Actress and singer Teyana Taylor reveals that her journey to her part in One Battle After Another began with a phone call that almost did not happen. The opportunity arose during a frustrating road trip traffic jam when an unknown caller’s number flashed on her phone.
Teyana Taylor recalls getting an unexpected call
According to Teyana, she was not exactly in the mood to answer a call from an unknown person. On the other end of the line was director Paul Thomas Anderson, who had watched her perform in A Thousand and One. Paul Thomas Anderson informed Teyana that he had written a character with her in mind.
According to Teyana, Anderson thought that she alone could carry the fire and emotion that her character would require. The phone call snapped her out of her bad mood. Once Teyana received her script, her response was simple.
According to her, she thought to herself, “Let him cook.” Teyana plays Perfidia Beverly Hills, a radical activist and a member of a political group known as the French 75. Her character is also the lover of Pat “Ghetto” Calhoun, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and the mother of their daughter Willa.
One of the defining looks for Perfidia came straight from Taylor herself. She came on set during one of the camera tests wearing one dramatic lash on each eye, which Anderson instantly fell in love with, referring to it as unconventional, full of swagger, and the choice worked.
Taylor has also come to defend Perfidia against accusations of selfishness by some who view the character as abandoning her family. According to Taylor, Perfidia is simply surviving and choosing not to live up to the unrealistic “superwoman” expectation of Black women.
There was much freedom during the production of the film, as Anderson often wrote notes such as “Chaos to be determined” within the script, allowing Taylor, as well as her co-stars Penn and DiCaprio, room for improvisation. Taylor claims she came into the production like a sponge, soaking up the energy, while bringing raw emotion to each of her scenes.
Taylor revealed she is already asking Anderson to consider a sequel or spin-off. She hopes to explore Perfidia’s 16-year exile in Mexico and her eventual reunion with her daughter. According to Taylor, the conversations about continuing the story are “very, very real.”
