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LMGI COMPASS
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Winter 2026
Lockjaw emerges from their shared violent past to unlock
secrets that involve the daughter's true paternity and a series of
betrayals by her mother, Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor),
who had disappeared into witness protection and whom she has
never known.
Things begin to fall apart quickly for all the characters and,
before we know it, we're propelled forward into a very perilous
and nonstop journey.
"We didn't really have a completed script in the beginning," says
Glaser. "I think Paul had been thinking of making this movie for
something like 20 years, but when we started in 2022, we had a
basic outline of what would happen in the film. Kind of a 'Who's
Who,' and a basic idea of what worlds we'd be trying to build and
where we'd be looking."
Geography is baked into the way One Battle After Another
moves. Starting in San Diego at a fictional detention center before
jumping to Sacramento for the French 75's explosive downtown
sequences, it then briefly slides into nondescript and safer places
once Perfidia becomes pregnant.
Finding the Hubs
Even way back in 2019, Anderson had Eureka in mind for his
next movie—sending a scout to survey the area.
A subsequent exploratory scout by Anderson, production
designer Florencia Martin and producer/first AD Adam Somner in
2022 confirmed that the region would serve as an anchor for the
fictious town of "Baktan Cross." Glaser joined the effort, advancing
the research and scouting. Martin and Glaser then expanded
outward—surveying locations across California and considering
options in Salt Lake City, Texas and New Mexico.
They weren't so much going to be dropping a script onto a map
Director Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio
