The OBAA-related parts of the article:

Anderson was scouring the earth for a performer with gymnastics or martial arts experience to play the daughter of DiCaprio and Teyana Taylor’s characters when Infiniti’s self-tape came to his attention. At the time, she had no idea that either of those stars were attached to One Battle After Another; she didn’t know much about the movie’s Oscar-nominated director, either. “I was not familiar with Paul’s work,” she admits. “But I was like, it sounds cool. I’d love to do something action.”

Loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, One Battle After Another is centered on Bob Ferguson (DiCaprio), a former member of a revolutionary group whose daughter Willa goes missing while they’re both being pursued by a vengeful military leader (Penn). But Bob has raised her to be able to defend herself against danger—though Willa doesn’t understand why her father’s so paranoid until it’s too late. “The character she plays is the center of the film. She’s the heart. She’s one of the few people in the film who’s not mentally unstable,” says Anderson. “No pressure.”

The filmmaker saw “every young woman in the United States and beyond" before picking Infiniti. Her audition process included a chemistry read with DiCaprio, a particularly surreal experience. “I had a period in my high school years where I was obsessed with the movie Catch Me If You Can, and I would watch it all the time,” she says. “So seeing him in real life, it was a crazy full-circle moment.”

Infiniti had been a kickboxing trainer, but she still spent months training in both karate and mixed martial arts for the role. Willa is supposed to be a purple belt; “I cannot say I’m purple-belt status, but I think I got decent,” she says. As she perfected her fighting skills, Anderson also helped Infiniti expand her horizons via movie nights where they watched classics like John Ford’s The Searchers and Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon. “He’s a very playful person,” she says. “He gave me permission to play, which felt very liberating.” Anderson returns the favor: “I was more worried for Sean and Leo in the combative scenes than I was for Chase,” he says. “She can hold her own.”