Paul Thomas Anderson returns to the 1970s in the new ‘Licorice Pizza’ trailer

The trailer for the new Paul Thomas Anderson film just dropped and it sees the master filmmaker return to one of his favourite periods, the 1970s. 

Intriguingly titled Licorice Pizza, his ninth feature film has all the potential to be another classic from the director who makes nothing but classics.

It sees Anderson return to the 1970s, a decade which has defined two of his previous major films: the quirky neo-noir crime epic Inherent Vice (based on Thomas Pynchon’s acclaimed novel of the same name) and the bawdy comedy-drama Boogie Nights.

Indeed, the trailer for Licorice Pizza promises a similar story to Boogie Nights: set in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley (a locale Anderson is also very fond of) in 1973, it follows Gary Valentine, a young actor trying to make it while falling for the attractions of Alana Kane.

Some big names feature in the cast, including Bradley Cooper as an arrogant director and Sean Penn, Ben Stiller, and Anderson’s partner Maya Rudolph, but it’s the newcomers who fascinate: Valentine is being played by Cooper Hoffman, the young son of perhaps the greatest actor of his generation, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman (himself a PTA veteran).

Kane is being played by Alana Haim, one-third of pop rock band Haim, who Anderson has directed music videos for recently (‘Right Now’, ‘Little Of Your Love’, ‘Summer Girl’). He also shot the cover artwork for the band’s latest album, 2020’s Women in Music Pt. III.

Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood is thankfully also returning to soundtrack the film, having done so for Anderson’s previous works like Phantom Thread, Inherent Vice, The Master, and There Will Be Blood.

Licorice Pizza is scheduled for release in the U.S. on Christmas Day with its Aussie release date slated for early 2022. Will it live up to the recent quality of Anderson’s films? I can’t wait to find out.

For more on this topic, follow the Film & TV Observer.

Check out the trailer for Licorice Pizza:

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine