Oscars 2022: ‘Licorice Pizza’ Director Paul Thomas Anderson Addresses the Age Gap Between the 2 Leads
Academy Award-nominated director Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the most well-known filmmakers in the industry. Many of his films like Boogie Nights, There Will be Blood, The Master, and Phantom Thread have received acclaim and several Oscar nominations. His latest film, Licorice Pizza, is up for Best Picture this year. However, some aspects of the film’s narrative have sparked controversy, including an age gap between the two main characters.
‘Licorice Pizza’ is nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards
Licorice Pizza is a coming-of-age story set in the 1970s that follows the lives of Alana Kane (Alana Haim) and Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman). The two are figuring out what they want to do with their lives, while also forming some type of relationship with one another. The movie is almost episodic, with various sequences that develop our leads. The rest of the cast includes Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie, and Tom Waits.
The film is written and directed by Anderson and is nominated for three Academy Awards. The categories it’s nominated for are Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. While critics really love this movie, there is a division amongst audiences as some can’t overlook many of Licorice Pizza’s bold decisions.
Paul Thomas Anderson addresses the age gap in ‘Licorice Pizza’ between the 2 lead characters
In Licorice Pizza, Gary has strong feelings toward Alana, despite the 10-year age gap between the two. Gary is 15 while Alana is 25. While Alana keeps rejecting his advances, it seems like Alana may have developed some type of feelings for him by the end of the film. Nothing sexual happens between the two; however, there is one scene where Alana shows him her breasts.
One of the criticisms of Licorice Pizza is the decision to have this gap in the characters. Not the age gap itself, as this is common between two leads in many movies. It’s the fact that Gary is 15, which puts him below the age of consent, so any sexual relationship between the two is illegal. Some viewers have been able to look past this, while others could not. In an interview with The New York Times, Anderson addresses this controversy, saying he is surprised there is any at all.
“There’s no line that’s crossed, and there’s nothing but the right intentions,” Anderson said. “It would surprise me if there was some kind of kerfuffle about it because there’s not that much there. That’s not the story that we made, in any kind of way. There isn’t a provocative bone in this film’s body.”
This is not the only controversy involving ‘Licorice Pizza’
There is another scandalous topic surrounding Licorice Pizza. One scene that the internet is also divided on involves a character played by John Michael Higgins who speaks to his Japanese wife in a stereotypical Japanese accent. While some are arguing that Higgins’ character is racist and is supposed to look like an idiot, others believe that Anderson used Japanese stereotypes as a punchline.
Anderson addressed this topic and told the Times that he has a personal experience with this type of situation and that this scene would be accurate for the 1970s.
“I think it would be a mistake to tell a period film through the eyes of 2021,” Anderson explained. “You can’t have a crystal ball, you have to be honest to that time. Not that it wouldn’t happen right now, by the way. My mother-in-law’s Japanese and my father-in-law is white, so seeing people speak English to her with a Japanese accent is something that happens all the time. I don’t think they even know they’re doing it.”
Licorice Pizza is available to buy or rent on VOD.
