Four years after Phantom Thread, director Paul Thomas Anderson is back with his latest feature, Licorice Pizza. A coming-of-age tale set in 1970s California, the film has earned widespread praise and is considered to be one of this year's awards contenders as Oscar season heats up. A staple of Anderson's filmography is strong performances, and Licorice Pizza is no exception. Musician Alana Haim makes her acting debut in Licorice Pizza, picking up a Golden Globe nomination for her efforts.
Haim spoke to Screen Rant about collaborating with Anderson and more.
Screen Rant: I love the Haim music videos so much. They're such a vibe, but they're also a really good love letter to the Valley and to LA. So when I saw you were in this movie, I was like, "Hell yes."
When this was presented to you by [Paul Thomas Anderson]? Were you like, "Oh yeah, I'm in immediately"? Was there hesitation? What was that process like?
Alana Haim: I think when PTA talks to you and says, "I have this movie, would you want to ever consider playing a part in it?" Of course, you're going to say, "Yes, of course. Why not?" I mean, I love new adventures. I'm a true Sagittarius. I love new things, and I immediately said yes. And then I think once I hung up the phone with Paul, all my confidence just kind of fell to the ground. I was like, "Oh my gosh, what did I just do? What happened?"
I mean, I trust Paul and he's such an incredible director. Incredible is the tiniest word I could even say for how amazing he is. And I knew we were just going to have a good time. Reading the script and knowing Paul was directing it and Paul wrote it, I knew we were going to have a good time. I follow the good time. Got to follow the good time.
It is such a vibe. It's one of those movies you just kind of want to go through the screen and be inside. I'm curious. If there's a movie you could live in, you could go enter that world, besides the Licorice Pizza, what would it be?
Alana Haim: I have two favorite movies in my life and they're both completely different. The first one is A Goofy Movie, which- If I could go to a Powerline concert, that's amazing. If I could “Blue Skidoo” into a Powerline concert, I would be stoked. My other favorite movie is Defending Your Life, which is a little bit different, a little bit more morbid, but those were my two favorite movies growing up. I would watch them constantly, and I would probably get in somewhere there.
I love that you used Blue Skidoo because I was such a Blues Clues girl.
Alana Haim: Oh, come on! Blues Clues! You got to know what Blue Skidoo is!
For people that don't know, Paul Thomas Anderson directed a lot of the Haim videos. How did those collaborations begin?
Alana Haim: I mean, me and my sisters never allow anybody in the studio. We're very secretive, kind of like Paul. I feel like Paul's very secretive. We never have been the kind of person that's like, "Come to the studio. Listen to unfinished tracks," but the only person that we've ever trusted to come into the studio before anything is done has been Paul because Paul is truthfully... He just loves music. I think it's no secret that Paul loves music. All of his soundtracks… I go to him for music taste. He has the best music taste.
So we invited Paul to the studio. We were all set up. We had our instruments all plugged in and we were showing him songs from our second album. He kind of just looked around and said, "Everything's set up. Why don't we just shoot this?"
I always say this, but it's incredibly hard to capture live music. It's so hard because there's something that happens between the artist and the camera and the energy that goes from one point to the other, and you just lose so much of that emotion. I don't know. It gets lost. It's like the energy gets lost and it doesn't hit the camera.
We had always wanted to do a live video and Paul's like, "Let's just do it." He set up the camera. It was one shot. There were a couple lights, nothing too crazy. We were so comfortable to work with Paul because at that point, we were like family. And he captured something that I had always wanted to be captured as a band.
We got to go see dailies, which “dailies” was a term that I had never known before. And I was like, "Okay, the movies. We're going to go see dailies." We went to go see the dailies and there was no sound, because we hadn't mixed the sound yet, and it was just picture. And even without sound, I looked at him and I was like, "That's what I wanted. I've always wanted to look like that. That's how I play guitar. That's how we play drums. You've captured something that is so incredibly hard to capture and you've done it with such ease." Then you think back and you're like, "Of course, it's Paul. Of course, it was easy for him." But it is incredibly hard.
Licorice Pizza is now playing in theaters.