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Teyana Taylor spoke to InStyle for the magazine’s fall cover story about her friendship with One Battle After Another costar Leonardo DiCaprio
The actress recalled seeing her real-life “buddy” be a “mentor” and “great leader” on set
One Battle After Another, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, is in theaters Sept. 26
Teyana Taylor has newfound respect for pal Leonardo DiCaprio.
The actress sang her One Battle After Another costar’s praises in an interview with InStyle for the magazine’s fall cover, revealing that while she has long considered DiCaprio her “buddy,” the upcoming Paul Thomas Anderson film “was my first time working with him.”
The set of One Battle After Another, said Taylor, 34, was an opportunity for her to see DiCaprio, 50, “in a completely different light.”
“And him just kind of being a mentor and being a great leader, it was really dope to see,” she added. “He don’t play no games with that.”
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Jason Kim/InStyle
Teyana Taylor on the cover of InStyle, fall 2025
One Battle After Another follows DiCaprio as Bob Ferguson, a former revolutionary figure who is being hunted by Sean Penn’s police character, Steven Lockjaw.
In the trailer, Taylor’s character, Perfidia Beverly Hills — who shares a child with Bob — appears to be apprehended by law enforcement prior to the start of the movie’s events, leaving him and daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) to go on the run and seek refuge with an ally, Sensei Sergio (Benicio del Toro).
One Battle After Another also stars Wood Harris, Alana Haim and Regina Hall, the latter of whom recently told PEOPLE she was “so excited to be part of a film that” Anderson, 55, was directing.
In her interview with InStyle, Taylor also heaped praise upon the filmmaker, calling Anderson a “rare gem” and “one of those directors I want to work with multiple times.”
“You know how you have that actor-director link up where it’s like every time they link up, it just gets better and better and better?” she said. “That’s the type of ‘ship that I see with PTA.”
The feeling is mutual, as Anderson told InStyle, “I do feel that there’s more to do with Teyana,” adding, “She has one of the most photographable faces in the world.”
DiCaprio described One Battle After Another as “an incredibly epic movie [that] has such scope and scale” when he appeared at CinemaCon 2025 in April to tease the film.
The Academy Award winner also told InStyle in the magazine’s profile of Taylor that “some of Teyana’s most powerful scenes” in the film “are improvised, and I think that just speaks volumes of what she brought to her performance.”
“She really dove into the essence of Perfidia and the feelings of being torn as a mother, as a partner and as a revolutionary,” DiCaprio explained.
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Anderson couldn’t agree more, recalling “a scene where” Taylor “absolutely man-handles Leo in the back of the car. It was fun watching her boss him around and f— with him.”
The director also told InStyle that working with Taylor is “a hell of a lot of fun,” in part because “she thinks like a filmmaker.”
“She’s a good listener and she’s got a big mouth. Good combo,” he added.
One Battle After Another is in theaters Sept. 26.
Read the original article on People
