For years, Anderson had intended to adapt Vineland, and while creating the screenplay, he eventually included a number of his own tales into the story. [7] [8] One of the first movies to use VistaVision for primary photography since the 1960s, it was filmed in California.

Warner Bros. Pictures released One Battle After Another in theaters in the United States on September 26, 2025, following its global premiere in Los Angeles on September 8, 2025. [9] One Battle After Another, the most costly movie of Anderson’s career, was a box office failure, earning $204 million on a budget of $130–175 million, while receiving significant critical praise [10]. Nevertheless, it went on to become the highest-grossing movie of Anderson’s career.For people who are tired of or uninterested in them, The Smashing Machine is a biopic. It is one of the few films in the genre that defies tradition to tell a tale that is as realistic, gritty, and poignant as the original Rocky (1976). Dwayne Johnson’s highly anticipated starring role as real-life mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr is a genuinely transforming, understated performance that will probably change the veteran performer’s career. The possibility that Johnson will win Best Actor at the upcoming Academy Awards is as high.Benny Safdie, an actor and filmmaker, is directing the movie for the first time on his own. Good Time (2017) and Uncut Gems (2019) are two famous films about rising anxiety, and Safdie is one half of the Safdie brothers. (Josh Safdie, Benny’s brother, will make his directorial debut in December with the sports-focused drama Marty Supreme.) The Smashing Machine initially seems to be a self-conscious change in direction for its filmmaker. It is undoubtedly very different from the thriller clichés of Safdie’s earlier work.It is a terrifically unpredictable addition to the overstuffed biopic genre, whose output is frequently of the print-and-press variety, so pat that they are indistinguishable from a lengthy Wikipedia entry. However, it retains the gritty texture of Safdie’s best films, particularly the brothers’ debut Heaven Knows What (2014) and their follow-up Good Time.Safdie cleverly modifies The Smashing Machine’s structure to avoid giving viewers the most boring biopic clichés. Critics and viewers who were hoping for a more traditional plot have voiced some disapproval, but those who are familiar with Kerr’s biography or the biopic genre will find this to be quite clever.Bob tries to notify the resistance while fleeing through a tunnel, but he can’t remember the password. Willa’s community leader and karate instructor, Sergio St. Carlos, assists him in using a secret route to evacuate immigrants. Bob is apprehended after falling while running across rooftops with Sergio’s pupils. Willa learns of her mother’s treachery when Deandra brings her to the convent of revolutionary nuns.After discovering proof of Lockjaw’s connection to Perfidia, the Christmas Adventurers dispatch Tim Smith to murder both Lockjaw and Willa. Lockjaw finds Willa at the convent, where Deandra is taken into custody. He examines Willa’s DNA in front of her while holding her captive, proving that she is his daughter and not a member of the Christmas Adventurers Club.After having a change of heart and delivering Willa to the militia, Avanti frees her before shooting them to death. In an attempt to flee, she steals his car and weapon and drives off down the neighboring desert highway. Tim starts pursuing her, while Bob is desperately attempting to catch up. Eventually, Willa takes advantage of a blind mountaintop to trick Tim into crashing. When he is unable to pronounce the revolutionary countersign, she shoots him to death. When Bob finds Willa, she wants the countersignature at gunpoint because she is confused by the falsehoods she has learned about her family history, but Bob persuades her to back off. After a sad reunion, the two drive off. It is discovered that Lockjaw survived the assassination attempt.A severely damaged Lockjaw appears to be accepted into the Christmas Adventurers, but soon after, he is gassed to death and cremated. Bob brings Willa home and delivers her a letter from Perfidia in which she expresses regret for what she did and promises to get back together with them soon. Shortly after, Bob offers his daughter his blessing before she leaves for an Oakland demonstration.For years, Anderson had thought about adapting Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland (1990), but he struggled because he thought his passion for the book would prevent him from doing it justice. Rather than pursuing the idea of an adaptation, he wrote a number of distinct stories. These tales were combined with some aspects of Vineland, especially the father-daughter relationship, to create One Battle After Another.
Due to del Toro’s scheduling clash with Wes Anderson’s TheFor years, Anderson had intended to adapt Vineland, and while creating the screenplay, he eventually included a number of his own tales into the story. [7] [8] One of the first movies to use VistaVision for primary photography since the 1960s, it was filmed in California.Warner Bros. Pictures released One Battle After Another in theaters in the United States on September 26, 2025, following its global premiere in Los Angeles on September 8, 2025. [9] One Battle After Another, the most costly movie of Anderson’s career, was a box office failure, earning $204 million on a budget of $130–175 million, while receiving significant critical praise [10]. Nevertheless, it went on to become the highest-grossing movie of Anderson’s career.For people who are tired of or uninterested in them, The Smashing Machine is a biopic. It is one of the few films in the genre that defies tradition to tell a tale that is as realistic, gritty, and poignant as the original Rocky (1976). Dwayne Johnson’s highly anticipated starring role as real-life mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr is a genuinely transforming, understated performance that will probably change the veteran performer’s career. The possibility that Johnson will win Best Actor at the upcoming Academy Awards is as high.Benny Safdie, an actor and filmmaker, is directing the movie for the first time on his own. Good Time (2017) and Uncut Gems (2019) are two famous films about rising anxiety, and Safdie is one half of the Safdie brothers. (Josh Safdie, Benny’s brother, will make his directorial debut in December with the sports-focused drama Marty Supreme.) The Smashing Machine initially seems to be a self-conscious change in direction for its filmmaker. It is undoubtedly very different from the thriller clichés of Safdie’s earlier work.It is a terrifically unpredictable addition to the overstuffed biopic genre, whose output is frequently of the print-and-press variety, so pat that they are indistinguishable from a lengthy Wikipedia entry. However, it retains the gritty texture of Safdie’s best films, particularly the brothers’ debut Heaven Knows What (2014) and their follow-up Good Time.Safdie cleverly modifies The Smashing Machine’s structure to avoid giving viewers the most boring biopic clichés. Critics and viewers who were hoping for a more traditional plot have voiced some disapproval, but those who are familiar with Kerr’s biography or the biopic genre will find this to be quite clever.Bob tries to notify the resistance while fleeing through a tunnel, but he can’t remember the password. Willa’s community leader and karate instructor, Sergio St. Carlos, assists him in using a secret route to evacuate immigrants. Bob is apprehended after falling while running across rooftops with Sergio’s pupils. Willa learns of her mother’s treachery when Deandra brings her to the convent of revolutionary nuns.After discovering proof of Lockjaw’s connection to Perfidia, the Christmas Adventurers dispatch Tim Smith to murder both Lockjaw and Willa. Lockjaw finds Willa at the convent, where Deandra is taken into custody. He examines Willa’s DNA in front of her while holding her captive, proving that she is his daughter and not a member of the Christmas Adventurers Club.After having a change of heart and delivering Willa to the militia, Avanti frees her before shooting them to death. In an attempt to flee, she steals his car and weapon and drives off down the neighboring desert highway. Tim starts pursuing her, while Bob is desperately attempting to catch up. Eventually, Willa takes advantage of a blind mountaintop to trick Tim into crashing. When he is unable to pronounce the revolutionary countersign, she shoots him to death. When Bob finds Willa, she wants the countersignature at gunpoint because she is confused by the falsehoods she has learned about her family history, but Bob persuades her to back off. After a sad reunion, the two drive off. It is discovered that Lockjaw survived the assassination attempt.A severely damaged Lockjaw appears to be accepted into the Christmas Adventurers, but soon after, he is gassed to death and cremated. Bob brings Willa home and delivers her a letter from Perfidia in which she expresses regret for what she did and promises to get back together with them soon. Shortly after, Bob offers his daughter his blessing before she leaves for an Oakland demonstration.
For years, Anderson had thought about adapting Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland (1990), but he struggled because he thought his passion for the book would prevent him from doing it justice. Rather than pursuing the idea of an adaptation, he wrote a number of distinct stories. These tales were combined with some aspects of Vineland, especially the father-daughter relationship, to create One Battle After Another.
Due to del Toro’s scheduling clash with Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, which was shot between March and June 2024, the production took a two-and-a-half-month break from filming. [24] [25] Additionally, on-location filming was done in El Paso, Texas, in June 2024, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Borrego Springs in May 2024. [26] [27] La Purísima Mission was one of the other places used for filming [19].After working with Anderson on Licorice Pizza (2021), Michael Bauman used VistaVision cameras to shoot the movie on 35 mm film. [31] [32] VistaVision was used to shoot between 75 and 80 percent of the movie. [33] The end credits of the movie thank actor Giovanni Ribisi for letting the filmmakers use VistaVision cameras that he had manually refurbished. [7] [34]
Cribbed from the 2002 HBO documentary The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr, Johnson’s performance in the title role is nothing short of revolutionary. Few would have contended that the actor vanishes into his parts, despite the fact that he has always been a delightful on-screen presence. Depending on the project, he portrays either butt-kicking, quipping The Rock, his former WWE alter ego, or fatherly, beaming Dwayne Johnson.
The movie had several test screenings starting in January 2025, which confirmed the alleged Vineland link. [42] Anderson consented to crowd testing for the first time since Boogie Nights (1997), and he reduced eight to ten minutes based on the comments., which was shot between March and June 2024, the production took a two-and-a-half-month break from filming. [24] [25] Additionally, on-location filming was done in El Paso, Texas, in June 2024, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Borrego Springs in May 2024. [26] [27] La Purísima Mission was one of the other places used for filming [19].

After working with Anderson on Licorice Pizza (2021), Michael Bauman used VistaVision cameras to shoot the movie on 35 mm film. [31] [32] VistaVision was used to shoot between 75 and 80 percent of the movie. [33] The end credits of the movie thank actor Giovanni Ribisi for letting the filmmakers use VistaVision cameras that he had manually refurbished. [7] [34]
Cribbed from the 2002 HBO documentary The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr, Johnson’s performance in the title role is nothing short of revolutionary. Few would have contended that the actor vanishes into his parts, despite the fact that he has always been a delightful on-screen presence. Depending on the project, he portrays either butt-kicking, quipping The Rock, his former WWE alter ego, or fatherly, beaming Dwayne Johnson.
The movie had several test screenings starting in January 2025, which confirmed the alleged Vineland link. [42] Anderson consented to crowd testing for the first time since Boogie Nights (1997), and he reduced eight to ten minutes based on the comments.