The First Trailer For Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza Has Arrived

Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson released his first film, "Hard Eight," in 1996. Since then, he's become one of the most acclaimed directors working today. Following "Hard Eight," he released seven more theatrical films, including 2007's "There Will Be Blood," 2012's "The Master" and, most recently, 2017's "Phantom Thread." His work has led to numerous awards nominations, including six Oscar nods. The actors he's directed have also frequently been nominated, and Daniel Day-Lewis even won an Oscar for his performance in "There Will Be Blood."

Fans of Anderson will be delighted to find out that the trailer for his ninth film, "Licorice Pizza," has finally arrived, giving us a first look into the next project from the famed director. "Licorice Pizza" stars Cooper Hoffman — aka the son of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, a frequent Anderson collaborator — and film newcomer Alana Haim — whose band, Haim, has had almost all of their music videos directed by Anderson (via IMDb). 

If you haven't guessed, this one's very much in the PTA family, and that's a very good thing judging by the first trailer.

The trailer for "Licorice Pizza" opens with Alana Haim's character walking past a group of people, as Cooper Hoffman's character, an aspiring teen actor, spots her. In the next shot, he announces, "I met the girl I'm going to marry one day." As David Bowie's "Life on Mars" plays, the trailer shows snippets of the two characters spending time together and forming a friendship (and potentially more). Set in the 1970s, we see a glimpse of the young characters navigating their life and dreams in the midst of their coming of age.

The rest of the cast includes Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie, Sean Penn, and Tom Waits. As reported by IndieWire, Cooper plays real-life film producer Jon Peters, whose credits include Barbra Streisand's "A Star Is Born." It's a notable casting choice, seeing as Cooper directed, co-wrote, and starred in the most recent "A Star is Born" adaptation in 2018.

According to IndieWire, "Licorice Pizza" is slated to open in a limited release on November 26, 2021, with a nationwide release on December 25, 2021.