Paul Thomas Anderson has detailed exactly how he managed to get a cameo from Leonardo DiCaprio's father George in his new film Licorice Pizza. The film stars Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, and Benny Safdie, and follows a teen boy and girl who find love in the San Fernando Valley in the early '70s. It premiered in limited theaters on November 26 and debuted at #13 on the domestic box office chart for the weekend. Licorice Pizza broke a pandemic box office record by doing so, raking in the best three-day total of any specialty film out of only four theaters.
There is a brief scene in the film that features a hippie who owns a waterbed store. That curious character is brought to life by an even more curious casting choice: George DiCaprio. Although he has produced many short and feature-length documentaries and has experience as a performance artist, the 78-year-old has never acted in front of a camera before Licorice Pizza.
On Twitter, New York Times writer Kyle Buchanan shared outtakes from his interview with Licorice Pizza's director Paul Thomas Anderson, including his explanation of how he arranged that cameo. When writing the film, Anderson had an image of how he wanted the character to look, and after racking his brain, he realized George DiCaprio was an exact fit for what he wanted. Anderson "tracked him down" and "explained the scenario to him," and DiCaprio agreed to appear in the film. Check out the full excerpt below:
I created a picture of a guy who owned a wig shop that sold these water beds, and I couldn't put my finger on it. I kept saying, "Who do I know that looks like this?" And like a bolt of lightning, I remember, like, "Leo's dad looks exactly like this." So I tracked him down, asked him if he'd ever be interested in being in a film. He said, "Sure." I explained the scenario to him. He said, "Sounds great. Did Leo tell you that I owned a water bed company? It was called Foggy Bottom."
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The thing that is extra peculiar about this particular cameo is the fact that Paul Thomas Anderson has never made a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio. The actor has worked with many popular directors including Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, and Alejandro Iñárritu, he and Anderson haven't crossed paths. It's a certainty that they'd have met at some Awards dinner or other, but the fact that Anderson knows enough about the actor to be aware of what his father looks like adds a new layer of intrigue to the situation.
It's not uncommon for relatives and friends of celebrities to make small cameo appearances in projects, but usually only in projects that are actually starring that celebrity. The fact that Anderson chose George DiCaprio to appear in Licorice Pizza shows just how deep his connection goes with pop culture and cinema. He has a connection with the people who make Hollywood run, even ones he's never personally worked with. It also shows his flexibility and willingness to go any distance to get the result he wants onscreen.
Source: Kyle Buchanan/Twitter