Licorice Pizza - Speculation & General Reactions

[Drill]

Martin McDonagh was also there apparently.

Jane Campion was at one of the L.A. weekend screenings as well.

Also read on Instagram someone who's going to interview him for LA Weekly. They said he'll be on the cover. I wonder if he's actually going to campaign for this? Covering Variety is out of the ordinary for him. Maybe he'll do a roundtable this time.

[max from fearless]

My old sew and sew

There She Is!

[Alethia]

Lesley's jacket fucking rocks

[jviness02]

Eh, hard to say really. They ultimately don't have all that much in common, though it's easy to think otherwise without having seen it (I certainly did). I feel like this might play pretty well with general audiences. 

Compared to Vice, it's a much more inviting experience overall.

Interesting. You would say OUATIH is more accessible than Boogie Nights? Got to disagree there.

He literally didn't say that. You're disagreeing with the voices in your head.

He said he thinks LP is PTA's most accessible movie (therefore, more accessible than Boogie Nights), but not sure if it's more accessible than OUATIH. So I was assuming, but still asking, whether he thinks OUATIH is more accessible than BN. I didn't think that was a big leap.

I am not that interested in this accessibility conversation, but I think you are HIGHLY underestimating the fact that Boogie Nights is about the porn industry. That automatically kills some of its "accessibility".

Maybe, but BN had the whole showy Scorsese/Goodfellas coke energy which mainstream audiences love. I'm assuming this doesn't have that. As far as OUATIH, that was pretty meandering. Many Tarantino fans had the "only the last 20 minutes were fun" complaint.

Mmmmm, yeah that's a pretty good point.

[mickeywolfman]

Taped the first 20mins of the Q&A on voicenotes. Not sure of the quality, will check and maybe post. Was stopped by Paul's PR team from filming video...Robbie's questions not bad.

Would you mind sharing that 20 mins? I'd love to hear it!

[wilberfan]

Ditto. I've been devouring as many of these as are available.

[max from fearless]

Just PM'd you both links - actually was 12mins

Listening to these has been amazing, the MOMA q&a was pretty amazing for me!!!

[kingfan011]

If he did a roundtable that means he is full on campaigning. I have never thought I would ever see him there even though I love watching them and always wanted to see him on them.

The best roundtable is the I think 2011 actress one with Helen Bonham Carter and Annette Benning. There is some wonderful passive aggressive bombs thrown there.

[wilberfan]

'Licorice Pizza' Used '70s Film Tech to Tell A '70s Love Story - Interview with Cinematographer, Editor, and Prod Designer

Licorice Pizza cinematographer Michael Bauman, editor Andy Jurgensen and production designer Florencia Martin said director Paul Thomas Anderson used 1970s processes to create the MGM/United Artists Releasing film. The trio spoke about the upcoming pic, about coming of age in the San Fernando Valley in that same era, during Deadline's Contenders Film: Los Angeles award-season event Sunday at the DGA Theater.

"Most of the time you're using more modern glass, you get a sharper image," Bauman said. "That was the exact opposite of what we're doing here. We had a set of lenses Gordon Willis used from the '70s. The C Series is a very old series of lenses too. It adds that texture in the image."

Jurgensen said Anderson shot Licorice Pizza on 35mm film, already a rarity in 2021 Hollywood; 70mm prints are blown up from 35.

Bauman said he screened film dailies every day, like filmmakers would have done to review their footage in the '70s before video playback became widespread. They would evaluate not only performances from the likes of the young leading actors Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman, but also the visual aesthetic they were capturing.

"You can have a day where you're shooting like 'Oh my God, I don't know if this is working'," Bauman said. "The next day you can take a look at it and be like, 'Oh, this is great.'"

Martin had to transform Los Angeles back to the way it looked in the '70s. Every location was captured in camera with no green screen. "We were scouting to find intersections, big streets where we did full takeovers and designs of 10 storefronts," Martin said. "It was just taking away and really committing to de-modernizing the Valley and bringing it back to the '70s."

One location was available to rebuild from the ground up. Martin said an abandoned restaurant at the Van Nuys Golf Course gave her a blank canvas.

"We found a restaurant that was completely dilapidated at the Van Nuys Golf Course," Martin said. "We remodeled the entire interior and turned it back to the classic American watering hole of the Valley, Tail o' the Cock. We went right outside to the golf course and transformed it into the fire pit you see in the trailer."

Licorice Pizza, which also stars Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper and Benny Safdie, opens November 26 in limited release.

Check back Tuesday for the panel video.

[HACKANUT]

How do those that have seen it feel about the Cinematography in this one? How do you feel it compares to PT or the rest of his work? I thought PT looked flawless but I've heard some say its lacking... any perceived improvements this time around?

[max from fearless]

No way is this lacking! To me, it feels like PTA at his most visually stripped down. Some great tracking shots with running characters. A lot of following people around. Some lovely whip pans. This is a hang out movie (American Graffiti comes to mind) so there's no need for a ton of over the top visual flourishes. This feels a lot more subtle, even when there are show offy moments, they don't feel pronounced, they feel super natural within the flow of the film. They don't announce themselves or stick out.

The lighting is INCREDIBLE. Dusk shots, blue light, lush night scenes. Nostalgia is present, but it's not pimped out visually. There are some lovely lens flares as well. Looked absolutely stunning in 70mm. Reminds me of IV regarding the editing - the way you get in and out of scenes, lack of establishing shots for the most part with some interesting choices re: the ellipsis and time jumps, etc.

[max from fearless]

At my screening - opening shot - the projectionist lined up the frame, the image nudged up slightly as the scene kicked off: the shot - the lighting, the composition, the texture of the image, the costumes - immediately transporting! I was trying to make sense of where I was, or what was happening in the scene, and who was who etc, but I immediately felt like I was in another world, in the 70s. Most period films, I can feel something modern encroaching on the visuals/story somehow, (lens choices? camera moves? texture?) but this is SUPER transporting, possibly than IV - maybe due to how personal it is to Paul? Again, it is an incredible visual feat to achieve this and to do it simply with no fan fair. It's time travel at its best.

[HACKANUT]

Jesus, your description got me like https://imgur.com/gallery/yLdHg7b

Thanks for the write up. The way you describe the camera work makes it sound like a culmination of so many of my favorite PTAttributes.

Christmas cant get here soon enough!


Side note, there's no way Pittsburgh gets in on the limited release right?

[Drenk]

Licorice Chicken.

[Alma]

Some great reviews as expected.

https://twitter.com/DavidCRooney1/status/1460339515596365832

https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1460338054065971210

https://twitter.com/robbiereviews/status/1460337142580793346

https://twitter.com/davidehrlich/status/1460337041384816652