Paul Thomas Anderson compares Licorice Pizza actress Alana Haim to Joaquin Phoenix. The incomparable auteur broke onto the scene in 1997 with Boogie Nights and has since delivered a slew of critically acclaimed hits like There Will Be Blood, The Master, and Inherent Vice. His most recent film was 2017's Phantom Thread, Daniel Day-Lewis' final project before retiring. Now, Anderson is returning to the setting of his previous films Boogie Nights and Magnolia, the San Fernando Valley, for a deeply personal coming-of-age drama.
Licorice Pizza follows the burgeoning yet platonic relationship between a 15-year-old child actor Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) and a 25-year-old photographer's assistant Alana Kane (Alana Haim). Both of the movie's lead stars are making their acting debuts. Cooper is the son of the late great actor and frequent PTA collaborator, Philip Seymour Hoffman. On the other hand, Haim is known as a member of the band of the same name which Anderson has directed a number of music videos for. Licorice Pizza also stars Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, and Benny Safdie.
During a recent sit down with Total Film for the latest issue of their magazine (via GamesRadar), Paul Thomas Anderson made quite the lofty comparison between one of Licorice Pizza's lead stars, Alana Haim, and two of the greatest screen actors alive, Daniel Day-Lewis and Joaquin Phoenix, saying he would put her in the same category as them. Read what he had to say below:
I would put Alana in the category with Daniel [Day Lewis] and Joaquin [Phoenix] – she has that kind of unpredictability in the performance, and it’s edgy.
Oddly enough, John C. Reilly made the exact same comparison in a recent interview, saying that he couldn't take his eyes off Haim while on set and the only other actor that makes him feel that way is Phoenix, citing the unpredictable nature of their acting. Reilly stars in Licorice Pizza as Fred Gwynne, the actor known for portraying Herman Munster on the CBS sitcom. Now, the director's comparison is even loftier considering he decided to include Day-Lewis' name in the mix.
It's unclear if Anderson is piggybacking off Reilly's comments or if he thought of the Phoenix comparison independently. Nevertheless, it speaks volumes for Haim's first performance that it has drawn multiple comparisons to Phoenix and Day-Lewis. Anderson has worked with both actors on two occasions, The Master and Inherent Vice for the former and There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread for the latter, so he's definitely in tune with all aspects of their performance styles and is able to recognize when other actors exhibit similar traits. Haim's debut performance in Licorice Pizza can be seen now in limited theaters and the film opens nationwide on December 25.
Source: Total Film (via GamesRadar)