As the best reviewed movie of 2025 so far (according to Metacritic), Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is going to contend in multiple categories at the 2026 Oscars. In fact, after the Gotham Awards made it the most-nominated movie despite some grumblings over its status as a major studio project, it should be considered the current frontrunner for Best Picture, leapfrogging Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. But perhaps more interesting than that race at this stage is what will happen to the film’s actors.
One Battle After Another is full of truly great performances, from the stars at the top of the call sheet all the way on down to the minor roles and one-scene appearances, and the big question currently is how many of its actors can score nominations. It could contend just about everywhere: Leonardo DiCaprio in Best Actor; Chase Infiniti in Best Actress; Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro in Best Supporting Actor; Teyana Taylor and Regina Hall in Best Supporting Actress. But all of them breaking into their respective races is unlikely.
Awards watchers will be closely following the precursors to see which of the performances gain the most traction, and the Gothams (which have two, non-gendered Lead and Supporting categories with ten nominees each) planted the first flag. DiCaprio, Penn, and Hall missed, but Taylor and del Toro were both nominated in supporting, while Infiniti made the Best Breakthrough Performer category.
Given the nature of these awards, the two biggest, most-established stars not being nominated is no sign of an issue with their campaigns. This does indicate that Hall’s much quieter performance will likely struggle to stand out in comparison to Taylor, who dominates her screen time – but I actually think the biggest sign of a future snub comes for someone who did get nominated.
Chase Infiniti Will Miss Best Actress (Because Well-Intentioned Precursors Will Send The Wrong Signals)
There are two main ways to conceive of the purpose of awards shows. The truly competitive one is that they should aspire to determine the best of the best, and if one movie is head-and-shoulders above everything else in every category, so be it. The other, which I subscribe to, is that they exist to celebrate and platform as much great art as possible.
The Gotham nominations tend to reflect the latter sensibility; it’s why, for example, they upped Best Feature from five nominees to ten this year. And in that spirit, it makes perfect sense why Chase Infiniti, the 25-year-old appearing in her first ever movie, would be nominated for Breakthrough Performer instead of Outstanding Lead Performance. It’s well-intended, and likely the first of many such honors she’ll receive from awards bodies with a similar category.
But the Oscars don’t have a breakthrough category. If Infiniti continues to be separated in precursors from the rest of the Best Actress pack, which then solidifies without her, I fear she will be thought of in a different tier come time for Academy Award nominations.
Which would be a real shame. One Battle After Another doesn’t reach the heights it does without her excellent lead performance, and if the film is the frontrunner it seems to be, she deserves to be recognized alongside other, more established actresses.
- Release Date
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September 26, 2025
- Runtime
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162 minutes
- Producers
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Adam Somner
