Of ‘One Battle After Another’s Supporting Characters, This Performance Deserved More Credit

5 days ago 8

Regina Hall and Chase Infiniti talk in a restroom in One Battle After Another

Published Feb 22, 2026, 5:55 PM EST

Thomas Butt is a senior writer. An avid film connoisseur, Thomas actively logs his film consumption on Letterboxd and vows to connect with many more cinephiles through the platform. He is immensely passionate about the work of Martin Scorsese, John Ford, and Albert Brooks. His work can be read on Collider and Taste of Cinema. He also writes for his own blog, The Empty Theater, on Substack. He is also a big fan of courtroom dramas and DVD commentary tracks. For Thomas, movie theaters are a second home. A native of Wakefield, MA, he is often found scrolling through the scheduled programming on Turner Classic Movies and making more room for his physical media collection. Thomas habitually increases his watchlist and jumps down a YouTube rabbit hole of archived interviews with directors and actors. He is inspired to write about film to uphold the medium's artistic value and to express his undying love for the art form. Thomas looks to cinema as an outlet to better understand the world, human emotions, and himself.

Earning 13 nominations from the Academy Awards, One Battle After Another is a stone-cold juggernaut of this awards season, only falling three nominations short of Sinners' record-breaking 16 nods. Instantly regarded as one of the high-water marks of cinema in the 2020s, Paul Thomas Anderson's rip-roaring action-thriller/black comedy features a robust cast all giving some of their finest performances, or, in the case of breakthrough star Chase Infiniti and other non-professional actors, their debut screen performances. Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, and Teyana Taylor all received nominations, but somehow, rewarding it with only four acting nods seems unfair. One screen performance in the Best Picture frontrunner has been frequently overlooked since the film's release in September 2025. Regina Hall doesn't have the flash of her co-stars, but her performance is essential to the dense thematic weight of One Battle After Another and the spine of its source material, Thomas Pynchon's Vineland.

Regina Hall Takes a Stark Dramatic Turn in 'One Battle After Another'

Between Adam Sandler, John C. Reilly, and sporadic appearances by his partner, Maya Rudolph, Paul Thomas Anderson is no stranger to casting comedic talent in his prestige dramas. With One Battle After Another promising to be one of his more broadly comedic efforts, one would suspect that Regina Hall would be a laugh riot as Deandra, a veteran member of the revolutionary group, the French 75, who watches over Willa Ferguson (Infiniti) after being targeted by Col. Lockjaw (Penn). When you cast the funny woman, best known for the Scary Movie series and Girls Trip, you're always in for a treat, even when the movie is lackluster.

In a bold casting decision, Hall is perhaps the most stoic and restrained performer in One Battle After Another. While DiCaprio gets to act like a bumbling mess and Penn is a grotesque villain with an awkward gait and facial expression, the unflappable Hall barely cracks a smile. Considering that Deandra is responsible for protecting the 17-year-old Willa and restoring the future of American revolutionaries, she has plenty of stress to wear on her face. In the film, she's defined by her minimal words and muted gaze, but in Pynchon's book, which Anderson only uses as a loose template, the story is told through the character's vision, named DL Chastain, whose martial arts background contains components of the film's Sensei Sergio (del Toro). DL fills in background detail for the Frenesi Gates character, the inspiration for Perfidia Beverly Hills (Taylor). The personal stakes of Vineland's epic story, ranging from the history of the revolutionary group and Frenesi's ties to Brock Vond (the stand-in for Lockjaw), are clearly outlined by DL's presence and emotional heartbeat.

Regina Hall's Subtle Gestures and Muted Expression Carry the Weight of 'One Battle After Another'

Anderson strips down much of Vineland to better suit the framework of a Hollywood movie without compromising Pynchon's biting commentary. However, the DL character takes the brunt of the cutback, with her character analog, Deandra, being marginalized in the main narrative. However, a wonderful actor can make any small part feel central, and that's exactly what Regina Hall does. Her lack of awards consideration should not deter any momentum in her favor following her revelatory performance in One Battle After Another, which proved her as an accomplished dramatic actor. Where most comedic stars tend to go big and over-the-top with their tonal pivot, Hall lets her silent stare convey so much history and tragedy. The film kicks into another gear when Deandra locates Willa in the school bathroom. As the tune of the trust device plays, she becomes the maternal figure Willa never had, and the stakes of this film amplify when we realize that it's about protecting the future of American liberation in the face of fascism.

In her easy-to-overlook performance, Regina Hall trades in laughs to be the melancholic heart of One Battle After Another. With Bob (DiCaprio) running from behind to catch up with his daughter, Deandra fills in as Willa's surrogate parent. During this period, when she is brought back to the group's retreat through her capture by Lockjaw, she witnesses Willa grow from an innocent teenager into a young woman taking the call to action. Deandra's expression while observing Willa at the firing range, echoing the guns-blazing attitude of her mother, is the highlight of Hall's soulful performance. Where Perfidia was cold and calculating as a freedom fighter, Deandra lets her vulnerability sit on her face, representing the weight of the French 75 crumbling beneath her as the nation is upended by depraved forces like Lockjaw.

One Battle After Another is about contemporary American life and the future of human liberty from afar; however, upon examining its elements, Paul Thomas Anderson's triumphant cinematic experience is revealed to be a study of human relationships and family. In its stacked cast, Regina Hall embodies these heartfelt themes strikingly with the most subtle gestures.

One Battle After Another is available to stream on HBO Max in the U.S.