Leonardo DiCaprio responds to his father’s cameo in ‘Licorice Pizza’

George DiCaprio plays the owner of a wig shop in Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film

Leonardo DiCaprio’s father George has a cameo in Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film Licorice Pizza.

Last week, New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan revealed some outtakes from his interview with the director where Anderson discussed how he cast George for the role of a man who “owned a wig shop that sold water beds”.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight about his father’s cameo, Leonardo said: “I haven’t seen it yet but my dad George DiCaprio has a cameo in a Paul Thomas Anderson movie! Today was a good day.”

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The role is a perfect fit for the actor’s father too. “He sold waterbeds in real life,” Leonardo added.

The actor discussed his father’s cameo at the New York premiere for his new film Don’t Look Up in which he plays an astronomer alongside Jennifer Lawrence.

Speaking about how George’s casting came about, Anderson said: “I created a picture of a guy who owned a wig shop that sold these water beds, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. I kept saying, ‘Who do I know that looks like this?’ And like a bolt of lightning, I remember, like, ‘Leo’s dad looks exactly like this’.

“So I tracked him down, asked him if he’d ever be interested in being in a film. He said, ‘Sure’. I explained the scenario to him. He said, ‘Sounds great. Did Leo tell you that I owned a water bed company?’ It was called Foggy Bottom.”

Licorice Pizza is a coming-of-age comedy-drama film set in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley in the 1970s. It stars Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman (the son of late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman) in their debut acting roles as Alana Kane and Gary Valentine respectively.

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The supporting cast includes Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie, Maya Rudolph and Skyler Gisondo.

In NME’s four-star review, Licorice Pizza is described as a “mouthwatering indie” that makes “fully-fledged stars out of both Haim and her dazzling co-star”.

Licorice Pizza is set to be released in UK cinemas on January 7. It’s available in select cinemas in the US now before a wider release from December 25.

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