti, and she teases Scary Movie 6 and looks back on her career.

on Entertainment Weekly

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