Leonardo DiCaprio on One Battle After Another and Paul Thomas Anderson

Leonardo DiCaprio has been waiting to work with Paul Thomas Anderson since he famously turned down the leading role in “Boogie Nights.” So even with a lifetime of filmmaking between 1997 and their collaboration on “One Battle After Another,” DiCaprio was a little nervous stepping on set for the first time.

“I always get nervous first day, really,” DiCaprio told Variety‘s Marc Malkin at the Monday night premiere of “One Battle After Another” at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre. “But by lunch, I’ve kind of locked it in, because, you know, you’re on film, you don’t have time to be nervous.”

Anderson’s latest sees DiCaprio in a much less handsome light than audiences are accustomed to. The “Wolf of Wall Street” star headlines the thriller as disheveled ex-revolutionary Bob Ferguson, who, long past his prime, must reunite with his former conspirators to rescue his daughter. Other cast members include Teyana Taylor, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall and Sean Penn.

DiCaprio described his character as a guy “that sits home and smokes pot all the time,” adding that he “took a lot of inspiration” from Jeff Bridges’ performance as The Dude in 1998’s “The Big Lebowski.” DiCaprio explained that the sedated nature of Bob brought a certain layer of ease to the role, especially when it came to performing the film’s many stunts, or “a series of failures,” as he puts it.

“We did a lot of crazy stuff in this movie,” he explained. “But you know, that’s the difference of what Paul does. It’s different than everything else. He wants to see the dude fall.”

DiCaprio insisted he did go Method for the role by smoking up. “Can’t do it. Can’t perform,” he explained.

The Oscar winner had nothing but praise for Anderson. DiCaprio said he would’ve done “any movie” he asked him to, but felt lucky he got to star in a film Anderson has been developing for “the last 20 years.”

“Anytime you get somebody that’s really trying to do a massive spectacle-odyssey, that is such a unique filmmaker like Paul, you have to jump at the opportunity,” he said. “To tell you the truth, I would’ve done any movie that he proposed, because he’s that unique and interesting of a filmmaker and that great. But I’m glad I got to do this one.”

“One Battle After Another” hits theaters on Sept. 26.

See more photos from the premiere below.