{"id":259389,"date":"2025-09-27T18:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T18:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/259389\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T18:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T18:35:11","slug":"california-locations-chase-scene-breakdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/259389\/","title":{"rendered":"California Locations, Chase Scene Breakdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAll Paul Thomas Anderson<\/a> movies are layered with fascinating characters and distinctive looks, but \u201cOne Battle After Another<\/a>\u201d might be the most ambitious of them all in terms of its massive scope. The movie races across the desert east of San Diego, down to the Tijuana border and into the NorCal redwoods as Sean Penn\u2019s whacked-out Col Steven J. Lockjaw pursues Leonardo DiCaprio<\/a>\u2018s depressed stoner Bob and his radiant teenage daughter Willa, played by Chase Infiniti.<\/p>\n

\n\tPulling together all these locations and settings was no small feat, production designer Florencia Martin<\/a> tells Variety. For Anderson\u2019s last movie, \u201cLicorice Pizza,\u201d Martin meticulously reproduced the streetscapes, homes and restaurants of the 1970s San Fernando Valley. But \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d was an epic of another magnitude \u2014 set in the sort-of present day, but occupying a reality all its own.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnderson had been mulling the project for years, but research for locations started just before the Coivd pandemic, with serious scouting beginning in 2022.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Thomas Pynchon\u2019s novel \u201cVineland,\u201d on which \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d was loosely based<\/a>, the revolutionary group based on the Weather Underground flees to Humboldt County in the far north of California. So the scouting trip started up north in Eureka. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat was the way we approached finding this film,\u201d Martin says. \u201cWe\u2019d go to all these inland neighborhoods like Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno. It really is like a tapestry of California to me \u2013 a California that we don\u2019t really know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe big-budget production filmed in at least nine counties in California, at L.A. Center Studios and in El Paso, Texas, with help from $8.4 million in California production subsidies. But the locations weren\u2019t the typical coastal sights of the Golden State \u2014 instead, the Sacramento rail yards, the Tijuana border crossing at Otay Mesa and the undulating hills of the Anza-Borrego desert are some of the places that make \u201cOne Battle\u201d completely distinctive from other California-set films.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen the film jumps forward 16 years, viewers might wonder if it\u2019s 16 years in the future \u2014 or if the early scenes are in fact 16 years in the past. But Anderson keeps things a bit mysterious.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re not trying to say this is a story that takes place today, but this is a story that is happening in present time,\u201d Martin says cryptically.<\/p>\n

\n\tViewers will also have to use their imagination to visualize the central fictional city of Baktan Cross, which is a combination of Eureka and El Paso. The dramatic dance scene was filmed at Eureka High School, with actual students as background actors, while Sacramento\u2019s Reagan Mansion was, fittingly, the headquarters for the nefarious Christmas Adventurer\u2019s Club.<\/p>\n

\n\tCreating the technology for revolutionaries operating in an amorphous present, such as the scanner device, was another fascinating challenge. \u201cThat was very fun, a long process to get to the scanners and how this group works,\u201d Martin explains. \u201cIt was just looking at 3G networks and ham radios and satellite and how would people communicate given a circumstance like this \u2014 and also a little bit of fantasy too, with this trust device. And how a mad scientist like Howard Sommerville would create something that is this specific \u2014 it\u2019s already old.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMartin spoke to Variety to break down how some of the most arresting scenes in \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d were created.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tOver the years, Bob\u2019s character got into plants and crystals at his funky hideout near Baktan Cross.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarner Bros.<\/p>\n

\t\tBob and Willa\u2019s House\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBob has evolved from his politics, and now is like a hermit,\u201d Martin says. \u201cWe ended up in a single bedroom house that was engulfed by redwoods.\u201d The tunnel that leads to the outhouse was up the street, and the property the team found where the tunnel comes out was like \u201ca theme park of tiny cars all engulfed with moss,\u201d Martin marvels. \u201cWe built the redwood outhouse amongst those cars in the backyard, as if that\u2019s also one of Bob\u2019s hobbies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Willa\u2019s bedroom was built onto the small house, the cottage was dressed to show the accumulation of the years the father and daughter had lived there. \u201cIt\u2019s that sense of someone who found a little sanctuary and a little privacy and got really settled in,\u201d Martin says. \u201cWe had a lot of artwork from Paul\u2019s kids and our set decorator, Anthony Carlino, and Willa \u2014 Chase Infiniti \u2014 gave us her photos of when she was a baby. We made certificates from elementary school and middle school. And she has all her karate trophies. And the calendar from Sensei, which becomes a clue of trying to find her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tEl Paso\u2019s Genesis Perfumeria provided the perfect entry to Sensei\u2019s labyrinth apartment that sheltered migrants.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarner Bros.<\/p>\n

\t\tSensei\u2019s \u2018underground railroad\u2019 apartment\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThough much of \u201cOne Battle\u201d was shot up and down the length of California, El Paso also provided an important setting with its historic architecture and selection of Latino businesses. Benicio del Toro\u2019s Sensei oversees a sprawling apartment building that harbors refugees. Anderson\u2019s camera travels through the warren of living spaces, richly layered with the objects of family life.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWith the local location scout, Jacob Cena,\u00a0we started getting access to all these rooftops and stores,\u201d Martin explains. \u201cWhen we went to the Genesis Perfumeria (where Benicio del Toro\u2019s wife works in the film) we just saw this incredible fluorescent green interior with thousands of perfume bottles. They have these stairs that led upstairs. That\u2019s how his story started to grow. And we were very fortunate that the second floor of that entire block was empty. So I built Sensei\u2019s apartment with my team practically on the second floor.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat is one of my favorite sets I\u2019ve ever been a part of, and I worked very closely with Anthony Carlino, our set decorator,\u201d Martin says. \u201cWe gave a story to each of these family members, and then worked with Cassandra (Kulukundis) on the casting of which type of family lives here, which type of family lives there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tWilla meets Col. Lockjaw at the Sisters of the Brave Beaver\u2019s compound, aka La Purisima in Lompoc, Calif.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarner Bros.<\/p>\n

\t\tSisters of the Brave Beaver compound\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe crew drew on a number of local experts to consult on everything from ham radio to architecture. Those experts included the Sisters of the Valley, an actual group of non-religious \u201cweed nuns\u201d based in Merced, Calif. who helped inform the idea for the compound belonging to the movie\u2019s Sisters of the Brave Beaver. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou don\u2019t really see it, but they actually had a really big marijuana growing section to the convent,\u201d Martin says of the concept behind the hideout.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Sisters\u2019 convent was filmed at La Purisima Mission in Lompoc, north of Santa Barbara, now a public park. Martin explains that Anderson had an image of where he wanted to shoot, but it was hard to track down the site. \u201cWe went to about six missions along the Camino Real mission trail. Paul had a beautiful photograph or painting of a dilapidated mission set against the hills with this church and we couldn\u2019t find it,\u201d she recalled. And most of the missions looked too perfect. \u201cIt was one of the most challenging set pieces, because California has done a magnificent job at restoring all these missions.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLa Purisima was the most stripped away, the closest to being a believable space that these women would have found in the secluded hills and taken it over, initially as a sanctuary place to welcome people, and then now it\u2019s a monetized situation. Their story is they no longer harbor people. They have to make money, living together as a group of women.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnderson envisioned the scene where Penn\u2019s Lockjaw does his paternity test with Willa as taking place in a chapel, so La Purisima\u2019s sanctuary provided the perfect backdrop for his perverse quest.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tPaul Thomas Anderson, right, shooting near the detention camp<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarner Bros.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe border detention camps\t<\/p>\n

\n\tMartin consulted contemporary and historic photos of border camps to design the chilling compounds where children and families are held in chain-link fencing pens. The crew also worked with a military advisor. \u201cI spoke to a lot of people in the military and who had been deployed,\u201d Martin says.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a temporary camp in the beginning of the film. They\u2019re set up to detain people, and they\u2019re not fully organized yet. The idea in the beginning, which is based on a real happening, was that they were detaining people under overpasses, which our location manager, Michael Glaser, had the challenge of finding. He found the most incredible spot that allowed us to create this camp right next to the border wall. We would have Border Patrol and immigrants crossing in as we were shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a very sensitive subject and heartbreaking seeing the way that these families are split up and children are detained, so we just tried to be really respectful to what these processes were and not make up our own interpretation of it, but really look at how these detention centers are run and laid out,\u201d says Martin.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe crew referred to the desert roads near the Texas Dip as \u201cthe river of hills.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarner Bros.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe car chase\t<\/p>\n

\n\tReturning from scouting in Blythe near the Arizona border, Martin came across what would become the epic setting of the chase scene. \u201cWe were going back to Borrego Springs, and we all got on this road and instantly felt how special and magnetic and unique it was, to suddenly be dipping up and down through these hills. So then I studied the landscape all through Borrego Springs and Anza Borrego and pieced together the sequence,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe road where Lockjaw drops Avanti off is in Ocotillo Wells. And that road that connects you from Ocotillo to Borrego Springs became Lockjaw\u2019s road. And then that car flipping is in Borrego Springs. It\u2019s a lot of studying of the architecture of the road, and working really closely with Paul and (cinematographer) Mike Bauman on time of day and directionality. Then the most satisfying one is the car chase at the end, in the Texas Dip<\/a>, which is in Borrego Springs, which is this huge dip down and back up, and that just seemed like the way to punctuate this moment.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe call it the river of hills, that highway. Paul is someone who likes to do a lot of camera tests, so you try to come in with everything, with as much as information and planning as you can, but also leaving some room to explore,\u201d Martin says. <\/p>\n

\n\tMartin cut her teeth in the art department for \u201cMad Men,\u201d which famously made use of L.A.\u2019s mid-century landmarks to stand in for New York, so she\u2019s long had a close connection to shooting locally. <\/p>\n

\n\tBut \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d was her biggest undertaking yet. \u201cThis was, bar none, the most extensive scouting away from home that I\u2019ve done,\u201d Martin says, \u201cgetting the chance to explore California like this and really connect to the community.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe biggest thing too, is to be able to continue to film in California and work with my team, who I think, are all best in the business,\u201d says Martin, \u201cI just hope that we can continue that, right?\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Paul Thomas Anderson movies are layered with fascinating characters and distinctive looks, but \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":259390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[171,136128,13618,53,59477,116180,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-259389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-florencia-martin","10":"tag-leonardo-dicaprio","11":"tag-movies","12":"tag-one-battle-after-another","13":"tag-paul-thomas-anderson","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115277708533741123","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}