Paul Thomas Anderson responds to criticisms of an anti-Asian character in Licorice Pizza. PTA is the highly acclaimed auteur behind modern classics like Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and There Will Be Blood. His latest film released in theaters this past Christmas to nearly unanimous positive reception from critics. Licorice Pizza also broke a pandemic box office record during its limited debut and resulted in three Oscar nods for its writer/director, which is just business as usual for PTA, who has a total of 11 Academy Award nominations to his name over his career.
Set in the San Fernando Valley, Licorice Pizza returns the director to his own birthplace which also served as the setting for Boogie Nights and Magnolia. His latest work is a coming-of-age tale set during the the 1970s and centered around the relationship between a 15-year-old child actor, Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman), and a listless 25-year-old photographer's assistant, Alana Kane (Alana Haim). Both actors make their screen debuts in the film, though their names should surely be recognizable to audiences. Cooper is the son of the late, great, frequent PTA collaborator Phillip Seymour Hoffman, while Alana is a member of the sister-band Haim, whom PTA has directed a number of music videos for.
While Licorice Pizza has been met with glowing reception from critics and PTA fans alike, it has been marred by a controversy regarding a character played by John Michael Higgins, a white businessman named Jerry Frick who speaks to his Japanese wives with a fake Asian accent at several points throughout the film. When asked about it during an interview with IndieWire, Anderson shrugged it off as "an idiot saying stupid shit," though when confronted with the idea that the character's racism could give audiences permission to laugh at an offensive stereotype, the filmmaker admitted "that’s a possibility" and that he's "certainly capable of missing the mark." Read PTA's full response below:
It’s kind of like, “Huh?” I don’t know if it’s a “Huh” with a dot dot dot. It’s funny because it’s hard for me to relate to. I don’t know. I’m lost when it comes to that. To me, I’m not sure what they — you know, what is the problem? The problem is that he was an idiot saying stupid shit? I’m certainly capable of missing the mark, but on the other hand, I guess I’m not sure how to separate what my intentions were from how they landed.
Though Higgins' character is far from a racist caricature like Mickey Rooney's Mr. Yunioshi from Breakfast at Tiffany's, his fake Asian accent is enough to warrant outrage. A prominent Asian activist group previously called for awards bodies to boycott Licorice Pizza due to its "casual racism." PTA responded to the backlash in a previous interview, noting that the film is set in 1971 when modern-day sensitivities surrounding race did not exist.
Due to Licorice Pizza's recent recognition by the Academy, the controversy has persisted, and PTA definitely owed further explanation to those who were offended by the film's mockery of Asian people. Now that he's given another slightly flippant response, it likely won't make the controversy go away entirely, though it does provide a window into the filmmaker's intent and thought process with the character of Jerry Frick. While his anti-Asian sentiments may have been misguided, there certainly doesn't seem to be any ill-intent or malice on PTA's end.
Source: Indie Wire