NEED TO KNOW
Teyana Taylor gave Leonardo DiCaprio a surprising new nickname during an interview at the Critics Choice Awards
The actors costar in One Battle After Another, which won Best Picture and three awards total at the Sunday, Jan. 4 awards ceremony
Taylor and DiCaprio previously shared that they first met and struck up a friendship at Diana Ross’ birthday party years ago
Leonardo DiCaprio approves of his One Battle After Another costar Teyana Taylor‘s nickname for him.
When Taylor, 35, and DiCaprio, 51, spoke with E! News at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, Jan. 4, Taylor referred to the Academy Award-winning actor as “Pops” while she discussed her role in their movie.
“Preparing for Perfidia was a lot of conversation with P [director Paul Thomas Anderson], good conversation, you know?” Taylor told the outlet of her character in the movie. “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.”
When E! asked DiCaprio for his opinion on Taylor calling him “Pops,” the actor responded, “Love it. Love it. Whatever she wants to call me.”
Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty
Michael De Luca, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, Paul Thomas Anderson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Pamela Abdy and Benicio del Toro win the Critics Choice Award for Best Picture for “One Battle After Another”
Taylor and DiCaprio portray a couple who meet and have a daughter together while actively working with a revolutionary political group in One Battle After Another. The movie’s story kicks into action when Taylor’s character Perfidia is captured by government forces led by Sean Penn‘s villain Steven J. Lockjaw, whom she also grows romantically involved with, forcing DiCaprio and their daughter (Chase Infiniti) into hiding under the names Bob Ferguson and Willa Ferguson for the next 16 years.
The dynamic acting duo previously revealed during a September interview with The New York Times that they “first met at Diana Ross’s birthday party some years back and instantly became best buds,” as Taylor said at the time.
“That’s my wingman, my partner in crime!” she added of DiCaprio in that interview.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
One Battle After Another
One Battle After Another won Best Picture at the Critics Choice Awards, along with wins for writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson in the ceremony’s Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay categories. (The movie was loosely adapted from the 1990 novel Vineland by author Thomas Pynchon.)
DiCaprio and Taylor were each nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively, but neither took home the award. At the upcoming Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 11, One Battle After Another leads all nominated movies with nine total nominations, giving both actors and Anderson more chances to take home prizes — and break out DiCaprio’s latest nickname once more.
Read the original article on People