“One Battle After Another” — Stunt Coordinator Brian Machleit on Keeping It Real with Leonardo DiCaprio

• Stunt coordinator Brian Machleit spoke to IndieWire about his work on One Battle After Another.
• Paul Thomas Anderson asked him to keep the action real and let the actors do it themselves.
• Leonardo DiCaprio did a rooftop fall and a car bail; Benicio Del Toro did his own driving.

Posted: April 10, 2026

IndieWire published an in-depth interview with stunt coordinator Brian Machleit about his work on Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Anderson's directive to Machleit was clear: keep everything grounded in reality and have the actors do as much of the action themselves as possible.

Machleit planned stunts in close collaboration with DiCaprio — who performed a rooftop fall and bailed out of a moving car on screen — and Benicio Del Toro, who did all of his own stunt driving in the film. The approach extended to non-professional actors, including real Army Rangers cast in the movie.

Machleit has a long history with both Anderson (Licorice Pizza) and DiCaprio (The Aviator, The Revenant), which helped build the trust needed for this level of actor involvement in practical action.

The Film Stage also ran a feature breaking down the stunts, with Machleit discussing the challenge of keeping DiCaprio safe while still delivering the intense realism Anderson demanded.

Sources: IndieWire — One Battle After Another Stunt Coordinator Interview · The Film Stage — Breaking Down the Stunts · Gold Derby — The Roof Fall Scene

Learn more on IMDb: One Battle After Another (2025) · Brian Machleit