- Title: Director Damien Chazelle on the struggle to get 'La La Land' made
- Date: 8th December 2016
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 5, 2016 - FILE) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR DAMIEN CHAZELLE SAYING: "The thing I'm the most thrilled about is actually the extent to which it is still the vision that I had in my head six years ago, I think that was my fear, that this was such a hard movie to describe to people, to try to convince people to give money for that it seemed, for a long time that it wasn't realistic that we would actually be able to make what was in our heads. The fact that we actually got the opportunity to do the resources to do it and the people to execute that vision brilliantly, the creative crew that I had to work with, Ryan and Emma, John Legend, J.K. Simmons, Rosemary DeWitt, this cast that was just full of people that I have always wanted to work with, that's what I really feel grateful for. All that was ultimately in service of a vision that we had had six years prior."
- Embargoed: 23rd December 2016 21:30
- Keywords: La La Land interview director Damien Chazelle Los Angeles LA
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED FILMLING LOCATIONS
- City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED FILMLING LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA0065C0ZV4D
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Director Damien Chazelle has told Reuters how "La La Land" almost never got made.
The film, which stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in the lead roles, is about an aspiring actress and jazz musician falling in love while trying to succeed in Los Angeles, and is considered an Oscar front-runner.
"La La Land" is a musical and Chazelle told Reuters that it was sometimes a struggle to get investors onboard with his vision.
He said: "I always hoped it'd play for an audience because it was a hard movie to get financed and there was always that question of who is the audience for it. But I've always thought that musicals, at their heart, are a populist medium and that it's about being in this theater with a big crowd seeing people break into song, I think that's what it's all about."
"The thing I'm the most thrilled about is actually the extent to which it is still the vision that I had in my head six years ago, I think that was my fear, that this was such a hard movie to describe to people, to try to convince people to give money for that it seemed, for a long time that it wasn't realistic that we would actually be able to make what was in our heads."
Chazelle also revealed that, although he's not prone to spontaneously breaking into song, the film is semi-autobiographical, saying: "It's about two people who are in LA, trying to make art and that was me, I moved to LA wanting to make movies, drawn to this dream factory of a city that I think it still is in many ways, and for a long time it seemed like those dreams would never come true. You have to learn to balance dreams and reality a little bit, these high falutin ideals that you have, for who you want to be as an artist versus the mundane reality of your life and paying bills and being a human being. So, all that was very personal to me, I wanted to put that all into this movie but I wanted to do it through the prism of stuff that's not necessarily realistic, stuff that is magical, fantastical, breaking into song, floating up into the stars, these are things that I have never experienced but I think I have experienced how they feel if that makes sense?"
"La La Land" is on limited release and goes on wide release across the US from December 16. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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