Florencia Martin, responsible for the production design of Paul Thomas Anderson’s film One Battle After Another, returns for her second collaboration after Licorice Pizza and her second Oscar nomination following Babylon. Her work transforms the film’s environments into crucial storytelling tools, from the imposing redwood stump that introduces Bob’s hideout to the intricate, interconnected apartments of Sensei and the underground lair of the Christmas Adventurers. Each setting reflects the personalities of the characters and fuels the actors’ creativity, establishing a rich, immersive world.
As One Battle After Another reappears in theaters and becomes available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray, Martin discusses how her extensive preparation, employing real-life inspiration and deliberately ambiguous timelines, helped create a production design that elevates the narrative.
Extended Preparation and Location Scouting in Eureka and Humboldt
Martin’s design process began roughly two and a half years before filming started, allowing ample time for research and development. She highlights the significance of scouting various locations around Eureka and neighboring Humboldt areas, which encompass not only Eureka but also Arcata and surrounding towns. Through visits to people’s homes and hearing personal stories, Martin infused authentic local character into the film’s visual language. This approach helped develop the characters’ surroundings into deeply meaningful spaces, contributing to a grounded sense of place.
The actual set construction took place beginning late 2023, with hands-on work in Eureka five weeks before shooting commenced in January 2024. Despite challenging rainy weather, Martin embraced the conditions, describing the experience humorously as a “mudslide.” A particularly notable example was building the redwood stump from which Bob emerges during a tense scene. Inspired by historic redwood logging practices, Martin found locations where these stumps had been repurposed into structures such as showers or outhouses, making the set both authentic and symbolic.
Immersive Set Walkthroughs That Inspire Actors
Martin recounts a specific instance of location scouting that directly influenced actor behavior: a backyard filled with moss-covered miniature toy cars owned by a widow, intended to represent Bob’s house setting. She describes how Leo, portraying Bob, reacted enthusiastically during a walkthrough of such spaces before filming began. His spontaneous remark,
“This is it! This is what I do. I’m hiding in the redwoods and I need a low-key job, so I’m going to sell these car parts.”
illustrates how deeply the production design informed characterization and performance.
The decision to shoot on location and use practical, 360-degree sets allowed the creative team and actors to inhabit the environments fully, developing layered stories that enriched the film’s texture.
Actors’ Responses to Design Elements Fueling On-Screen Improvisation
One of the film’s high school scenes includes a moment where Leo’s character improvises dialogue about presidents on the classroom wall—a detail added by the production team. Martin explains how such tangible environment elements help unlock spontaneous performances, making scenes feel authentic and immediate. She emphasizes the influence of live theater in her methodology, valuing the creation of a dynamic playground for actors and directors.
The realism extends beyond dialogue; the high school dance scene exemplifies this. The team attended a real dance event to capture its mundane and natural atmosphere, incorporating the actual DJ’s playlist and collaborating with students to recreate promotional posters. This attention to detail ensured scenes retained a genuine, lived-in feel that actors could inhabit effortlessly.
Practical Set Construction Enhancing Realism and Actor Engagement
The production constructed Sensei’s family’s apartments as practical, functional spaces. Located above a recreated storefront perfume shop, these linked apartments formed a sanctuary for immigrants, embodying themes of refuge and solidarity. Martin describes features such as working ceiling fans and a functional refrigerator that allowed actors to interact naturally with their surroundings, creating memorable moments like Sensei sharing beers with Bob during rehearsals. These spontaneous actions then became integrated into the narrative, demonstrating the fluid collaboration fostered by the production design.
Unconscious Motifs Emerging Through Design Choices
Martin revealed her surprise when asked about the recurring presence of birds throughout the film, which appear in pivotal scenes such as the Christmas Adventurers’ lair, the bank robbery, and moments of tension around Willa’s house. She admitted it was a subconscious decision, acknowledging the symbolism of birds in scenes marked by danger and foreboding, even though this thematic thread was not explicitly discussed.
Deliberate Ambiguity of the Film’s Time Period
The production’s design team, including Martin and editor Andy Jurgensen, collaborated closely with Anderson to keep the film’s timeline vague. This intention to avoid tying the story to a specific era influenced choices ranging from costume details to technology props. They carefully selected older model cars as “hero cars” to sidestep contemporary associations, while everyday technologies—burner-style phones, thrift store televisions, and ham radios—were selected to anchor the narrative without pinpointing exact years.
Initially, the filmmakers considered excluding cell phones altogether, to avoid creating a dated aesthetic. However, the characters’ realities prevailed: teenagers like Willa would realistically carry phones, even if concealed. This decision introduced essential plot points, such as the tension arising from Willa’s phone being a tracking device—a surprise that deepened both character motivation and the story’s paranoia.
Incorporating Real-World Environments Like the Grocery Store
For certain sequences, such as a scene in a grocery store, the production deliberately used live locations with real customers present, rather than fully dressing a set. Martin described the challenge and excitement of finding a supermarket in Sacramento that welcomed a film crew, enabling a natural backdrop. Minimal intervention was made, mostly masking brand logos when necessary, preserving an uncontrived environment that lent authenticity and allowed the camera to move fluidly through the space.
Authentic Detention Camp Representation Through Practical Sets
The depiction of detention centers in the film was handled with careful sensitivity and accuracy. Paul Thomas Anderson envisioned a sequence that led through indoor cells into an open area where one of the antagonists, Lockjaw, appears. The production built the intro set beneath an overpass, mirroring real border detention scenarios, with officers positioned strategically and detainees held in wire cages, creating a chilling tableau.
The scenes featuring Lockjaw’s unit were filmed at a closed detention camp in Lancaster, where the gymnasium was transformed for filming. The combination of built sets and existing fencing reflected the temporary, militarized nature of such detention systems, underscoring themes of confinement and oppression.
Practical Effects and Real Firework Displays Near the Border
The film’s opening fireworks spectacle, conducted by the character Bob “the Rocketman,” was realized through practical effects filmed on location near the border. Securing permission for these displays was a notable achievement, adding an element of raw energy and realism to the sequence.
Creative Synergy Between Departments Shapes Visual Cohesion
The collaboration between production design and costume departments is exemplified in the coordination of Sensei’s wardrobe with his surroundings. The blue and white striped jacket worn by the character echoes the dojo’s similarly hued walls and mats, an intentional design choice developed early in the process. Costume designer Colleen Atwood drew inspiration from these visual concepts, balancing practical and thematic considerations for Sensei’s attire. This cohesion results from daily dailies reviews and shared progress photos between teams.
Crafting the Christmas Adventurers’ Hidden Lair as a Fantastical Element
The Christmas Adventurers’ sequence diverges from the film’s grounded realism, offering a surreal, fantasy-like environment. Martin found a house featuring a basement with a secret door disguised behind a painted mural, which served as the safe room. This space connected to a tunnel in Stockton that curled in such a way as to create an endless underground atmosphere. The set drew inspiration from a molding company specializing in elaborate basement remodeling, enriching the design with detailed architectural features like recessed lighting and intricate moldings.
The set’s vintage Pullman train car aesthetic was reinforced by a recreated chair found by set decorator Anthony Carlino, adding layers of mystery. A diorama depicting a “perfect American West” was included, reflecting themes of preservation and conservation through symbolic taxidermy displays. Easter eggs peppered the set, such as Christmas-themed teacups and a St. Nick figure in the keystone archway, inviting audience curiosity and interpretation.
Balancing the Tiger Motif for Sensei’s Character
The tiger motif, prominent in Sensei’s dojo and personal belongings, originated naturally during location scouting, when the production team found a real dojo in Eureka that featured a tiger logo. Jason, the dojo’s sensei, honored the use of this image within the film. This emblem became a recurring visual marker woven into the set, costume, and accessories, such as Sensei’s cell phone background. The tiger symbolizes strength, discipline, and courage—traits essential to Sensei’s role as a mentor and protector.
Comprehensive Character Worldbuilding Beyond the Script
Martin highlights the enrichment of the film’s narrative through the creation of detailed environments for characters beyond their scripted appearances. This included understanding the sisters, the French 75 gang, and secondary characters like Perfidia’s mother, whose home holds its own stories. These layered sets facilitate quick shifts between worlds, maintaining audience engagement and discovery of hidden details, fulfilling Martin’s hope that viewers will continue to find subtle Easter eggs throughout the film.
Design Decisions Shaped by Character Perspectives
In intense sequences such as the militia scene, Martin emphasized tailoring the design to the central viewpoint of Willa, the protagonist. Though the scene suggests ominous developments behind closed doors, the camera and production design focus strictly on Willa’s perspective. This approach required collaboration with director Paul Thomas Anderson and stunt coordinator Adam Somner to balance large-scale action with narrative restraint, always channeled through Willa’s experience to maintain emotional coherence.
Creating a Visually Cohesive Desert Chase
The film’s climactic chase through desert landscapes involved scouting multiple locations separated by hours of travel. Martin worked closely with cinematographer Michael Bauman to ensure fluid visual transitions, considering factors such as lighting and road directionality. She describes the complexity of fitting diverse sites—the Willa switch locale, Borrego Springs’ “Texas Dip” where three cars converge, and a winding canyon road for Lockjaw’s car crash—into a seamless sequence.
The production’s openness to local stories and people enhanced filming, exemplified by an unplanned inclusion of a fruit stand vendor whose expressive face was captured on camera. Such moments of spontaneity were a constant throughout the shoot, enriching the film’s authenticity.
Availability and Continuing Legacy of One Battle After Another
One Battle After Another returned to theaters and became available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and streaming via HBO Max, inviting new audiences to explore its intense narrative and immersive production design—one carefully crafted by Florencia Martin in close collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson and the filmmaking team.
