What do liquorice pizza have in common with the gong show? | Paul Thomas Anderson

Valley PTA

Paul Thomas Anderson’s ninth cinematic symphony hits British screens next week: Licorice Pizza returns the director in the 1970s to the San Fernando Valley of his hometown LA, which he had previously seen in his 1997 Breakout Boogie Nights. The latter has tackled the porn scene of the era, the new attempt is a healthier coming-of-age story (Funny! Relaxed! Delicious! Says the Guardian) – some have called it “Boogie Days”. The newcomers Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim lead the line.

Paul Thomas Anderson is directing Licorice Pizza … Photo: Getty Images

Phantom threads

Alana Haim is a member of the sister-based pop rock group Haim. The trio have long been associated with Anderson, who directed several of their music videos. However, it turned out that the sisters’ mother, Donna Rose, was his elementary school art teacher – “a huge influence,” he says.

… long connected with Haim, whose mother Donna was his teacher … Photo: Getty Images

Inherent gong

In addition to inspiring a modern day writer, Donna was a Gong Show winner; she sang a Bonnie Raitt number – no gongs! (Husband Moti, meanwhile, was once a professional footballer; these Haims contain many.)

… and sang a Bonnie Raitt number on The Gong Show … Photo: Getty Images

It can be blood

Chuck Barris was the host of The Gong Show and creator of other trash televisions: In 1984 he notoriously wrote an “unauthorized autobiography” in which he dubiously claimed he was a CIA assassin. With Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, George Clooney turned the big story into his underrated directorial debut from 2002 (loan anywhere). Charlie Kaufman wrote the script – but later expressed his disapproval.

… moderated by Chuck Barris, whose biography was filmed by Charlie Kaufman … Photo: Getty Images

The master

Kaufman’s own directorial debut was the overwhelming Synecdoche, New York, with Philip Seymour Hoffman as a theater director, whose work devours his world. Hoffman was also a muse for Anderson in several films (is Punch-Drunk Love tacitly her best?) Until his death in 2014. Now his son Cooper has taken over the PTA baton (we usually have doubts about nepotism, but maybe we can wave that through).

… whose debut was Synecdoche, New York, with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Muse of Anderson. Photo: Alamy

Pairing Notes

Read Masterworks is the unobtrusive title of an overview of Paul Thomas Anderson’s work by film critic Adam Nayman, who also wrote elegant monographs on David Fincher and the Coen brothers.

meal Licorice pizza doesn’t refer to any unusual topping; it’s an old chain of record stores. But if you want to try it on a disc, what’s stopping you?