One Of The Best Scene-Stealing Performances In ‘One Battle After Another’ Was By An Actual Military Interrogator In His 1st Ever Acting Role

Paul Thomas Anderson’s new movie One Battle After Another his theaters this weekend and opened to $48.5 million the global box office, giving the acclaimed director the biggest opening of his career. This, of course, is in no small part due to the fact that the star of the film is Leonardo DiCaprio, who puts forth yet another Oscar-worthy turn.

Following the release of One Battle After Another, Leonardo DiCaprio has immediately installed himself as the favorite for Best Actor at the Academy Awards, with fellow stars Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Chase Infiniti and Teyana Taylor all expected to compete for Oscars gold.

But while One Battle After Another is filled with scene-stealing performances from movie stars, one of the movie’s most eye-opening roles, Danvers, was played by James ‘Jim’ Raterman, a current military consultant and former Homeland Security special agent/interrogator in his first-ever acting role.

You know who also killed it in One Battle After Another? This guy. pic.twitter.com/xh6fl9mSVp

— Death Vargas (@ohsethy) September 28, 2025

He’s a former military interrogator. Not an actor. https://t.co/TYu5GdvRyd

— BenDavid Grabinski (@bdgrabinski) September 28, 2025

On social media, James Raterman’s son Clay chimed in to share his reaction to seeing his Dad put his interrogation skills to work on the big scree.

Haha this is my dad! He’s the man, but my friends and I can all confirm…if you were getting interrogated by him for any reason in high school, it was gonna be a bad time.
(& Bluto is my spirit animal when he responds with “yeah kinda”😂)

— Clay Raterman (@ClayRaterman) September 28, 2025

James Raterman talks making his feature film debut in ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER. pic.twitter.com/91pOxCXzKZ

— Movies (@Movies) September 23, 2025

One Battle After Another, which is now playing in theaters, stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Chase Infinity, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Alana Haim, Wood Harris, Shaya McHayle, Paul Grimstad, Tony Goldwyn, and more.

The film has a 96% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and is expected to compete for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Casting, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and more at next year’s Academy Awards.