Why Does Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘One Battle After Another’ Look Just Like My Husband?

Please tell me I’m not crazy.

I’m experiencing a strange phenomenon. When the trailer for the new Paul Thomas Anderson movie dropped a couple of months ago, I was stoked. I am a big PTA fan, an unapologetic lover of his goofy, masterful world of storytelling. If I had less self-awareness, I would have made The Phantom Thread my entire personality. Luckily, I have self-restraint. I’d heard he had a new movie coming out, but I’d seen virtually nothing about it. So I clicked on the link, ready for anything. But I wasn’t ready for what I saw next. Leonardo DiCaprio was running, disheveled and wrapped in a flannel robe, into a liquor store. His appearance was surprising, a departure from the roles we know and love him for. Leo plays Bob Ferguson, an ex-lefty revolutionary now scrambling to save his teenage daughter from the forces that threw his life off the rails. The trailer is propulsive, funny, and jarring.

But I was struck in particular by that opening image. After running into the liquor store, Bob proceeds to buy a pair of distinctive solar shield sunglasses to help hide his identity, and runs back outside to make a cryptic and comedic telephone call. As the scene progressed, I began to get a strange feeling. I’d seen this man before. The mustache, the solar shields, the flannel outfit, and dark beanie. This man was the spitting image of my husband. Shocking, I know. But before I go on, a couple of disclaimers:

I haven’t seen the film yet, though I’m very excited to! So I lack full context on this character beyond what I’ve learned from the trailer. Leo is admittedly not at his most attractive in this role, the character seems to be sloppy and all over the place, albeit in a charming way. My husband, on the other hand, is a real cutie pie, and when I say Leo looks like him, I mean to say that the character design bears a striking resemblance to my husband’s overall aesthetic. Bob seems like a dark-sided version of what my husband would look like if he drank and smoked heavily and got into some weird conspiracy-rich corners of the internet. I don’t believe Bob is my future, but in a twisted alternate timeline, he could be. Don’t believe me? Here’s a recent photo of my husband at a No Kings Day protest with our dog Buster, and a screengrab of Bob side by side:

It’s all there. Now, I am not at all inclined to buy into any conspiracy theories, but I can’t shake the feeling that perhaps, on some sunny afternoon in Los Angeles, Paul Thomas Anderson caught sight of my spouse and got inspired. Maybe it’s wishful thinking (delusion?) to imagine that our paths would have crossed in this odd and silly way, but it creeps me out and brings me joy in equal measure. I can never prove this, but it feels in line with the spirit of the film to say that it’s at least possible. None of the elements that make up this character are in themselves that unique - there are a million guys in LA that bear a passing resemblance to this dude - but stacked on top of each other, the little details create a downright chilling effect.

What to make of this? This is a deeply niche and random quandary that I really don’t know what to do with other than laugh and write about it. I could have just let this be a funny anecdote I whipped out at social gatherings with our film-literate friends, but I hope that by sharing my experience, other people with scruffy, solar shield-wearing partners will feel less alone. And maybe a little less confused. Or more confused? Who’s to say. Are there other instances of people seeing their doppelgangers on the silver screen? Let us know in the comments. Please tell me I’m not crazy, and that this kind of parallel thought fluke happens on the regular.

Perhaps after seeing the film in its entirety next week (in Vistavision no less!) I won’t see the resemblance as being so glaring, or maybe I’ll be completely convinced that Leo, PTA, and his witchy associates have stolen my husband’s essence in service of his newest masterpiece. Even without trying, my husband will be going in costume, but I fear that come next month, I will be surrounded by hipster film buffs dressing as Bob Ferguson for Halloween, next to their girlfriends dressing as Gladys from Weapons, and this odd, uncanny valley will get even deeper and stranger.