Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2021)

[pianocrash]

Certain other corners of the internet (some elements of Film Twitter at least) are a bit grumpy about how the trailer looks for generally stupid reasons (postulating that Cooper Hoffman got his part due to nepotism, saying it looks too derivative or mainstream, complaining about Anderson's use of Life On Mars as a "too obvious" trailer song...)

"Nobody needs Film Twitter...that's why they call it Film Twitter." - David Mamet Gretsky dot org

[Red Screamer]

Seems like those people forgot how much Phantom Thread's trailer defanged and undersold it. Anderson is coming off his two best films in my opinion and this trailer, while cut to hell as these things always are, has glimpses of the rich tonal clusters and invention with actors' behavior that has put him at the peak of his powers. Counting down the days.

[hearthesilence]

Trailers are really nice just to get a first, tangible look of a film, but I would never use a trailer as a reliable barometer of quality. I thought The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) had a gorgeous looking trailer, but I wasn't exactly a fan of the movie.

[Persona]

Gives me Cameron Crowe vibes.

That one shot of Cooper with the clubs is very PDL, though.

[JabbaTheSlut]

Both Hofman and Haim look magnetic. This looks fun.

[pianocrash]

That one shot of Cooper with the clubs is very PDL, though.

I had to check again to confirm myself, but those are indeed squeegees he's holding, which is somehow more unhinged than wielding a set of hammers, clubs, or anything intended to exude a car window breaking's force.

[therewillbeblus]

Wikipedia says that Christopher Walken is in this, as well as Ben Stiller as a character named Cowboy Carl. Is this new info?

IMDb and Wikipedia's pages have been updated and excluded Walken from the cast, though Stiller still appears on Wiki's page, citing this LA Times article from yesterday, which mentions that Stiller makes an appearance in the trailer. I've freezeframed it meticulously and can't place him- anyone else pick up on what they're seeing?

[Persona]

That one shot of Cooper with the clubs is very PDL, though.

I had to check again to confirm myself, but those are indeed squeegees he's holding, which is somehow more unhinged than wielding a set of hammers, clubs, or anything intended to exude a car window breaking's force.

Yeah, after watching it again I was like, "oh, those aren't clubs."

[The Narrator Returns]

Wikipedia says that Christopher Walken is in this, as well as Ben Stiller as a character named Cowboy Carl. Is this new info?

IMDb and Wikipedia's pages have been updated and excluded Walken from the cast, though Stiller still appears on Wiki's page, citing this LA Times article from yesterday, which mentions that Stiller makes an appearance in the trailer. I've freezeframed it meticulously and can't place him- anyone else pick up on what they're seeing?

Speaking of meticulously searching for actors in the trailer, someone on Twitter is saying that they found Spike Jonze in Benny Safdie's one shot in the trailer.

[therewillbeblus]

I thought that looked like him!

[PfR73]

I, on the other hand, don't think that's him, just someone who looks somewhat similar.

[flyonthewall2983]

Very happy to see him return to widescreen.

Film moved from Focus to MGM.

Because of their current deal with Universal, it’s advertised as being distributed by Focus anyway.

[yoloswegmaster]

According to this 70mm screening listing, the runtime is 100 minutes.

[flyonthewall2983]

Based on the trailer alone I’m betting on PG-13. Retro-y Juno vibes abound, just from a character point of view.

[The Narrator Returns]

I believe it was officially rated R (for "language, sexual material and some drug use") even before the trailer came out, so not the best bet in the world.

[ianthemovie]

More importantly: this is going to be in 70?! That's terrific news.

[flyonthewall2983]

I believe it was officially rated R (for "language, sexual material and some drug use") even before the trailer came out, so not the best bet in the world.

What happened to putting that in front of the trailers?

[therewillbeblus]

That's for ordinary movies, this one is special

[paulm]

I believe it was officially rated R (for "language, sexual material and some drug use") even before the trailer came out, so not the best bet in the world.

What happened to putting that in front of the trailers?

That only happens for a red-band trailer, which is when the trailer itself isn't suitable for all audiences.

[yoloswegmaster]

According to this 70mm screening listing, the runtime is 100 minutes.

Turns out that this listing is wrong and the actual runtime is 133 minutes.

[therewillbeblus]

[Big Ben]

Unsurprisingly, early thoughts on the film are effusive in their praise.

[flyonthewall2983]

It’s impossible for the man to whiff

[The Narrator Returns]

PTA said in a Q&A with Alana Haim and Ben Mankiewicz that John C. Reilly is in this and is playing Fred Gwynne (and Penn is playing a character based off William Holden), but Ben Stiller is not in it at all.

EDIT: Or maybe not on the Stiller point, someone who's proven to have very good information on the production says that Stiller's in it credited as "Sam Harpoon". This also explains the existence of this Sam Harpoon Twitter account, which this same source believes could be written by PTA himself.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

An interview with Anderson from Variety

I'm guessing this is covered in the Q&A above, but the male lead is based on Anderson's childhood friend Gary Goetzman, who had a couple of film roles in his teen years (Divorce, American Style and Yours, Mine, and Ours) but is now better known as Tom Hanks's producing partner. Christine Ebersole is playing Lucille Ball, more or less. Cooper Hoffman apparently has substantial experience as an actor in home movies by Anderson and his family ("Generally, they are action-oriented films where he’d get beaten up as the bad guy by my son who heroically throws him off a cliff or shoots him in the face"). Anderson really wants to work with Denzel Washington and Olivia Colman, and he liked Shang-Chi, Venom 2, and Titane.