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Teyana Taylor says the treatment of her One Battle After Another character aligns with reality.
The actress spoke out about reactions to the Paul Thomas Anderson film and her character, Perfidia Beverly Hills.
In the action-thriller, Taylor, 34, stars as a member of a revolutionary group, the French 75, who is in a relationship with Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio, 50). She also forms a sexual relationship with Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn, 65). Throughout the film, audiences watch Perfidia wield her sexuality, while also being an object of desire for both men.
The film has been met with high acclaim since its theater release in September; however, some have criticized how both White men sexually objectify Perfidia. Taylor has since addressed the criticism and said her character’s experience aligns with those of Black women’s real lives.
“Is that not what Black women go through?” she told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on Wednesday, Nov. 5. “We are fetishized, especially by creepy mother——-.”
Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
The All’s Fair star added, “We are, unfortunately, the least protected people,” and noted that portraying “what Black women go through” is “a hard reality to accept.”
“And this movie should spark debate, I always knew it would, because sometimes you just got to shake the table.”
Before the film premiered, Taylor, DiCaprio and costar, Regina Hall, teased the epic at CinemaCon in April. There, Taylor admitted her character isn’t likable. “She’s always in survival mode,” Taylor said. “She’s very misunderstood, but she’s still selfish… I can’t wait for you to meet this character.”
Meanwhile, months later, DiCaprio and Taylor spoke with The New York Times about the film and the characters, with DiCaprio saying, “The echoes of [Taylor’s] character reverberate throughout the entire movie, and every character is emotionally scarred by Perfidia.”
“So we knew we needed to get somebody that could be not only bold and outspoken, but bring that improvisational talent of truth in the moment,” the star added. And one person in particular kept coming up in conversation, he said, before saying it was Taylor.
“She just embodied that character in a way that I don’t think anyone else could. We’re all left as carnage after she comes onscreen, picking up the pieces of our lives.”
Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Taylor also shared in an interview with InStyle how much of mentor DiCaprio was to her while filming.
She revealed that although she has long considered DiCaprio her “buddy,” the film was her first time working with him.
The set of One Battle After Another was an opportunity for her to see DiCaprio “in a completely different light,” said Taylor. “And him just kind of being a mentor and being a great leader, it was really dope to see,” she added. “He don’t play no games with that.”
