Golden Globes: How Jimmy Fallon Pulled Off That Cameo-Packed ‘La La Land’ Opening
From the very beginning, the Golden Globes were all about La La Land. Sunday night’s awards show kicked off with an elaborate pre-taped musical number that was a recreation of the Lionsgate film’s opening song-and-dance, as host Jimmy Fallon navigated a red-carpet traffic jam… with Lion’s Nicole Kidman, Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington, the cast of Stranger Things and Courtney B. Vance, Sterling K. Brown, John Travolta and Sarah Paulson of The People v. O.J. Simpson. Some cameos were made in character — Westworld’s Evan Rachel Wood powered down in her blue dress, while the hooded Rami Malek of Mr. Robot hacked the Tonight Show host’s hard drive — while others paid tribute to their roles, as Arrival’s Amy Adams was backed by dancers in HAZMAT suits.
How did the sunny, star-studded segment come together? “It was a bit of a scramble to get everyone cast, but if Jimmy Fallon calls, it’s like, ‘Of course,’” La La Land choreographer Mandy Moore tells The Hollywood Reporter of mapping the five-minute cold open, which was written and directed by The Tonight Show’s Dan Opsal and shot by the film’s steadicam operator Ari Robbins.
Preparations first began just before Christmas, and the cameos were captured over three days just before the Globes (complete with a rain contingency plan, thanks to the week’s unpredictable weather). “We basically shot it in little vignettes, whenever the celebrities were available,” Moore explains, as each of the stars stopped by the Universal lot for nearly…