Chase Infiniti On Discovering Willa’s Strength and Becoming the Soul of ‘One Battle After Another’ [VIDEO INTERVIEW]
Back in September, at an early screening of One Battle After Another, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson said in the Q&A that it took him years to get the courage to make this film because he “couldn’t find the right Willa.” Enter actress Chase Infiniti, the newcomer of the year, who auditioned with Anderson and company for six months before she landed the role of a lifetime, as Willa Ferguson, the daughter of two ex-revolutionaries, who is thrusted into the world of her parents when an old nemesis from the past resurfaces, looking to settle old business with their group, the French 75, once and for all. In taking on this role, Infiniti becomes the soul of the film, and the reason why One Battle After Another is the defining masterpiece of the year.
Born and raised in Indianapolis, Chase Infiniti (named after the Batman Forever character Chase Meridian, played by Nicole Kidman, and Buzz Lightyear’s catchphrase “To infinity and beyond” from Toy Story) grew up wanting to pursue the arts, audition for local productions of musicals when she was just ten years old. Eldest daughter of two, her parents own a construction company, and encouraged their daughter’s passions, leading her to work on her craft in high school, and major in musical theater at Columbia College in Chicago, where she graduated in 2022. Shortly after her graduation, she landed a role in the Apple TV+ limited series Presumed Innocent, opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Negga; who played her parents on the show.
But it was the role in Anderson’s father-daughter epic that has made Chase Infiniti a star in the making, as she delivers some of the finest acting of 2025 with her fierce, committed portrayal of Willa, commanding your attention every time she’s on screen. In her review of the film, Sophia Ciminello glowed about Infiniti’s work, stating that the young actress “feels right at home in Anderson’s sprawling cast of performers” and imbued her character “with the same kind of resilient, stubborn attitude found in Perfidia and, together with DiCaprio, establishes the bones of an evolving father-daughter relationship.” By doing this, she created riveting work that merged the gap of who Willa’s parents are, and what they mean to her, and how her survival and tenacity in the face of pure evil forms a new hope within the next generation, phase of the revolution.
In my recent conversation with Infiniti, we discussed the audition process she had in getting the role of Willa, the conversations she had with PTA about her character, and the preparation for the physicality within playing the role of Willa. We also talked about working with Leonardo DiCaprio to create the father-daughter dynamic within the film, her emotional connection to Willa’s journey, how her story ties to the decisions made by her Mom, and what it has been like traveling around the world with her co-stars and director to promote and showcase the film. If her performance in One Battle After Another is an indication of the career she’s about to have and the work she is going to continue to deliver, then we are about to witness something special as Chase Infiniti’s talent is limitless.
One Battle After Another is currently in theaters and available on VOD.
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