Teyana Taylor has revealed she has been begging director Paul Thomas Anderson to make a sequel centered around her One Battle After Another character.
The 35-year-old singer, who is Oscar-nominated for her breakout role as the far-left revolutionary Perfidia Beverly Hills in the film, said in a new interview that she’s been in talks with Anderson to make a spin-off that meets her character almost two decades later.
“The conversations are very, very real,” she told IndieWire of the potential sequel. “I want to give everybody confirmation that I am currently begging [Anderson] to give us that. I’m begging him to give us that.”
Taylor continued: “Here and there, I make little jokes with Paul. I’m like, ‘We need to see what Perfidia did in those 16 years.’”
The film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Taylor and Chase Infiniti, follows a revolutionary group battling the military, led by Sean Penn’s corrupt white-supremacist officer.
In it, Taylor’s character betrays her group, French 75, to the military before abandoning her partner, Pat (DiCaprio), and her daughter, Willa (Infiniti).
Taylor continued: “But Perfidia and Willa need some scenes together. When Willa walked out the door in that last scene, I said, ‘Where’s she really going? Is she going to free Deandra? Is she going to find her mommy?’ I love that it’s still hopeful, and it’s room for a little part two in there somewhere.”
The film is up for 13 awards at this year’s Oscars, having won four awards at the Golden Globes, including Best Supporting Actress for Taylor and Best Motion Picture, and six honors at the BAFTA Film Awards last month.
For Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars, Taylor will go up against Wunmi Mosaku for Sinners, Amy Madigan for Weapons, and both Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for Sentimental Value.
During her hosting slot on Saturday Night Live last month, Taylor revealed that she had learned about her Oscar nomination while having a bald cap fitted for a scene on the sketch show.
“This week has been very insane,” Taylor said during her opening monologue. “I was nominated for an Oscar for One Battle After Another. It is a dream come true…
“I found out the way every little girl wants to find out…getting fitted for a bald cap next to Mikey Day,” she said.
Taylor said in a statement following her Oscar nomination: “I fell asleep last night watching Pretty Woman, thinking about happy endings and how impossible they sometimes feel … and I woke up realizing I’ve been living in one that God has been preparing me for my own fairytale ending.”