In case you’re questioning what members of the French 75 chat about after they’re not breaking immigrants out of detainment facilities or robbing banks, the reply is astrology. Or at the least that’s what the solid of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After One other” mentioned in between firing prop machine weapons and driving getaway automobiles within the vigilante thriller.
“We have been all of us simply there, chatting up in between takes, speaking about astrology, speaking about full moons,” Shayna McHayle, who performs French 75 member Junglepussy, instructed IndieWire. “Teyana [Taylor] was saying one thing about Scorpios, and I’m like, ‘I’m a Scorpio,’ and Leo[nardo DiCaprio]’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m a Scorpio.’ It was this complete factor.”
For McHayle, spending time on the set of a blockbuster motion movie with A-list expertise was fairly surreal, and never one thing she sought out, however the expertise was “written within the stars.” Whereas she’s beforehand appeared in two movies, 2018’s “Assist the Women” and 2023’s “The Good Discover,” she’s predominantly a musician who raps underneath the stage title Junglepussy. After Anderson noticed her on tour with Tame Impala in 2022, nonetheless, he was so impressed that he created a personality, additionally named Junglepussy, only for McHayle.
“My agent reached out to me like, ‘Paul Thomas Anderson needs your quantity. Can I give it to him?’ He needs to speak to you immediately,” McHayle stated. “I used to be like, ‘Who? OK, yeah, give him my quantity.’”
The pair then met a number of instances in New York Metropolis over the following few years, with Anderson telling McHayle he was crafting a far-left vigilante based mostly on her stage persona.
“I didn’t know that it was like Junglepussy for actual till it actually bought near locking in,” McHayle stated. “He gave me a tough copy of the script, and after I learn it, I used to be like, ‘What the…? What is that this?’ After I noticed my title in there, and I noticed my lyrics in there, and I simply noticed all these pussy references, I used to be gagged.”
Even earlier than taking pictures, nonetheless, astrology was a key matter of dialog. “Teyana’s a Sag. Regina [Hall]’s a Sag. Alana [Haim]’s a Sag,” McHayle stated. “At some point, me and Paul have been texting earlier than we began filming, and he thought I used to be a Sag too. He’s like, ‘Yeah, you realize I bought all these badass Sagittarius girls within the French 75,’ and I used to be like, ‘Yeah, I’m a Scorpio.’ He was like, ‘OK, you’re fired.’”
After studying the “One Battle After One other” script, nonetheless, McHayle requested Anderson to make some modifications to her character. “He’s writing and directing, so he needs to manage the whole lot,” she stated, “However I used to be identical to, ‘Paul, I’m Junglepussy. That is me. I’ve to be Junglepussy after this film. I used to be Junglepussy earlier than this film, and whereas I like the collaboration right here that you simply’re cooking up, I nonetheless have some non-negotiables.’ There have been issues that I used to be like, ‘OK, laborious no on this. Junglepussy would by no means, like ever.’”
Crafting a personality that was a mixture of her real-life persona and a fictional French 75 radical required some nuance from McHayle as an actor. “As a result of he reached out to me immediately, and was so impressed by my music, even ‘This pussy don’t pop for you,’ having it like as an indication within the film, which is how I’ve been performing it for the previous decade, I knew there have been a variety of issues that he was drawn to, and I wished to maintain that a part of me alive within the position,” she stated. “However I additionally wished to do some issues that I wouldn’t often do, like taking pictures a machine gun out of a transferring car, like robbing a financial institution.”
McHayle channeled her stage persona whereas filming, particularly throughout her immediately iconic financial institution theft monologue. Strolling throughout the tellers’ counter amid the chaos of a stick-up, McHayle delivers a speech that serves each as a mission assertion for the French 75 in addition to a nod to Junglepussy’s work. It’s right here that she tells the world, “This pussy don’t pop for you.” However filming in entrance of your entire solid and crew was daunting.
“That day, I simply needed to channel the identical power I carry to the stage at any time when I do an enormous present,” she stated. “I simply needed to channel that power and do my factor.”
McHayle is “nonetheless gagged” on the magnitude of the movie, and the stunts specifically. “The stunts have been scary,” she stated, laughing, “Just like the automobile chase scene, we have been within the autos, like we have been in it. When the minivan takes that arduous left, we have been in it…I’m not even, like, a rollercoaster type of woman. I choose a journey over a rollercoaster, however this was like a rollercoaster journey from hell.”
“I do know Warner Brothers didn’t need to get in hassle with me,” she added concerning the film’s security protocols. “I simply needed to let go and belief they knew what they have been doing, as a result of they know they must hold us protected.”
Whereas “One Battle After One other” could solely be McHayle’s third film, it’s her second working with Regina Corridor, whom she acted alongside in “Assist the Women,” the place they each performed staff of a Hooters-esque institution referred to as Double Whammies. McHayle described the reunion as “a dream.”
“She is such a chilled drive,” McHayle gushes, “The position she performs as Deandra [in ‘One Battle After Another’] is rather like regular, grounded. That’s the literal power she offers me once we work collectively on set. I simply really feel tremendous calm round her. She’s an OG, like that’s my woman, simply huge sis vibes, like simply tremendous nurturing. I’m identical to, ‘Lady, I can’t consider that is my second film with you.’ Love her for all times.”
McHayle is now manifesting a 3rd Regina Corridor collab and one “with extra screentime for each of us.” She’s additionally rooting for Corridor to earn an Oscar for her efficiency. “She is really such a drive,” McHayle stated. “I want her getting that Oscar. No strain, however I need her to have it.”
After filming wrapped in early 2024, McHayle needed to wait patiently for over a 12 months earlier than she lastly bought to observe “One Battle After One other.” She was invited to a personal screening on the IMAX theater at New York’s Lincoln Sq. AMC for a morning viewing. “It was like me and a number of the Christmas Adventurers, Tony Goldwyn and them,” she stated. “We’re on this big-ass theater, and all people’s in their very own row and taking all of it in.”
McHayle introduced a espresso and a croissant and, throughout her first watch, was principally simply assessing how a lot of her work made the ultimate lower. “I used to be there ticking my containers,” she stated. “Like I do know what I did, and I do know what I didn’t do. Now let’s see what’s in right here. After I noticed all of the items simply remained, I used to be like, ‘Oh, Paul is an actual one. He was severe,’ since you by no means know for actual till it’s executed.”
Since her first screening, the place she admitted to being “over-caffeinated” and “overstimulated,” she’s seen the film 5 extra instances, together with in VistaVision. She’s nonetheless “gagged” by the entire course of, and is aware of there might be extra to return.
“For some motive, at any time when I do me, do my music, make my artwork, I’m attracting these alternatives,” she stated. “I’m simply staying tremendous open to increasing my performing profession, as a result of it’s clearly one thing I can’t run from, conceal from, prefer it simply retains popping up. I’m going to give up to the method and to the total spectrum of my items, my artistry, and simply hold being me.”
Hopefully, meaning Shayna McHayle x Regina Corridor 3.0 within the close to future.
“One Battle After One other” is now in theaters from Warner Bros. Footage.
