In One Battle After Another, the 25-year-old Chase Infiniti gives a vivid supporting performance as the brave and resourceful Willa, the 16-year-old daughter of Leonardo DiCaprio‘s “Bob Ferguson” and Teyana Taylor‘s “Perfidia Beverly Hills”.
Willa is obviously supporting because the film doesn’t rest on her shoulders — it rests on Leo’s, as he’s with us, arc-wise and struggle-wise, from start to finish. (Perfidia bails early on and dishonorably at that, and therefore doesn’t count.) Willa is first and foremost a reactive victim character after getting kidnapped by Sean Penn‘s Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw, and then escaping and taking charge with a weapon, etc. Chase is playing a tough nut, but clearly not a lead.
Why, then, is Infiniti going for a Best Actress nomination? Because her reps are looking to game the system. They’re basically saying to the industry, “You may have thought Willa was a supporting character while watching One Battle After Another, but we’re not accepting this. We’re setting our own agenda. As far as we’re concerned, Willa is a lead character even if she isn’t because it’s better for Chase, career-wise, to go the big gold. She’ll get a bigger bump out of a Best Actress nomination than a Best Supporting one.”
