Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Licorice Pizza' Trailer Features Philip Seymour Hoffman's Son As Lead
The first trailer for writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film Licorice Pizza has dropped with first time actor Cooper Hoffman starring as the lead. For those who might not recognize the face will definitely know the last name, because this budding young talent is the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, who starred in several Paul Thomas Anderson projects over his storied career.
The film, which also stars Alana Haim, tells the tale of a child actor, now in high school, as he navigates the world of Hollywood in the 1970's while trying to make it work with his girlfriend played by Haim. The film has all of the trappings of a P.T. Anderson film with its period accurate wardrobe and hair, to the use of recognizable songs giving it the feeling of the time much the way he did with his breakout film Boogie Nights from 1997.
The film also stars Sean Penn, Tom Waits, John C. Reilly (also a Anderson cast alum), and Maya Rudolph. One of the most notable castings choices on the roster is Bradley Cooper playing Barbara Streisand's hairstylist turned boyfriend, turned producer Jon Peters whose career in Hollywood became legendary amongst those who know him.
Licorice Pizza looks to be a labor of love for Anderson, who cast Philip Seymour Hoffman in several of his films before his tragic death in 2014. In a 2015 interview for Marc Maron's WTF Podcast, Anderson recalls the first time watching Hoffman on film,
When I saw him for the first time in Scent of a Woman, I just knew what true love was. I knew what love at first sight was. It was the strangest feeling sitting in a movie theater and thinking, 'He's for me and I'm for him.' And that was it.
He went on to say,
Phil maybe had a long list of not-so-great movies [at that point] but he was always the best thing in them.
Licorice Pizza is scheduled to release December 23, 2021
