88 Time December 6/December 13, 2021
INTERVIEW
Back to the ’70s
with Paul Thomas
Anderson
BY MATTHEW JACOBS
you in the process of creating these
songs, the less we have to do, actually.
If there’s a slight bum note, you have to
live with it. If anything, it adds to the
authenticity. You have to leave your ego
behind a little bit.Of the three sisters, what made you
decide that Alana was the one you
wanted to revolve this film around?
Anderson: Well, Danielle was too old.
[Laughs.] I had an instinct that Alana
could act. I’d seen her perform in the
music videos, but that wasn’t even the
biggest thing. The biggest thing was
knowing her personally. She can get a
little rabid, a little frothy at the mouth.
Haim: I’m a Sagittarius.
Anderson: The dynamics of this story
seemed to really suit her personality.
She has a “Where and when?” attitude.That is essential for this film, because
Alana had to spend a good chunk
of time driving a massive U-Haul
through narrow Los Angeles streets.
Did you do your own stunt driving?
Haim: I did a lot. That was the only
part of the script where I was like,Licorice Pizza, The new movie from wriTer-
director Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood,
Phantom Thread), is a shaggy love story set in California’s
San Fernando Valley in 1973. The protagonists are 15-year-
old Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman, son of the late Philip
Seymour Hoffman, a frequent Anderson collaborator) and
the aimless, slightly older Alana Kane (Alana Haim of the
rock sister-trio Haim). “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a
song-and-dance man,” a precocious Gary tells Alana before
igniting a series of schemes—having her chaperone him on
the press tour for a movie he appears in, starting a water-
bed company, opening a pinball store—meant to win her
heart. Anderson had directed several music videos for the
group Haim before he cast its youngest member, who steals
Licorice Pizza from seasoned Hollywood vets like Bradley
Cooper, Sean Penn and Tom Waits. TIME sat down with
Anderson and Haim in New York City to talk about the
film, due in theaters Nov. 26; their creative partnership;
and learning to drive a massive manual U-Haul named Ger-
trude through the streets of Los Angeles.
Paul, you first met the Haim sisters because you liked
their music videos, right?
Anderson: I liked their music first, because I heard it on the
radio. It was “Forever.” It’s still one of my favorite songs. It
nagged at me that there was something deeper beyond just
liking their music, and it revealed itself that their mother was
my favorite teacher I’d ever had, when I was 7 years old.
Haim: Miss Rose, the most amazing art-teacher name.
Anderson: I went to a school that was very strict gray-haired
ladies. This was an art teacher who looks exactly like Alana,
with long, beautiful hair, who would play guitar and teach us
how to paint, burned into my memory as this rainbow.
How did that transition into a more creative partnership?
Haim: Very organically. We were in the middle of recording
our second album. We were in the studio and we said, “Why
don’t we show Paul what we have?” He saw the instruments
being set up and came to the conclusion, “Why don’t we just
film this?” It’s really hard to capture magic with a live-music
component. It turned out to be the most beautiful, incredible
depiction of me and my sisters. It was the first time we had
seen ourselves and said, “That’s how we always wanted to be
depicted.” After that, it’s kind of hard to go to anybody else.
Every time we needed a music video: “We gotta call Paul.”
Anderson: Oftentimes, when you’re filming live music,
something gets disconnected. There are too many cuts or the
music ends up not feeling live or something just feels pro-
cessed about it. I want to see you play. The more we just film
‘It’s very
rare to
have an
actor be
able to
shed their
vanity.’
PAUL THOMAS
ANDERSON,
ON ALANA HAIM