Director Paul Thomas Anderson returns with his first feature film in four years with Licorice Pizza, which has come under fire for a controversial scene.
The scene in question involves a restaurant owner played by John Michael Higgins, who owns the building with his Japanese wife, with the story set in 1973.
The character speaks with his wife with a fake Asian accent, and he appears again with another Asian woman where he employs the same accent, which did not sit well with fans, even those who otherwise enjoyed the movie.
Under fire: Director Paul Thomas Anderson returns with his first feature film in four years with Licorice Pizza, which has come under fire for a controversial scene
Neither Higgins nor director Anderson responded to requests for comment by NBC News, though a number of fans and critics are talking on Twitter.
'Picture this: You’re watching Licorice Pizza. It’s brilliant. Then, early on, a buffoonish character drops an Asian caricature. The (mostly white) audience laughs. And now, you gotta think about that laughter the rest of the film. Did you picture it? Because it f***ing sucks,' said film critic Dave Chen.
Writer-director Karen Maine said she saw the film, which opens in limited release on Friday, last week.
Picture this: 'Picture this: You’re watching Licorice Pizza. It’s brilliant. Then, early on, a buffoonish character drops an Asian caricature. The (mostly white) audience laughs. And now, you gotta think about that laughter the rest of the film. Did you picture it? Because it f***ing sucks,' said film critic Dave Chen
Limited: Writer-director Karen Maine said she saw the film, which opens in limited release on Friday, last week
'I saw #LicoricePizza over a week ago and it's taken me this long to process it. There's an incredibly racist, seemingly pointless (other than a cheap laugh, which it got at the screening I was at) scene that mocks Asian accents,' Maine
