Alana Haim has been around for years, now, as part of the aptly named familial pop outfit HAIM - but, with Licorice Pizza, she has established some strong acting bona fides. (Well, you're always gonna be pretty great if Paul Thomas Anderson is tapping you to lead as a debutant, aren't you?) But not only is she bringing some stellar, refreshing performance chops to the silver screen: it seems like she's something of an arbiter of cinematic taste. In an interview with i-D magazine, she spoke out about some of her favorite classic films - and the top pick might surprise you.
It didn't go to a Spielberg hit like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, nor did she trump for a bit esoteric international fare, a la Parasite or The 400 Blows. Not even her current boss, Anderson, was in for a shout - although she does loyally list There Will Be Blood, Punch-Drunk Love, and Phantom Thread as respectable runners-up. ("Jonny Greenwood's score in [Phantom Thread] is insane. It's insane," she says.)
No, her top, final recommendation goes to the most deserving movie of them all: the 1995 Disney musical-adventure-extravaganza, A Goofy Movie. "People make fun of me, but my favourite movie is A Goofy Movie," she says, per i-D. "If you haven't seen it, you need to watch A Goofy Movie. It's the best movie of all time."
Well, you heard it here second, guys: Baby Haim is a Goofy stan. There's already been a stand alone sequel, An Extremely Goofy Movie, of course - albeit released direct-to-video at the turn of the millennium. But can we get a threequel with Haim at the helm? Pick up the phone, Disney. She's obviously interested.
In a recent interview with Variety, Anderson spoke incredibly fondly of Haim, revealing that her part - as might be given away by their shared first name - was actually written for her. "Alana looks like a girl from the Valley; she talks like a girl from the Valley; she is a girl from the Valley," he explains to the outlet. "She has a ferociousness. She's very eager and she's a quick learner. I don't know how many more boxes you can tick." Unsurprisingly, it's not unlikely that Haim and her young co-star, Cooper Hoffman, will appear in one of the veteran auteur's future flicks. "Once I've worked with somebody, I really want to work with them again and again. I really want to work with every single person that's in this film," he added.
Well, Paul, we don't know how much you know about Goofy, but we might just have an idea for what could come next...
Licorice Pizza is in theaters nationwide right now. Make yourself a favor and watch one of the best Disney animated scenes ever below: