Oscar predictions: ‘La La Land’ sure to win Best Picture
With the “Arrival” of the 89th annual Academy Awards, you’re probably asking a number of important questions. More
Damien Chazelle
‘La La Land’ dances toward Oscars with Directors Guild win
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — La La Land director Damien Chazelle waltzed off Saturday night with the top honor at the Directors Guild of America Awards. More
On the Charts: ‘La La Land’ Surges After Golden Globe Wins
Triumphant ‘La La Land’ demonstrates the power of dance to tell a story
“It feels really nostalgic to me,” frets a self-conscious Mia (Emma Stone) in “La La Land,” after reading her one-woman play to her boyfriend, Sebastian (Ryan Gosling). “Do you think people are going to like it?” More
Mad About Musicals: La La Land Reminds Us of Hollywood’s Long Legacy of Song and Dance
Movie musicals have never really gone away, but it’s been a while since one has caused a stir quite like La La Land, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling More
Damien Chazelle’s West Coast story
TORONTO — In Hollywood, where the box office is ruled by superheroes and animated fish, it’s not easy to make a $20-million musical. But Damien Chazelle got it done.
It only took the Providence-born director 10 years.
Chazelle, 31, has been working toward his latest film, “La La Land,” ever since he was a Harvard undergrad. It started with his first film, “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench,” which became a hit at the Tribeca Film Festival when he was only 24. In 2014, his movie “Whiplash,” about the abusive relationship between a jazz drummer and his harsh instructor, won three Oscars (including best supporting actor for J.K. Simmons) and earned Chazelle a nomination for screenwriting.
The accolades made it easier to get the money for the film he’d always wanted to make, the large-scale musical “La La Land,” which opens in Boston on Dec. 16. The tale is set in modern-day Los Angeles and stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as an actress and a jazz musician falling rin love. The cast includes Oscar-winning musician John Legend as a industry-savvy band leader, and Rosemarie DeWitt, who plays Gosling’s sister.
Stone says the success of the film rests with Chazelle, not only for his perseverance in getting it made, but for his vision. She said he had a plan for every shot, and that when she met with him about the project, he was able to draw her pictures of the look of individual scenes.
“He stayed the course the whole time,” she said, adding that Chazelle also required his stars to get training in singing and dance.
“We weren’t Fred and Ginger,” Stone said, of her work with Gosling. “It was kind of like music camp. We had this kind of intense 10 weeks before shooting.”
The morning after “La La Land” screened at the Toronto International Film Festival to accolades and Oscar buzz, Chazelle sat down to talk about the film’s reception, why he reveres musicals, and how this project began in the film program at Harvard.
Q. There was a line of fans outside of your screening last night, and every time I walked by, the crowd waiting to see Ryan Gosling got bigger. Is it strange to witness this kind of fan response to your stars?
A. I mean, it’s fun. It’s a little surreal because, just having worked working with Ryan and Emma and John, suddenly you’re reminded of their stature in the world. It was really a scene yesterday. It was amazing.
Q. Our film critic Ty Burr says we can trace “La La Land” to “Guy and…
‘La La Land’ leads the pack with 12 nominations for Critics’ Choice Awards
The Broadcast Film Critics Assn. announced its film nominees for the 22nd Critics’ Choice Awards on Thursday, with whimsical Los Angeles love story “La La Land” landing 12 nominations.
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone both garnered nominations for their performances in the film, as did Damien Chazelle for director and screenplay.
“Arrival” and “Moonlight” scored a hefty 10 nominations each, including nods for picture and director.
Due to the inclusion of genre-specific categories, several actors managed multiple nominations, some for the exact same role.
Andrew Garfield, for example, is up for two acting awards for “Hacksaw Ridge” (actor and also actor in an action movie), as is Ryan Reynolds for “Deadpool” (actor in a comedy and actor in an action movie), Lucas Hedges for “Manchester by the Sea” (supporting actor and young actor/actress) and Hailee Steinfeld for “The Edge of Seventeen” (actress in a comedy and young actor/actress).
Others receiving multiple nominations include Denzel Washington, for acting in and directing “Fences,” and Gosling, who in addition to “La La Land” was nominated for actor in a comedy for “The Nice Guys.”
Kenneth Lonergan (“Manchester by the Sea”) and Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”), like Chazelle, each received nominations for director and screenplay of their respective films.
TV nominations for the Critics’ Choice Awards were previously announced on Nov. 14, with FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson” topping the nominations with six.
The winners for both the TV and film categories will be revealed Dec. 11 at the Critics’ Choice Awards gala, broadcast on A&E and hosted by actor and comedian T.J. Miller.
And the film nominees are …
PICTURE
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Loving”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
“Sully”
ACTOR
Joel Edgerton – “Loving”
Andrew Garfield – “Hacksaw Ridge”
Ryan Gosling – “La La Land”
Tom Hanks – “Sully”
Denzel Washington – “Fences”
ACTRESS
Amy Adams – “Arrival”
Annette Bening – “20th Century Women”
Isabelle Huppert – “Elle”
Ruth Negga – “Loving”
Natalie Portman – “Jackie”
Emma Stone – “La La Land”
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali – “Moonlight”
Jeff Bridges – “Hell or High Water”
Ben Foster – “Hell or High Water”
…