La La Land is an escape for cinema audiences, says Ryan Gosling

Playing an aspiring actress certainly resonated with Emma Stone.

Director Damien Chazelle, whose film “Whiplash” (2014) took home three Oscars out of five nominations, has revealed that Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan and Emma Watson were considered to play the leads.

The romance revolves around struggling actress Mia (Emma Stone), who toils as a barista between frustrating auditions, and jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a cranky anti-authoritarian with no patience for Christmas standards or 1980s new-wave pop. “That was a wonderful challenge”.

The film opened the Venice Film Festival (a prestigious opportunity in itself), and critics – including us! – are over the moon.

Stone previously admitted she relished the role because she felt able to identify with her on-screen character.

“La La Land”, a resurrection of joyful 1930s studio musicals on contemporary LA streets, is an impassioned argument for the movies, in all their widescreen glory. Plus, see our favorite stars decked out in a timeless and seasonally appropriate shade, winter white.

With his third feature, writer-director Damien Chazelle announces himself as one of the foremost filmmakers of his generation, exhibiting an awe-inspiring ability to transform his love for the Technicolor musical extravaganzas of yore into something unique and undeniably modern. “As soon as she signed on to the film, I knew it was going to be good”. “I did a bunch of youth theater [growing up] and it was a really wonderful experience”. So my relationship with musicals has been more of the stage version of it.

“This is an incredible experience and making this movie was an incredible experience”.

They were all in one take. I put the whole concept of people breaking into song and dance in the middle of a scene, on an equal level with root canals and a solid tag in the balls for sheer cringe worthiness. And we have popular live TV revivals like “Grease” and “Hairspray”.

Fern Dell Park: When the couple wander out of a party looking for their cars, they end up at a bench overlooking the city. Do you both have a shorthand now? That we can create new things all the time and there’s still a lot left to make that’s original and unique, no matter the state of the world. We started talking about musicals. “I don’t think we’d be allowed”. “It makes you think about your life and the choices you’ve made”. Then again, I’ve yet to come across an award-worthy musical plot, and who cares? “I was presenting next, but the disappointment in his eyes that he saw me was palpable”. And when I walked in, I got about a minute into it and the lady just took a call.

“There is kind of that descent into madness that Sally goes through every night”, says Stone, who turned 28 last month. So I worked in a dog bakery (laughs). “I’ve been on ones where people don’t even look up at you”.