Paul Thomas Anderson last unleashed a film on movie audiences four years ago, and what a film 2017’s “Phantom Thread” was. The UK-set period piece was a bit of a departure for the director. “Thread” was Anderson’s first film set outside of California since “Hard Eight,” his 1996 debut. The film’s chamber-drama set-up and intimate look at domestic partnership also felt like an inversion of Anderson’s looser, Robert Altman-esque ensemble films.
Now, Anderson has gone back to his roots, as his next film, “Licorice Pizza,” looks to be a loosey-goosey, ’70s-set coming-of-age tale based in the San Fernando Valley. Sound a little like “Boogie Nights” to anyone else? Well, instead of the pornography industry, Anderson’s new film follows a high school student and aspiring actor as he chases ambition, romance, and youthful abandon amid LA’s suburban sprawl.
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As for the ensemble cast? Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman, headlines in his feature film debut. Bradley Cooper plays LA legend and hairdresser-to-the-stars Jon Peters, a paternal presence to Hoffman’s character, not unlike how Burt Reynold‘s Jack Horner was for Eddie Adams/Dirk Diggler in “Boogie Nights.” The film also stars Alana Haim, drummer for the LA-based rock trio Haim, as Hoffman’s romantic interest. Director/actor Benny Safdie cameos as another real-life figure, LA city councilman Joel Wachs.
“Licorice Pizza” also stars early-Anderson regular John C. Reilly, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, and Skyler Gisondo. Maya Rudolph, Anderson’s wife, also has a supporting role. Joseph Cross, Nate Mann, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, and Destry Allyn Spielberg, daughter of director Steven Spielberg, round out the main cast.
Anderson shot the film in Encino and other areas of LA county last Fall. Until recently, the film was known as “Soggy Bottom” before the news hit last week of its new and current title, itself a reference to a now-defunct record store chain based out of Southern California.
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“Licorice Pizza” looks like a love letter to California youth in the same vein as “American Graffiti,” only done in Anderson’s style. So, where will it rank among the director’s other California features? Audiences find out when the film opens in select theaters on November 24 from MGM and United Artists, then everywhere else on Christmas. Check out the trailer below.
