Licorice Pizza served in the Valley Director Paul Thomas Anderson hosts college press conference for his film

BY ANASTASIYA OREL Reporter

Licorice on pizza does not sound like the best combination, just like some people don’t like pineapple and ham.

But don’t worry, no one is making up strange combinations.

Paul Thomas Anderson hosted a college press conference on Nov. 19 for his upcoming film “Licorice Pizza,” which references a former chain of record shops in Southern California.

The coming-of-age movie follows two characters growing up and falling in love in the San Fernando Valley during the early 1970s. Starring actors Cooper Hoffman, Alana Haim, Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper, the movie is being officially released on Dec. 25, 2021.

The movie opened in Los Angeles on Nov. 26.

The film’s premiere at the Regency Village Theatre also included a film accurate recreation of “Fat Bernies Pinball Parlor” pop-up next to the theater at 945 Broxton Ave.

While reviews have been mostly positive, it has received criticism for a scene involving a stereotypical depiction of an Asian accent by a white character.

Anderson said in an interview with NBC News that the film is set in the 1970s and shouldn’t be told through a modern day lens.

"I think it would be a mistake to tell a period film through the eyes of 2021. You can’t have a crystal ball, you have to be honest to that time,” Anderson said. “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."

Anderson shoots most of his films in the Valley and said he shares a personal relationship with it.

“You’re making a film and you’re asking an audience to care about it, so I care about it and where I come from,” Anderson said. “I want my love for it to be evident on- screen. It was a combination of great joy and great melancholy that we went looking for locations because many things in the Valley have changed.”

Anderson said filming in the Valley has challenged him to explore places he didn’t know about and has become a byproduct of being a filmmaker.

“Pierce College is four minutes from where I am now and that resulted in a lot of joy from all of us who live and work here,” Anderson said. “My friend Gary started a waterbed company at a pinball store and pinball was illegal in LA. All these details are specific to the San Fernando Valley, and when it all adds up as a whole, it just feels like, yeah, that happens in the Valley all the time.

"They’re very cinematic and very specific to this place more so than anywhere else.”

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE CHRISTMAS SONG?

“MyfavoriteChristmassongis 'WhiteChristmas,'butthecover byPanic!attheDisco.”

--EmilyLeeds