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''La La Land'' is a 2016 American romantic musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle. It stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a struggling jazz pianist and an aspiring actress, respectively, who meet and fall in love while pursuing their dreams in Los Angeles. John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt, Finn Wittrock, and J. K. Simmons appear in supporting roles. Having been fond of musicals during his time as a drummer, Chazelle first conceptualized the film alongside Justin Hurwitz while attending
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
together. After moving to Los Angeles in 2010, Chazelle penned the script but did not find a studio willing to finance the production without changes to his design. After the success of his film '' Whiplash'' (2014), the project was picked up by Summit Entertainment. Miles Teller and Emma Watson were originally slated to star, but after both dropped out Gosling and Stone were cast. Filming took place in Los Angeles between August and September 2015, with the film's score composed by Hurwitz and the dance choreography by
Mandy Moore Amanda Leigh Moore (born April 10, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to fame with her debut single, "Candy", which peaked at number 41 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Her debut studio album, '' So Real'' (1999), recei ...
. ''La La Land'' premiered at the
73rd Venice International Film Festival The 73rd annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 31 August to 10 September 2016. English director Sam Mendes was the President of the Jury for the main competition. The opening night film was Damien Chazelle's musical ''La La Lan ...
on August 31, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 9, 2016. The film was a commercial success, grossing $448 million worldwide on a production budget of $30 million, and received widespread critical acclaim with particular praise given to Chazelle's screenplay and direction, the performances of Gosling and Stone, score, musical numbers, cinematography, and production design. It went on to receive numerous accolades. It won a record-breaking seven awards from its seven nominations at the 74th Golden Globes and received eleven nominations at the
70th British Academy Film Awards The 70th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, were held on 12 February 2017 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2016. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Televis ...
, winning five, including
Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
. The film also received a record-tying fourteen nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, winning in six categories, including Best Actress for Stone and Best Director for Chazelle. In the latter category, Chazelle became the youngest winner at age 32.


Plot

While stuck in Los Angeles traffic, aspiring actress Amelia "Mia" Dolan has a moment of
road rage Road rage is aggressive or angry behavior exhibited by motorists. These behaviors include rude and verbal insults, yelling, physical threats or dangerous driving methods targeted at other drivers, pedestrians or cyclists in an effort to intimid ...
directed at Sebastian "Seb" Wilder, a
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
pianist. After a hard day at work, Mia's subsequent audition goes awry when the casting director takes a phone call during an emotional scene. That night, her roommates take her to a lavish party in the Hollywood Hills, promising her that someone in the crowd could jump-start her career. After her car is towed, she walks home in disappointment. During a gig at a restaurant, Seb slips into jazz improvisation, despite the owner's warning to only play traditional Christmas pieces. Mia overhears him playing as she passes by. Moved, she enters the restaurant and observes Seb being fired for his disobedience. As he storms out, Mia attempts to compliment him, but he brushes her off. Months later, she runs into Seb at a party where he plays in a 1980s pop cover band. After the gig, they walk to their cars and 'lament wasting a lovely night together' despite their clear chemistry. Seb arrives at Mia's workplace, and she shows him around the Warner Bros. backlot, where she works as a
barista A barista (; ; from the Italian/Spanish for "bartender") is a person, usually a coffeehouse employee, who prepares and serves espresso-based coffee drinks. Etymology and inflection The word ''barista'' comes from Italian where it means a male ...
, while explaining her passion for acting. He takes her to a jazz club, describing his passion for jazz and his desire to open his own club. Seb invites Mia to a screening of '' Rebel Without a Cause'' and she accepts, forgetting a date with her boyfriend Greg. Bored with the latter date, she goes to the theater and finds Seb as the film begins. When the screening is interrupted because the film print begins to burn due to a projector malfunction, Seb and Mia spend the rest of the evening together with a romantic visit to the Griffith Observatory. After more failed auditions, Mia decides, with Seb's encouragement, to write a one-woman play. He begins to perform regularly at a jazz club, and they move in together. Seb's former bandmate Keith invites him to be the keyboardist in his new jazz fusion band, which will give him a steady income. Although dismayed by the band's pop style, Seb signs on after overhearing Mia trying to convince her mother that he is working on his career. The band finds success, but Mia knows the band’s music is not the type of music Seb wants to perform. During the band's first tour, Seb and Mia have an argument; she accuses him of abandoning his dreams, while he claims that she liked him more when he was unsuccessful. Two weeks later, Seb misses Mia's play due to a photoshoot he had forgotten about. The play does not go as well as planned; few people attend, and Mia overhears dismissive comments about her performance. Unable to forgive him for missing the play and for their prior argument, Mia breaks up with Seb and moves back to her hometown of Boulder City, Nevada. Seb receives a phone call from a prominent casting director who attended Mia's play and invites her to audition for an upcoming film. He drives to Boulder City and persuades her to attend. During the audition, Mia is asked simply to tell a story. In response, she sings about how her aunt, a former stage actress who eventually died from alcoholism, inspired her to chase her dreams. Seb, confident the audition was a success, encourages her to devote herself to acting. Five years later, Mia is a famous actress and married to another man, with whom she has a daughter. One night, the couple stumble upon a jazz bar. Recognizing the logo she had once designed, Mia realizes that Seb has opened his own jazz club. When he notices Mia in the crowd, Seb begins to play their love theme on the piano. A dream sequence unfolds in which the two imagine what might have been had their relationship thrived along with their careers. Seb and Mia acknowledge each other with a silent exchange of smiles before she leaves.


Cast


Production


Pre-production

As a drummer, Chazelle has a predilection for musical films. He wrote the screenplay for ''La La Land'' in 2010, when the film industry seemed out of reach for him. His idea was "to take the old musical but ground it in real life where things don't always exactly work out," and to salute creative people who move to Los Angeles to chase their dreams. He conceived the film when he was a student at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
with his classmate Justin Hurwitz. The two explored the concept in their senior thesis through a low-budget musical about a Boston jazz musician, '' Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench.'' Chazelle was moved by the tradition of 1920s city symphony films, such as ''Manhattan'' (1921) and '' Man with a Movie Camera'' (1929), that paid tribute to cities. After graduating, both moved to Los Angeles in 2010 and continued writing the script, but made a few modifications, such as altering the location to Los Angeles instead of Boston. Rather than trying to match L.A. to the charms of Paris or San Francisco, he focused on the qualities that make the city distinctive: the traffic, the sprawl, and the skylines. The style and tone of the film were inspired by Jacques Demy's ''
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg ''The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'' (french: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) is a 1964 musical romantic drama film written and directed by Jacques Demy, with music and lyrics by Michel Legrand. Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo star as two youn ...
'' and '' The Young Girls of Rochefort'', especially the latter, which was more dance and jazz-oriented. The film also makes visual allusions to Hollywood classics such as '' Broadway Melody of 1940,'' ''
Singin' in the Rain ''Singin' in the Rain'' is a 1952 American musical romantic comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds and featuring Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell and Cyd C ...
,'' '' The Band Wagon'', and '' An American in Paris.'' About ''An American in Paris,'' Chazelle commented: "That's a movie that we just pillaged. It's an awesome example of how daring some of those old musicals really were." It shares some character development and themes with Chazelle's previous musical work, '' Whiplash;'' Chazelle said: : "They're both about the struggle of being an artist and reconciling your dreams with the need to be human. ''La La Land'' is just much less angry about it." He said that both films reflect his own experiences as a filmmaker working his way up the Hollywood ladder. ''La La Land'' in particular is inspired by his experience of moving from the East Coast with preconceived notions of what L.A. would be like, "that it was all just strip malls and freeways". Chazelle was unable to produce the film for years as no studio was willing to finance an original contemporary musical with no familiar songs. It is also a jazz musical, which ''The Hollywood Reporter'' called an "extinct genre". He believed that since he and Hurwitz were unknown at that time, it might have made financiers dubious about the project's potential. Chazelle found producers through friends who introduced him to Fred Berger and Jordan Horowitz. With the two producers on board, the script went to Focus Features at a budget of around $1 million. The studio demanded alterations: the male lead was asked to be changed from a jazz pianist to a rock musician, the complicated opening number had to be altered, and the story's bittersweet ending needed to be dropped. Chazelle scrapped the project and moved on. Chazelle later wrote ''Whiplash'', which was an easier concept to sell and a less risky investment. After ''Whiplash'' was well received by critics upon its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in January, Chazelle continued his efforts to bring ''La La Land'' to the big screen. A year later, when ''Whiplash'' earned five Oscar nominations at the
87th Academy Awards The 87th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2014 and took place on February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30  ...
, including Best Picture, and grossed nearly $50 million worldwide off a $3.3 million production budget, Chazelle and his project began to attract attention from studios. Five years after Chazelle wrote the script, Summit Entertainment and Black Label Media, along with producer Marc Platt, agreed to invest in ''La La Land'' and distribute it. They had been impressed by the critical and commercial success of ''Whiplash.'' Lionsgate's Patrick Wachsberger, who previously had worked on the ''Step Up'' franchise, pushed Chazelle to increase the film's budget since he felt high-quality musicals could not be made cheaply.


Casting

Miles Teller and Emma Watson were originally slated to star in the leading roles. Watson dropped out due to her commitments to
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's live-action ''Beauty and the Beast'' remake (2017), while Teller exited via long contract negotiations. Coincidentally, Gosling turned down the Beast role in ''Beauty and the Beast'' in favor of ''La La Land''. Chazelle subsequently decided to make his characters somewhat older, with experience in struggling to make their dreams, rather than younger newcomers just arriving in Los Angeles. Emma Stone plays Mia, an aspiring actress in Los Angeles. Stone has loved musicals since she saw ''
Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...
'' when she was eight years old. She said "bursting into song has always been a real dream of mine", and her favorite film is the 1931
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is conside ...
romantic comedy ''
City Lights ''City Lights'' is a 1931 American silent romantic comedy film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The story follows the misadventures of Chaplin's Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) and ...
''. She studied pom dancing as a child, with a year of ballet. She moved to Hollywood with her mother at age fifteen to pursue a career, and struggled constantly to get an audition during her first year. When she did, she often was turned away after singing or saying just one line. Stone drew from her own experiences for her character of Mia, and some were added into the film. She met Chazelle in 2014 while she was making her Broadway debut in ''
Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...
.'' Chazelle and Hurwitz saw her perform on a night when the actress had a cold. She met with Chazelle at Brooklyn Diner in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where the director outlined his vision for the planned film. Stone gained confidence from performing in ''Cabaret'' to handle the demands of the film. In preparation for her role, Stone watched some of the musical movies that inspired Chazelle, including ''
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg ''The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'' (french: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) is a 1964 musical romantic drama film written and directed by Jacques Demy, with music and lyrics by Michel Legrand. Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo star as two youn ...
'' and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers collaborations. Stone accepted the offer because Chazelle was so passionate about the project. Ryan Gosling plays Sebastian, a jazz pianist. Like Stone, Gosling drew from his own experiences as an aspiring artist. One incident was used for Mia. Gosling was performing a crying scene in an audition and the casting director took a phone call during it, talking about her lunch plans while he was emoting. Chazelle met with Gosling at a bar near the latter's home in Hollywood Hills, when Gosling was about to begin filming for ''
The Big Short ''The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine'' is a nonfiction book by Michael Lewis about the build-up of the United States housing bubble during the 2000s. It was released on March 15, 2010, by W. W. Norton & Company. It spent 28 weeks on ' ...
.'' Chazelle cast Gosling and Stone immediately after Summit bought the film. He stated that the duo "feel like the closest thing that we have right now to an old Hollywood couple" as akin to
Spencer Tracy Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...
and
Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...
, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers,
Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
and
Lauren Bacall Lauren Bacall (; born Betty Joan Perske; September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress. She was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute and received an Academy Honorary ...
, and Myrna Loy and William Powell. The film marked the third collaboration between Gosling and Stone, following '' Crazy, Stupid, Love'' (2011) and '' Gangster Squad'' (2013). Chazelle asked the two about their audition disasters when they were both trying to make it. Both learned to sing and dance for the film's six original tunes. The rest of the cast – J. K. Simmons,
Sonoya Mizuno Sonoya Mizuno (born 1 July 1986) is a Japanese-British actress, model, and ballet dancer. She notably starred in the miniseries ''Maniac'' and the '' Game of Thrones'' prequel series ''House of the Dragon'', and appeared in all the works direct ...
,
Jessica Rothe Jessica Ann Rothenberg (born May 28, 1987), better known as Jessica Rothe (), is an American actress. She is known for her role in the MTV comedy series ''Mary + Jane'' (2016) and her lead role as Tree Gelbman in the comedy slasher film ''Happy ...
, Callie Hernandez, Finn Wittrock, Rosemarie DeWitt, John Legend, Jason Fuchs,
Meagen Fay Meagen Fay is an American actress known for her work in television. Best known as Roxy in '' Ohara'' (1987-1988), Principal Halloron in ''Life With Louie'' (1995-1998), and Gretchen Mannkusser in ''Malcolm in the Middle'' (2002-2004) and Loot o ...
 – were announced between July and August 2015. The film was choreographed by
Mandy Moore Amanda Leigh Moore (born April 10, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to fame with her debut single, "Candy", which peaked at number 41 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Her debut studio album, '' So Real'' (1999), recei ...
. Rehearsals took place at a production office in Atwater Village, Los Angeles over the span of three to four months, beginning in May 2015. Gosling practiced piano in one room, Stone worked with Moore in another, and costume designer
Mary Zophres Mary Zophres is an American costume designer who has worked in the film industry since 1994. She has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design four times for '' True Grit'' (2010), ''La La Land'' (2016), '' The Ballad of Buste ...
had her own corner of the complex. Gosling, with no previous experience, had to learn how to play the piano, as no hand models were used. Moore emphasized working on emotion rather than technique, which Stone said was key when they filmed the Prius car scene. To help his cast and crew get their creative mode flowing, Chazelle held screenings on the soundstages every Friday night of classical films that had inspired him for the film, including ''The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'', ''Singin' in the Rain'', '' Top Hat'', and '' Boogie Nights''.


Filming

From the beginning, Chazelle wanted the film's musical numbers to be filmed "head to toe" and performed in a single take, like those of the 1930s works of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He also wanted the film to emulate the widescreen, CinemaScope look of 1950s musicals such as '' It's Always Fair Weather''. Consequently, the movie was shot on celluloid 4-perf Super 35mm film (not digitally) with Panavision anamorphic lenses in CinemaScope's 2.55:1 aspect ratio, but not in true CinemaScope as that technology is no longer available. Chazelle wanted Los Angeles to be the primary setting for his film, commenting that "there is something very poetic about the city I think, about a city that is built by people with these unrealistic dreams and people who kind of just put it all on the line for that." Principal photography on the film officially began in the city on August 10, 2015, and filming took place in more than 60 locations both in and near Los Angeles, including the Angels Flight trolley in downtown, houses in the Hollywood Hills, the Colorado Street Bridge, the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena, the Warner Bros. studio lot, the
Grand Central Market Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and comm ...
, Hermosa Beach's Lighthouse Café, Griffith Observatory,
Griffith Park Griffith Park is a large municipal park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park includes popular attractions such as the Los Angeles Zoo, the Autry Museum of the ...
, Chateau Marmont, the
Watts Towers The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or ''Nuestro Pueblo'' ("our town" in Spanish) are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the artis ...
, and
Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...
, with many scenes shot in one take. It took 40 days to complete shooting, finishing in mid-September 2015. The opening pre-credits sequence was the first to be shot, and was filmed on a closed-off portion of two carpool direct connector ramps of the Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange, connecting the I-105 Carpool Lane to the I-110 Express Lanes, leading to
Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is a ...
. It was filmed in a span of two days, and required more than 100 dancers. For this particular scene, Chazelle wanted to give a sense of how vast the city is. The scene was originally planned for a stretch of ground-level highway, until Chazelle decided to shoot it in the 105–110 interchange, which arcs in the air. Production designer David Wasco said, "I thought somebody was going to fall off and get killed." Not every portion of the highway was blocked. Chazelle compared the scene to the
yellow brick road The yellow brick road is a fictional element in the 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by American author L. Frank Baum. The road also appears in the several sequel Oz books such as ''The Marvelous Land of Oz'' (1904) and ''Th ...
leading to the Emerald City in '' The Wizard of Oz'' (1939). Chazelle scouted for "old L.A." locations that were in ruins, or were perhaps razed. One such example was the use of the Angels Flight trolley, built in 1901. The
funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite ...
had been closed in 2013 after a derailment. Attempts were made to repair and re-open the railway, but to no avail. However, the production team was able to secure permission to use it for a day. Chazelle and his crew then arranged to have it run for shooting (it was re-opened to the public in 2017). Mia works at a coffee shop on the Warner Bros. studio lot; Chazelle considered studio lots to be "monuments" of Hollywood. Production designer Wasco created numerous fake old film posters. Chazelle occasionally created names for them, deciding to use the title of his first feature, '' Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench'' (2009) for one poster, which reimagines it as a 1930s musical. The six-minute-long Prius car scene had to be completed during the brief " magic hour" moment at sunset. It took eight takes and two days to shoot it. When Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone finally nailed it, "everybody just exploded," Stone said. Since Gosling and Stone were not primarily dancers, the two made a number of mistakes, especially during long uninterrupted single-take musical numbers. However, Chazelle was very sympathetic towards them, understanding their lack of experience and not minding their errors. While shooting Sebastian and Mia's first dance together, Stone stumbled over the back of a bench, but picked right up and kept on going with the scene. Chazelle said that the romantic dinner that Sebastian prepared for Mia was "one of the scenes that I think I wrote and rewrote and rewrote more than any other in the script". Gosling and Stone also helped create the dialogue of the scene to get it to be one of the more realistic scenes in a film filled with fantasy and fantastical elements. Chazelle spent nearly a year editing the film with editor Tom Cross, as the two were primarily concerned with getting the tone right.


Soundtrack

The songs and score for ''La La Land'' were composed and orchestrated by Justin Hurwitz, Chazelle's Harvard University classmate, who also worked on his two prior films. The lyrics were written by Pasek and Paul, except for "Start a Fire", which was written by John Legend, Hurwitz,
Marius de Vries Marius de Vries (born 1961) is an English music producer and composer. He has won a Grammy Award from four nominations, two BAFTA Awards, and an Ivor Novello Award. Education Marius de Vries was educated at St Paul's Cathedral School, Bedfor ...
and Angelique Cinelu. A soundtrack album was released on December 9, 2016, by Interscope Records, featuring selections from Hurwitz's score and songs performed by the cast. The film's opening number, " Another Day of Sun", shot on an L.A. freeway, received praise for its choreography. The songs "
City of Stars "City of Stars" is a song performed by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the film ''La La Land'' (2016). The music of the song was composed by Justin Hurwitz while the lyrics were provided by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The song won numerous awards ...
" and "
Audition (The Fools Who Dream) "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" is a song composed by Justin Hurwitz with lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul for the musical film ''La La Land'' (2016). Sung by American actress Emma Stone in her role as Mia, the emotional ballad forms the fi ...
" received numerous awards.


Release

''La La Land'' had its world premiere as the
Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...
's opening night film on August 31, 2016. The film also screened at the Telluride Film Festival, the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
, beginning September 12, 2016, the BFI London Film Festival, the Middleburg Film Festival in late October 2016, the Virginia Film Festival, held at the University of Virginia on November 6, 2016, and the AFI Fest on November 15, 2016. The film was originally set for a July 15, 2016, release; however, in March 2016, it was announced the film would be given a limited release starting December 2, 2016, before expanding on December 16, 2016. Chazelle stated that the change was because he felt that the release date was not right for the context of the film, and because he wanted to have a slow rollout beginning with the early fall film festivals. The film release was later moved up a week to December 9, 2016, with the wide release still being planned for December 16, 2016. Lionsgate opened the film in five locations on December 9, 2016, and expanded it to about 200 theaters on December 16, 2016, before going nationwide on December 25, 2016. The film went fully wide on January 6, 2017, with a release into select
IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme ...
theaters a week later. ''La La Land'' was released in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2017. The film was released in the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
on December 22, 2016, and in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
on December 26, with the rest of the territories planned for a release from mid-January 2017.


Home media

Lionsgate released ''La La Land'' on Digital HD on April 11, 2017, and
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
, Ultra HD Blu-ray and DVD on April 25, 2017.


Reception


Box office

''La La Land'' grossed $151.1 million in the United States and Canada and $295 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $446.1 million, against a production budget of $30 million. ''
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'' calculated the net profit of the film to be $68.25 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film, making it one of the top 20 most profitable releases of 2016. ''La La Land'' began its theatrical release with a limited release in five theaters in Los Angeles and New York City on December 9. It made $881,107 in its opening weekend, giving the film a per-theater average of $176,221, the best average of the year. In its second week of limited release, the film expanded to 200 theaters and grossed $4.1 million, finishing seventh at the box office. It was an increase of 366% from the previous week and good for a per-theater of $20,510. The following week, the film had its wide expansion to 734 theaters, grossing $5.8 million for the weekend (including $4 million on Christmas Day and $9.2 million over the four days), and finishing eighth at the box office. On January 6, 2017, the weekend of the
Golden Globes The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
, the film expanded to 1,515 theaters and grossed $10 million over the weekend, finishing fifth at the box office. In its sixth week of release, the film grossed $14.5 million (a total of $16.9 million over the four-day weekend for Martin Luther King Jr. Day), finishing second at the box office behind '' Hidden Figures''. After receiving its 14 Oscar nominations, the film expanded to 3,136 theaters on January 27, 2017 (an increase of 1,271 from the week before) and grossed $12.1 million (up 43% from its previous week's $8.4 million). During the weekend of February 24–26 (the weekend of the Academy Awards) the film grossed $4.6 million, exactly the same amount it grossed the previous weekend. The next week, following its six Oscar wins, the film grossed $3 million.


Critical response

''La La Land'' received widespread critical acclaim, with praise going toward Chazelle's screenplay and direction, cinematography, music, the performances of Gosling and Stone and their chemistry. The
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gives the film an approval rating of 91% based on 470 reviews, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''La La Land'' breathes new life into a bygone genre with thrillingly assured direction, powerful performances, and an irresistible excess of heart." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 94 out of 100, based on 54 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". It was the third- and sixth-highest scoring film released in 2016 on each respective site. Audiences polled by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported audiences gave an 81% overall positive score and a 93% "definite recommend". Peter Travers of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' gave ''La La Land'' four stars out of four, describing it as "a hot miracle" and complimenting its musical numbers, particularly the opening scene. He went on to name it his favorite movie of the year. Michael Phillips of the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' similarly lauded the opening sequence, in addition to highlighting Stone's performance, stating "she's reason enough to see ''La La Land''." Despite being less enthusiastic about Gosling's dancing and the film's middle section, Phillips nevertheless gave the film four out of four stars, declaring it "the year's most seriously pleasurable entertainment".
A.O. Scott Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic. He has been chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' since 2004, a title he shares with Manohla Dargis. Early life Scott was born on July 10, 1966 in ...
of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' praised the film, stating that it "succeeds both as a fizzy fantasy and a hard-headed fable, a romantic comedy and a showbiz melodrama, a work of sublime artifice and touching authenticity". Peter Bradshaw of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' awarded the film five out of five stars, describing it as "a sun-drenched musical masterpiece." Tom Charity of ''Sight & Sound'' stated, "Chazelle has crafted that rare thing, a genuinely romantic comedy, and as well, a rhapsody in blue, red, yellow and green." Writing for ''
The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'', Ty Burr summarized the effectiveness of the film to relate to audiences stating: "...the movie traffics in the bittersweet happiness of treasuring things that are vanishing, like the unrealized future imagined in the climactic dance number, or those inky, star-filled dance floors that go on forever in old movies, or Hollywood musicals themselves. Or jazz: Sebastian has an early moment at a nightclub where he passionately sticks up for the music he loves. 'It's dying on the vine,' he says. 'And the world says 'Let it die. It had its time.' Well, not on my watch.' In that scene, he speaks for the director. By the end of 'La La Land,' he's speaking for all of us." While accolades from audiences and critics grew, the film received backlash due to what some considered a disproportional amount of praise. ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...
'' lampooned the fervor over the film with a sketch about a man arrested for thinking it was "decent... but also boring." The film was criticized by some for its treatment of race and jazz. Kelly Lawler of ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' noted that Gosling's character has been referred to as a " white savior" by some critics, due to "his quest (and eventual success) to save the traditionally black musical genre from extinction, seemingly the only person who can accomplish such a goal." The sentiment was also expressed by Ruby Lott-Lavigna of '' Wired'', Anna Silman of '' New York'', and Ira Madison III of MTV News. Rex Reed of the '' New York Observer'' also took aim at the film's intention to emulate the MGM musical classics, writing that "the old-fashioned screenplay, by the ambitious writer-director Damien Chazelle, reeks of mothballs", and that "the movie sags badly in the middle, like a worn-out mattress that needs new springs". The ''
South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...
'' remarked that aside from its racial treatment of jazz, much of the public criticism was towards the film being “a little dull”, the two leads' singing and dancing being considered unexceptional, and the lack of nuance in Stone's character, with Gosling's occasionally seen as insufferable.


Accolades

Emma Stone won the Volpi Cup for best actress at the Venice Film Festival. ''La La Land'' received eleven nominations at the
70th British Academy Film Awards The 70th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, were held on 12 February 2017 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2016. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Televis ...
, more than any other film of 2016. The film won in the categories of
Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
, Best Director, Best Actress in a Leading Role (for Stone), Best Cinematography, and Best Film Music. At the 74th Golden Globe Awards, ''La La Land'' received a leading seven nominations. The film won in all seven categories for which it was nominated, setting a record for the most Golden Globes won by a single film, namely Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Director, Best Actor – Comedy or Musical (for Gosling), Best Actress – Comedy or Musical (for Stone),
Best Screenplay Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation, ...
, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song ("City of Stars") breaking the record ''
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest may refer to: * ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Ken Kesey * ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (play), a 1963 stage adaptation of the novel starring Kirk Douglas * ''One Flew Over the ...
'' set for the most wins. At the 89th Academy Awards, ''La La Land'' received a leading six awards, including Best Director, Best Actress (for Stone), Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Original Song ("
City of Stars "City of Stars" is a song performed by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the film ''La La Land'' (2016). The music of the song was composed by Justin Hurwitz while the lyrics were provided by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The song won numerous awards ...
"), and Best Production Design. The film received a total of 14 nominations, tying the record for most nominations by a single film with '' All About Eve'' (1950) and ''
Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unite ...
'' (1997). Its other nominations were Best Picture,
Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to the ...
(for Gosling), Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, a second nomination for Best Original Song ("
Audition (The Fools Who Dream) "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" is a song composed by Justin Hurwitz with lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul for the musical film ''La La Land'' (2016). Sung by American actress Emma Stone in her role as Mia, the emotional ballad forms the fi ...
"),
Best Sound Editing This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
, and Best Sound Mixing.


Best Picture Oscar gaffe

During the Oscars ceremony, presenter Faye Dunaway incorrectly announced that ''La La Land'' had won Best Picture, reading from the card
Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, whose career spans over six decades. He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including four for Best Actor, four for Best Picture, two for Best Director, ...
opened, which was actually a duplicate of the Best Actress card for Emma Stone. After the cast and crew of ''La La Land'' took the stage, it took the show's producers more than two minutes (during which nearly three speeches were made) to fix the mistake. The actual winner was ''
Moonlight Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes. Illumination The intensity of moonlight varies greatly depending on the lunar phase, but even the ful ...
''.


German television prank

In March 2017, ''La La Land'' was at the center of a prank involving
Goldene Kamera The Goldene Kamera ("Golden Camera") is an annual German film and television award, awarded by the Funke Mediengruppe. The award show is usually held in early February in Hamburg, but has also taken place in Berlin in the past. The gold-plat ...
, an annual German film and television award. German comedians Joko Winterscheidt and
Klaas Heufer-Umlauf Klaas Heufer-Umlauf (born 22 September 1983 in Oldenburg) is a German television host, producer, actor and singer. He is best known as part of the duo Joko & Klaas, alongside Joko Winterscheidt. Biography Heufer-Umlauf is a trained hairdresse ...
arranged for a Ryan Gosling
impersonator An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for impersonating someone: *Entertainment: An entertainer impersonates a celebrity, generally for entertainment, and makes fun of ...
to be awarded the "Best International Film" prize for ''La La Land''. Following the event, a speaker for television broadcaster ZDF asked for the trophy to be given back, stating that ''La La Land'' had won the prize and that the trophy would be given to the real Ryan Gosling. The incident, which became known as "GoslingGate", sparked criticism of the event's concept. Media critics argued that the "Best International Film" award had only been created in an effort to get Ryan Gosling on the show, with no regards for the film's quality. The incident played a major role in the cancellation of the Goldene Kamera in 2019. In 2018, Winterscheidt and Heufer-Umlauf were awarded the Grimme Award for their media criticism.


See also

* List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees – Youngest winners for Best Director *


References


External links

*
''La La Land'' posters
* * {{authority control, state=expanded 2016 films 2010s dance films 2010s musical comedy-drama films 2016 romantic comedy-drama films 2010s romantic musical films American dance films American musical comedy films American musical drama films American romantic comedy-drama films American romantic musical films BAFTA winners (films) Best Film BAFTA Award winners Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award winners Best Musical or Comedy Picture Golden Globe winners Black Label Media films Films about actors Films about Hollywood, Los Angeles Films about mass media people Films about pianos and pianists Films directed by Damien Chazelle Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award-winning performance Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe winning performance Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe winning performance Films produced by Marc E. Platt Films scored by Justin Hurwitz Films set in Los Angeles Films set in Nevada Films set in studio lots Films shot in Los Angeles Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award Films that won the Best Original Song Academy Award Films whose art director won the Best Art Direction Academy Award Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award Films whose director won the Best Directing Academy Award Films whose director won the Best Direction BAFTA Award Films whose director won the Best Director Golden Globe IMAX films Jazz films Films with screenplays by Damien Chazelle Summit Entertainment films 2016 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films Postmodern films