PTA Responds To Criticisms Of Anti-Asian Character In Licorice Pizza

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Paul Thomas Anderson responds to criticisms of an anti-Asian character in Licorice Pizza.PTA is the highly acclaimed auteur behind modern classics like Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and There Will Be Blood. His latest film released in theaters this past Christmas to nearly unanimous positive reception from critics. Licorice Pizza also broke a pandemic box office record during its limited debut and resulted in three Oscar nods for its writer/director, which is just business as usual for PTA, who has a total of 11 Academy Award nominations to his name over his career.

Set in the San Fernando Valley, Licorice Pizza returns the director to his own birthplace which also served as the setting for Boogie Nights and Magnolia. His latest work is a coming-of-age tale set during the the 1970s and centered around the relationship between a 15-year-old child actor, Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman), and a listless 25-year-old photographer's assistant, Alana Kane (Alana Haim). Both actors make their screen debuts in the film, though their names should surely be recognizable to audiences. Cooper is the son of the late, great, frequent PTA collaborator Phillip Seymour Hoffman, while Alana is a member of the sister-band Haim, whom PTA has directed a number of music videos for.

Related: Why Paul Thomas Anderson's New Movie Is Called Licorice Pizza

While Licorice Pizza has been met with glowing reception from critics and PTA fans alike, it has been marred by a controversy regarding a character played by John Michael Higgins, a white businessman named Jerry Frick who speaks to his Japanese wives with a fake Asian accent at several points throughout the film. When asked about it during an interview with IndieWire, Anderson shrugged it off as "an