Leonardo DiCaprio has spent more than three decades shaping his image as Hollywood’s eternal leading man, intense, elusive, and famously private. However, at the 2026 Critics’ Choice Awards, the Oscar winner showed a lighter, more fun side of himself after being called a nickname by his ‘One Battle After Another’ co-star, Teyana Taylor.
What would have been dismissed as a throwaway joke instead became a heartfelt, revealing moment regarding teamwork, innovation, and the various phases of DiCaprio’s career.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s “Pops” Moment Says More About His Career Evolution Than His Age
At the awards ceremony on January 4, DiCaprio and Taylor were laughing with their fellow cast members as they celebrated their nominations in the long-awaited film by Paul Thomas Anderson. In the middle of the conversation, Taylor casually called DiCaprio “Pops“, a reference to their on-screen relationship as co-parents to a young girl. Instead of looking clumsy or embarrassed, DiCaprio threw himself into the joke. He made it clear that he was comfortable with the nickname and its significance.
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“Love it,” DiCaprio said with a grin during an exclusive interview with E! News. “Love it. Whatever she wants to call me.” That casual acceptance was the prelude to a night about actual connection, between actors, director, and films. Teyana Taylor did not use Pops without a reason, and her intentions were not to make fun of his age. In ‘One Battle After Another’, Taylor plays Perfidia, a woman bound to DiCaprio’s character, Pat, through their daughter, Willa. The movie is about broken ideals, political disappointment, and the complex relationship between parents trying to protect a child while wrestling with their own pasts. For Taylor, it took a lot of preparation to slip into that dynamic.
In an open talk at the Critics’ Choice Awards, she said that building Perfidia was all about teamwork, with both Anderson and DiCaprio. “Preparing for Perfidia was a lot of conversation with P,” Taylor said, referring to Anderson. “Good conversation. Really building those layers and color-coordinating those layers and making sure we set it up for Perfidia to fall back for baby girl Willa to rise and take on these battles along with Pops right here.” The nickname, in turn, was a continuation of the narrative and not a remark on DiCaprio’s personal life.
‘One Battle After Another’ Makes Long-Awaited Collaboration Finally Come To Life
In addition to the nickname, the Critics’ Choice Awards were a milestone for DiCaprio. It marked his first collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson in over 20 years of mutual admiration. Years on, fans and industry observers have been wondering when or whether the two would ever collaborate. The outcome of that long wait is ‘One Battle After Another’.
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“It’s been a 25-year journey to get to work with this great visionary director,” DiCaprio shared. “We all kind of just followed his lead. He’s been developing this story for over 20 years, and it shows up on screen, the detail, the complexity of the characters, and how pertinent it is to the world we live in.” DiCaprio showed his respect to Anderson not only with his words, but in the way he explained the process of filmmaking.
Instead of making himself the focus of the production, he focused on the group effort that went into making the movie. “We’re all just a team,” he said. “And so excited to get to collaborate. It was a real collaboration, this film. It really was.” The character, DiCaprio noted, is intentionally flawed. He is far from the polished heroes audiences often expect. “It was fun creating a character that’s weirdly a hybrid of both political parties and beliefs,” he joked, “and certainly not Father of the Year.”
But that flaw is what makes Pat interesting. DiCaprio did not refer to him as a classic action hero, but as a person who is motivated by pure persistence. “He’s not your typical heroic Terminator-type character,” DiCaprio explained. “He doesn’t have superpowers or special abilities. He’s just relentless.” That relentlessness, paired with vulnerability and contradiction, mirrors the tone of ‘One Battle After Another’ itself.
