Quickly after her shut good friend Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza” script appeared in her e-mail in-box and she or he’d signed on to star in the charming comedian romance, it dawned on Alana Haim that there was a cause the filmmaker usually shared anecdotes along with her about San Fernando Valley within the early ‘70s.
“I really feel like Paul was dropping all these breadcrumbs, all these tales about waterbeds and pinball machines, however I by no means caught [on],” says Haim, who grew up in Valley Village and is the youngest of the three multi-instrumentalist sisters who make up the Grammy-nominated band Haim. “I simply liked listening to in regards to the Valley, as a result of he has the identical quantity of affection for it that I do.”
Earlier than “Licorice Pizza,” the closest factor to hitting her mark concerned lip-syncing and twirling her means via Anderson’s low-budget music movies for her band. “Doing music movies, it’s such small scale — it was like going from P.E. class to the Olympics” says Haim. Then the rapturous opinions for her efficiency as Alana Kane, a typically feisty, considerably unmoored 20-something, started pouring in. Now she’s able to take Hollywood by storm. “I’d like to work with Paul once more,” she says, her expressive face lighting up. “Possibly it is advisable name him up and inform him to rent me.”
You’ve by no means acted in a film but get provided the main position. After elation, what’s the subsequent emotion?
Concern. On this enterprise you hear “No” on a regular basis. It makes you construct up this massive concern monster in your thoughts. You begin listening to little issues which are horrible. Like, “You possibly can’t do that. You’ve by no means acted earlier than. You’re going to fail.”However Paul makes you are feeling like you are able to do something. Once we had been doing music movies, there have been instances the place I used to be like, “I don’t know if we will pull this off.” And he’s like, “You possibly can.” To have somebody like Paul inform you, “You’ve acquired this,” it’s such a uncommon factor to have on this enterprise.
Discuss your first assembly with co-star Cooper Hoffman in 2017, when Paul requested you and your sisters to baby-sit him.
Cooper could be very intimidating; he has all this confidence. Rising up in L.A., you at all times envy children who grew up in New York, taking the subway and strolling across the streets. They appear a lot older. My childhood was asking my dad and mom if they'd drive me to the Galleria. There’s no toughness. [Pause] He’ll kill me for saying that I baby-sat him. He’s going to be like, [deep voice] “You didn’t babysit me. I didn’t want your assist.” [Laughs]
Let me re-phrase. Paul requested you to get him one thing to eat.
We took him to the unique Katsu-Ya in Studio Metropolis. I've this vivid reminiscence: He took out his Invisalign and did this slurp such as you do when you will have a retainer, set it on the desk and [said], “Girls, what are we having? Salmon? Sashimi?” And we had been all one another like, “Who is that this child?”
How does performing earlier than an enormous crowd put together you for being on a bustling movie set?
Onstage, it’s sink or swim. So many issues can occur. We’ve had all the things go incorrect in a present. And it's a must to fake like nothing’s occurring. Like, “Oh, that loopy mild that fell and burst into one million items? That occurs each present!” In a film, so many issues are being thrown at you at a second’s discover. [You have to] be ready for all the things, and I introduced that from music.
A few of your most memorable scenes additionally star your real-life household. How did you collectively set up that fantastically quirky comedian rhythm?
[Because of COVID protocols] I didn’t see anyone for 65 days except it was somebody in our bubble. My dad and mom had been consistently like, “Can we simply see you for 5 minutes?” And I’m like, “Completely not.” Then it was our time to shoot. All of us sat down in a home that wasn’t our personal. However it didn’t matter. It actually felt like there weren’t cameras round. Each my dad and mom had been very skilled, by no means broke, had been the toughest working actors on “Licorice Pizza.” The issue was me, Este and Danielle. We couldn’t cease laughing.
The now-famous Shabbat scene. Initially, it ended together with your character in tears. How did it morph right into a extra confrontational response?
I put myself in Alana Kane’s sneakers. If she needed to undergo Shabbat dinner the place her boyfriend [played by Skyler Gisondo] mentioned he was an atheist to her dad, she wouldn’t be crying. She’d be indignant that he embarrassed her in entrance of her sisters [who] are going to present her crap for the subsequent yr.
I bear in mind Paul being like, “You’ve acquired to do that,” then lastly, “I get it. You bodily can’t do that.” I checked out him and mentioned, “I wish to attempt one thing.” Each time I mentioned, “I wish to attempt one thing,” he’d get actually excited, as a result of he knew I used to be going to do one thing. One thing that was more than likely insane. I didn’t inform anybody what I used to be going to do. I walked out of Alana’s home, and the very first thing I mentioned [to Gisondo] was, “What does your penis seem like?” [Laughs] And everybody was simply shocked.
The movie has a wide ranging motion sequence the place you free-drive an infinite handbook U-Haul shifting van. What number of takes did you get?
It was days.
Generally you look very tense.
Oh, yeah. That’s not performing. That’s simply me. Earlier than we began taking pictures, I had a few months of truck faculty. I affectionately named [the truck] Gertie. She was a troublesome girl to change into pals with. However it goes again to Paul being, like, “You are able to do this.” And I used to be like, [amazed voice] “I can do that!” So we acquired in that truck, and I put it in first, then went into second. And I used to be like, “Oh, I acquired this.” , only a informal day of driving Bradley Cooper and Cooper Hoffman via the tiniest streets of Tarzana. As soon as Gertie and I turned pals, it was enjoyable.
I like that truck.
I miss that truck.
I want that truck was mine.
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