Is Licorice Pizza A True Story? The Facts And Characters That Inspired Paul Thomas Anderson

The story of friendship between Gary and Alana and the emotional tension between the two are not the result of either the biographical events of the director Paul Thomas Anderson or of a true story, but this does not mean that what is seen in Licorice Pizza has no solid basis in reality rather. The film that brings the director of The Hidden Thread and The Master back to his beloved Valley (where he grew up and has already set many of his feature films) is indeed full of ideas drawn from the personal experiences of the director and his acquaintances, as well as legendary stories of the time when old and new Hollywood merged.

Is Licorice Pizza A True Story?

Licorice Pizza is set in California in 1973 and stars Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman), a 15-year-old with some acting experience and a highly developed business sense who falls in love with Alana (Alana Haim), a 25-year-old who romantic requests of the boy, with whom, however, he begins to entertain a strange relationship of friendship and business. The two move in a California blocked by the oil crisis and filled with selfish and vain stars, both immature but capable of growing up to enrich each other.during a magical summer, full of memorable events, which will end up creating a deep bond between the two protagonists. Will Gary really make a breakthrough in Alana’s heart? Will she be able to understand what she wants to do with her life?

The Inspiration For The Plot Of The Film

The first idea for the film, which was initially going to be called Soggy Bottom, came to Paul Thomas Anderson in 2001. His film opens with the scene in which young Gary is lining up with his schoolmates to take the photograph that will end in the school yearbook. Alana is the assistant to the photographer who wanders here and there a little bored, asking the boys if they need a mirror and a comb to fix their hair before the photo. Gary runs into her and is so impressed that he immediately asks her out for dinner.

Anderson witnessed a similar exchange some twenty years ago in a California high school. The scene led him to wonder how he could tell the story of a boy’s infatuation with a much older woman. Thus was born the initial inspiration from which he then drew the entire film.

In the next scene we see Alana and Gary having dinner at  Tail o ‘the Cock, a restaurant that will be one of the main locations of the film. The place has been closed for some time, but in the 70s it was very popular and Anderson himself remembers it well, so much so that he had it rebuilt to shoot part of Licorice Pizza inside his room.

The Inspiration For The Character Of Gary

The character of Alana is the fruit of Anderson’s imagination, as well as that of Gary, who however draws many biographical elements from the life of a friend of the director and historical producer of Tom Hanks: Gary Goetzman. Anderson revealed that his friend has often told him about his childhood spent making films and being part of shows, but also about his attempt to start commercial enterprises even before he came of age. Anderson used many of these elements to shape Gary Valentine’s character.

In particular, we see Gary participating in a TV show as one of the eleven little actors starring in Under the Same Roof, alongside an actress who plays their mother. The interpreter closely resembles Lucille Ball, a well- known actress and comedian of the American small screen, alongside whom Goetzman worked as a young boy in Yours, Mine and Ours. The story of Lucille Ball was told by another film in the running for the Oscars this year, About the Ricardos, in which the woman is played by Nicole Kidman.

Not only that: Goetzman also worked for a certain period in the management of a sale of waterbeds and later opened a game room dedicated to pinball machines: these are the two activities that Gary Valentine sets up in the film, with the assistance of Alana.

The Inspiration For The Characters Of Holden, Blau And Peters

In the film we see two very famous actors interacting with Gary and Alana, both trying to seduce the latter. They are both modeled after two figures at the centre of the Hollywood era. Sean Penn plays an old Hollywood action and war movie actor who Alana auditions with and who later attempts to seduce her. The character is called Jack Holden and is based on William Holden, a famous star of the time with a huge baggage of war, action and drama films. Among his best-known roles, that of the protagonist of Viale del Tramonto.

Anderson makes a parodic version of it; that of an old star trapped in his myth who utters the lines of his old films in an attempt to sleep with young promises who share the set with him. In the film a film is mentioned several times in which Holden shares the scene with Grace Kelly and of which he tries to recreate a famous stunt with the motorcycle outside the Tail o ‘the Cock. The film in question really exists and is called The Bridges of Toko-Ri (1964).

Rex Blau, the thick-voiced and slightly tipsy director who challenges Holden to recreate the stunt with his motorcycle, is played by Tom Waits and is based on Mark Robson, who directed The Bridges of Toko-Ri, in addition to the famous Peyton’s Sins and Valley of the Dolls. In reality, the director died 5 years after the events told by Licorice Pizza.

The only character to keep his original name is that of Jon Peters , a well-known Hollywood producer. Anderson contacted him advising him that he would include an exaggerated and parodic version of his person in his film and Peters agreed, only asking him to keep the phrase with which he tried to pick up as many girls as possible:

In 1973 he was still “alone” the hairdresser of Barbra Streisand, who later became his partner. From there he began an incredible climb to Hollywood, becoming one of the leading producers. In the film we see him threatening and aggressive and perpetually busy chasing some skirts, made paranoid by taking drugs. Anderson said that at the time Goetzman sold Peters a waterbed and went to install it in his home, just like in the movie!