Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) has written and directed an instant classic with La La Land, a masterpiece that is a love letter simultaneously to the city of Los Angeles and to all the dreamers who are drawn here seeking to become one of those who illuminate a City of Stars (also the title of one of the many fabulous songs on the musical’s soundtrack). Emma Stone portrays a struggling actress and Ryan Gosling tackles the role of a jazz musician trying to forge his own path in a city that tries to pigeonhole you at every turn.
We caught up with Stone, who is as delightful as ever (we have interviewed her many times, dating back to Superbad and Easy A). She shares her experience making La La Land, explores why she and Gosling are such a perfect pair (this is their third movie together), and discusses how this film was a gift from the Hollywood gods for her. Also, she dishes the brilliance of its writer-director… who it sounds like she would read the phone book for if asked.
Q: Auditions, good or bad, are part of the Hollywood experience. How did your own experiences help shape the audition scenes that your character Mia goes through?
Emma Stone: We brainstormed with Damien about the auditions. The audition at the beginning was Ryan’s story. He had been in an audition when he was a teenager and was crying in the middle and a casting director answered the phone. She hung up and was like, “Continue!” Damien was like, “That’s great! I’m putting that in the movie.”
Q: Any personal audition horror stories for you?
Emma Stone: What sat with me the most was when I first moved out to LA, I was 15 and I was at a youth agency. They were sending me out on Disney Channel [auditions] and I was pretty much the same as I am now — loud. For a 15-year-old auditioning to play a cheerleader, it wasn’t like the most obvious choice at the time. So I was getting nothing. I didn’t get any auditions for months. That to me is more painful than auditioning a lot and getting rejected. If you’re auditioning a lot, you’re lucky. At least you’re getting a chance. When you don’t even get to try, it’s like you’re in a vacuum. I find the worst audition is the no audition.
Q: Sometimes movie musicals can be pretty rigid in how they’re filmed because of the obvious demands of syncing the music to the performance being filmed. That was not the case I hear with La La Land. What was it like for you?
Emma Stone: I felt a lot of freedom. Everybody was so open and we had so much time to rehearse with Mandy Moore (La La Land’s choreographer, best known for her work on So You Think You Can Dance). We were learning to tap dance, learning to ballroom dance and she got to know how we were dancing in order to choreograph with us. [It was the] same with the music with Marius (De Vries, music supervisor). We would go to his house and record the songs so he could hear how we were doing. I would work with my vocal coach and I’d say, “Okay. I can’t belt this. So I’m gonna have to sing it here.” It was so technical but it was free.
Q: Were any of the singing numbers recorded live while filming, a la Les Mis?
Emma Stone: The duet and dance number in Griffith Park was recorded and we were lip syncing. City of Stars and Audition were live.
Q: You and Ryan clearly have screen magic. But with La La Land, you’re adding singing and dancing to that. How did that complicate/add to your chemistry?
Emma Stone: [The dancing] was separate while we were first learning — especially with the ballroom dancing. Once we got in the room together, I would dance with my dance teacher and he would dance with his. We would just spin down the dance floor at the same time, but not together. Then we would dance together and they would be like, “Okay. That’s not it yet.” [Laughs] It was closer to the end that they put us together.
Q: What I love most about La La Land is how it feels grounded in reality while simultaneously presenting itself as a Hollywood fantasy.
Emma Stone: I find it bittersweet, but I find it realistic.
Q: Sounds like La La Land was one of the greatest artistic experiences of your life. Was it? If not, what was?
Emma Stone: I loved doing La La Land, but Cabaret (on Broadway) was the single greatest experience of my life. It reinvigorated how much I loved being an actor. It was absolutely mind-blowing. Eight shows a week… that was incredible.