Paul Thomas Anderson’s references to his hometown of Studio City, California are ubiquitous in his early films, as the director explored the odd intersection of Hollywood wannabes and success stories in hillside houses. On the one hand, Anderson’s childhood neighborhood fell pastthe Mulholland Drive socio-economic line of demarcation, on the other it was a sought after real estate market adjacent to Universal Studios Theme Park, where many residents hailed from less-than-mainstream sides of show business.
The Valley’s tackiness has always been anartistic calling card— sort of the way we experience kitsch in fine art. Starting with his masterworkBoogie Nightsin 1997, Anderson was keen to examine show business' darker side, using the Valley’s burgeoning adult film industry as his jumping off point.
That helped re-write the book on the San Fernando Valley but wouldn’t be his final exploration of his hometown, asPunch Drunk Lovesaw the young director traveling up and down Ventura Boulevard to create a sun-drenched love story about Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) and Lena Leonard (Emily Watson) in 2002.
As with all of his Valley-based films, many practical locations were used to get as accurate a feeling of the stucco-sided suburban sprawl as possible, like Du-Par’s Restaurant in Studio City. Anderson’s use of his muse Philip Seymour Hoffman portended to the doom of the land beyond Sepulveda Pass. Hoffman was a heart-wrenching actor whose projection of pain mirrored the unexplored tragedies of the San Fernando Valley.
Related:Alfred Molina Says Spoiling Spiderman: No Way Home Got Him in Big Trouble at Marvel StudiosAnderson set his first film,Hard Eight, in Las Vegas, a location necessary to tell the story of down on their luck gamblers, but he truly shone when returning to the sun baked flats of Chatsworth and Woodland Hills, the pleasant but sometimes criminal enclave North of Los Angeles. Anderson is positing the Valley as the culmination of Manifest Destiny, a theme he explores more directly inThere Will Be Blood, when Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) settles into a west coast mansion after toiling in the ooze of the oil industry.
Anderson’s Affluent Valley Upbringing
Having attended prestigious Valley high schools Campbell Hall and Montclair Prep, Anderson would have had a front row seat to the homes of the Valley’s richest parents, who worked in all aspects of show business, even the more risqué corners that Anderson depicts in his films. It also informed his approach to production design, which took the fantasy tudors, hillside moderns and backyard pools to romantic levels, particularly inBoogie Nights,which uses Buck Swope (Don Cheadle) and Jessie St. Vincent’s (Melora Walters) love story to show a perspective from those who aren’t wealthy enough to live up the hill like Jack Horner’s decadent getaway.
That strange pseudo-wealth gets further examination inLicorice Pizzawhen Alana (Alana Haim) visits producer Jon Peters' (Bradley Cooper) kitschy but well-kept revival mansion. There’s a truth to the locations that could only come from first-hand experience on the part of the director himself. His casting of Haim was born of his own childhood experience in the Valley, as Haim’s mother was once Anderson’s school teacher.
Speaking to that, Anderson said forThe New York Times, “Their mother was a huge influence on me. I went to a school with, like, white-haired ladies who were rough, and there was one lady with long, beautiful, flowing brown hair — who looked exactly like Alana, by the way. I was in love with her as a young boy, absolutely smitten.” One can see how the Haim sisters, along with their siren songs of neo-Valley girl disaffection, have acted as muse for Anderson, who has directed a number of music videos for their band.
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Magnolia Cements Anderson’s Cinematic Vision of the Valley
“Quiz Kid” Donnie Smith (William H. Macy) inMagnoliatypifies the quasi-famous characters that inhabit Anderson’s San Fernando Valley, a has-been still clinging to what little fame can afford him. The character inhabits the same space as Officer Jim Kurring (John C. Reilly), an aspirant, blue-collar Christian who acts as the straight man to Melora Walters' drug-addled Claudia Wilson Gator. These crosspollinations of different castes in the social strata create a world where unbelievable coincidences become everyday for these manipulative characters.
Practical Locations in the Valley Solidify a Nostalgic Viewpoint
Rahad Jackson’s (Alfred Molina) rock wall fireplace inBoogie Nightstypified the 1970s Encino Hills decadence that Anderson loved to include in his films. These mini-utopias matched the future suburban vision of the Valley’s founding modern architects, and when a wave of cocaine flew through the Valley in the 1980s, these hillside Shangri-Las became the playground of a bourgeoisie set that moved over the hill for sun, space, swimming pools, and most of all,lifestyle.
Prior to Anderson’s career, the Valley was only depicted with very one-dimensional, Valley Girl-type characters and drive-in locations like Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank. InLicorice Pizza, Anderson recreates a now-defunct restaurant by restoring it, in situ in Van Nuys, to its former glory, replete stained-glass windows and high-backed leather booths. The effect is sublime, creating a nostalgic vision of the 1970s which saw the Valley’s greatest economic boom and outward sprawl. The movie’s name, itself, referred to a bygone record store chain that Anderson had frequented.
P.T. Anderson’s creative journeyinto the Valley’s depths grew from a study of the area’s seedier sides inBoogie Nightsto a romanticized, sentimental personal story inLicorice Pizza. That speaks to his personal growth from a cocky, young director who once came to blows on set with Burt Reynolds, to a family-oriented auteur in mid-career. Along the way, he has explored the fate and coincidence of the hot desert sprawl on the other side of the hill, making it a playground for his strongest films.
