At long last, Paul Thomas Anderson is ready to share the first look of his new film with the world—well, not the entire world yet. His Phantom Thread follow-up, which had a production title of Soggy Bottom, now has a fresh new name and a trailer that is making the rounds at repertory cinemas from London to LA.
Premiering in front of screenings of American Graffiti and Beavis and Butt-Head Do America at London’s The Prince Charles Cinema, the 35mm trailer then screened last night at LA’s New Beverly between the double feature of Kiss Me Deadly and Repo Man as well as at the American Cinematheque’s Loz Feliz 3 before a screening of Strangers on a Train and at the Aero before Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!.
The title was revealed to be Licorice Pizza, which references the record store chain founded in Southern California in the 1970s—of course fitting for the film’s setting. Prior to that it was featured in an Abbott and Costello routine where they unsuccessfully tried to sell records, noting, “Well, we could sprinkle cornstarch on the bottom and sell them as Licorice Pizzas.” With the cheeky double-meaning acronym of LP, one can explore the history of the chain below.
As for the actual trailer, don’t glimpse further if you wish not to be spoiled, but it revealed new details about the film, with a hat tip to Reddit sleuths. Previously, we’ve known the cast includes Philip Seymour Hoffman’s son, Cooper Hoffman, as well as Bradley Cooper (now confirmed to be playing Jon Peters), Alana Haim, Benny Safdie, Nate Mann, Skyler Gisondo, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Destry Allyn Spielberg, and Sean Penn. Tom Waits and PTA’s partner, Maya Rudolph, were reportedly also featured in the trailer, which runs about two minutes and doesn’t reveal PTA’s name until a third or so in. The trailer also reportedly uses David Bowie’s Life on Mars and has tones of Boogie Nights-style comedy and a romance angle.
The social channels for the film have also launched (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) ahead of a presumably wider trailer drop this month and its theatrical release from MGM in late November, followed by a wide bow on Christmas. While there are no posts yet, the title treatment was unveiled:
Describing the trailer, Harry Eskin added that it features “youth and its pangs in a bygone time, wistful, a little melancholy, a little silly, strong Valley presence, Cooper and Penn taking big offbeat swings.” Here’s hoping a wider release of the trailer is around the corner, but with so few films garnering the anticipation like a new PTA project, we’ll let the master take his time as he playfully teases what is to come.
See more tweet reactions below.