Licorice Pizza (2021) Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
March is Oscar month on Pop Screen, and as luck would have it one of this year’s frontrunners is absolutely made for us. A goofy, shaggy 1970s coming-of-age comedy featuring a Tom Waits cameo, the entire band HAIM and their parents – seriously, their real-life parents – it’s inspired rabid devotion and some dissent for its treatment of racial prejudice, age-gap relationships and its outspoken pro-water-bed stance.
This week, Graham is joined by Mark Harrison from Den of Geek to discuss Paul Thomas Anderson’s love letter to his childhood. We identify which of Bradley Cooper’s lines are taken directly from real life, how Anderson first met the Haim family, the difficulties of being a visual storyteller in a box-set TV era, and whether or not Sean Penn is in on the joke of his cameo at all. Also, Graham openly invites the director onto Pop Screen, which… you never know?
If you want to keep us afloat during the current gas crisis – yeah, that doesn’t look like a period detail any more, does it? – you can donate to our Patreon, where you can get exclusive episodes of Pop Screen, full access to our other movie podcast Directors Uncut, Graham’s twice-weekly Doctor Who reviews, and more. We’re planning even more exclusives for 2022 – follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to find out about those!
Pop Screen is on iTunes, Google Podcasts & Spotify
subscribe, rate & review!
