Search results
Dec 1, 2021 · Like much of the movie, the sequence has roots in real life, specifically the teen years of Gary Goetzman, a child actor turned producer whose notable collaborators include Jonathan Demme and...
- Gary Valentine
- Jon Peters
- Jack Holden
- Joel Wachs
- Lucy Doolittle
- Fred Gwynne
- B. Mitchel Reed
- Mary Grady
- Why Licorice Pizza Missed Out at The Oscars
- How Licorice Pizza Compares to Other Paul Thomas Anderson True Stories
Based On Gary Goetzman
Licorice Pizza's leading man, Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman), is based on Paul Thomas Anderson's friend Gary Goetzman, a former child actor. Goetzman, now a well-known producer who frequently collaborates with Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks (Masters of the Air, A Man Called Otto), inspired almost all the specific anecdotes within Licorice Pizza from his teenage years. Goetzman starred in the Lucille Ball film Yours, Mine and Ours (changed to Under One Roof in Licorice Pizza) as a teenager, al...
Bradley Cooper Played The Real-Life Producer
Jon Peters, played by Bradley Cooper in Licorice Pizza, is a real producer and former hairdresser from the '70s. An interesting tidbit is that he was dating actress Barbra Streisand at the time of the film's setting, a point Cooper's portrayal reiterates to Gary. Jon produced Barbra Streisand's A Star is Born remake, an excellent Easter egg, considering Bradley Cooper remade A Star is Born in 2018. In Licorice Pizza, Jon Peters enters the plot when Gary and Alana deliver a waterbed to his hom...
Based On William Holden
Licorice Pizza's motorcycle-riding actor, Jack Holden, is based on Oscar-winning movie star William Holden. PTA told Variety that Jack Holden is a "stand-in for William Holden," as he felt it more appropriate not to use the actor's real name. Played by Sean Penn, Jack Holden's Licorice Pizzacharacter enters the movie when Alana gets an audition to star opposite him in a film and is later thrown off of his motorcycle when he performs a stunt on a golf course. Considering that Licorice Pizza me...
A Real-Life Politician From The 1970s
Another real-life figure whose name remains unchanged in Licorice Pizza is Joel Wachs, a politician who ran for council member in Los Angeles in the early 1970s. Played by Uncut Gems director Benny Safdie in Licorice Pizza, Wachs' role becomes significant when Alana quits Gary's waterbed business and volunteers on Chairman Wachs' campaign. In one of Licorice Pizza's sad, self-realization moments for Alana, Wachs calls her character to a restaurant as a ploy to hide his boyfriend from the publ...
Based On Lucille Ball
Licorice Pizza's Lucy Doolittle character is another example of slightly changing a real-life Hollywood actor's name as deemed appropriate by PTA. Doolittle's role is early in the film as an actress leading Gary's variety show Under One Roof. Anderson keeps the inspirational actress's first name and changes the last, as Lucy Doolittle is based on none other than I Love Lucy'sLucille Ball. Lucy's place in Licorice Pizza connects to Gary Goetzman's real-life experience. He was about the same ag...
Played By John C. Reilly
Another real star of the '60s portrayed as himself on screen is Fred Gwynne. Paul Thomas Anderson's frequent collaborator, John C. Reilly, appears as Gwynne in a blink-or-you'll-miss-it scene in Licorice Pizza. As Gary sets up his "Soggy Bottom" stand at the Teenage Fair, Licorice Pizza pans over to a booth for The Munsters'original cast, where Fred Gwynne (Reilly) is dressed as Herman Munster and assures kids that he is, in fact, the real Herman Munster. Like many other booths in the Teenage...
Reed Was A Real-Life DJ In The 1970s
After Alana and Gary decide to go into business together for Fat Bernie's Water Beds, the two schedule a live radio ad as done by B. Mitchel Reed. Licorice Pizza portrays the radio jockey as the real Reed in a two-minute scene. B. Mitchel Reed, who is played in the movie by accomplished voice actor Ray Chase. Reed was best known for his disc jockey career on Top 40 and rock stations in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, which is a perfect homage to the music culture of this era that inspired Lic...
Played By Harriet Samson Harris
In a small but memorable scene, Licorice Pizza features a segment where Alana and Gary meet with Mary Grady, a real-life child actor agent from the ‘70s. Played by frequent PTA collaborator Harriet Samson Harris, Mary Grady was a well-known talent agent for many of Hollywood’s greatest child stars of the era. Licorice Pizza’s real-life Grady was also the mother of child actors Don Grady (The Mickey Mouse House) and Lani O’Grady.
Haim's snub and the bigger winners explained
Among nine other films, Licorice Pizza was nominated for Best Picture and didn't win — but what upset many fans was that Alana Haim got snubbed entirely. Licorice Pizza was up against quite a formidable group in terms of the Best Picture Oscar. Between King Richard, allegorical disaster-comedy Don't Look Up, Belfast, and Dune, it was perhaps surprising that the indie movie got a nomination in the first place, though well-deserved. Ultimately, however, Licorice Pizza was beaten by fellow comin...
Liquorice Pizza Stands Out As More Personal
As a filmmaker, P.T. Anderson has created movies about true stories and based moments in his films on real people or situations. In Licorice Pizza, the idea was to take something very personal to Anderson and turn it into a coming-of-age story, making it close to the filmmaker's heart. However, this differs from past movies, which often took things outside his life and shone a light on them. His other films based on true stories usually seemed much more detached and technical than Licorice Pi...
Oct 6, 2024 · Chicago Fire has taken fans an emotional rollercoaster from the first episode, as numerous characters die throughout the beloved drama series.
Sep 13, 2022 · Set in San Fernando Valley in 1973, "Licorice Pizza" tells the story of Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman), a 15-year-old child actor and aspiring businessman that begins courting the 25-year-old...
Sep 29, 2022 · In real life, Goetzman actually delivered waterbeds to Peters’ house, and told Anderson that he was “the greatest guy in the world.” He dated Streisand for 12 years after they were ...
- Harper Lambert
Sep 15, 2024 · Sadly, the actor is no longer with us. While the director was auditioning experienced child actors to play Gary, he found them all too “trained” and “precocious.”
People also ask
Who was Gary Goetzman in 'Licorice Pizza'?
Who is Gary Goetzman?
How many Chicago Fire deaths are there?
Are Chicago Fire characters safe?
Dec 31, 2021 · We begin with a fabulous lengthy single take – less flashy than the Boogie Nights opening – that has Gary meeting up with Alana Kane (Alana Haim), assistant to a photographer, at school and ...
