Movie Title: La La Land (2016)
Release Date: August 31, 2016 — Venice Film Festival premiere; December 9, 2016 — limited U.S. theatrical release
Runtime: 128 minutes / 2 hr 8 min
Director: Damien Chazelle
Screenplay Written By: Damien Chazelle
Based On: Original screenplay; not based on a prior book, play, or film
Is it a remake?: No
Main Cast:
- Ryan Gosling — Sebastian Wilder
- Emma Stone — Mia Dolan
- John Legend — Keith
- Rosemarie DeWitt — Laura Wilder
- J.K. Simmons — Bill
- Finn Wittrock — Greg
- Callie Hernandez — Tracy
- Sonoya Mizuno — Caitlin
- Jessica Rothe — Alexis
Budget:
- $30 million estimated production budget.
Box Office:
- Domestic: $151,101,803
- International: $296,305,892
- Worldwide theatrical release total: $447,407,695
- IMDb / Box Office Mojo title-page worldwide total: $523,088,208
- Note: Box Office Mojo lists both a release-level worldwide figure and a broader title-page worldwide figure; use the higher figure only if referencing cumulative/all-release reporting.
Awards:
- Academy Awards: 14 nominations; 6 wins — Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Production Design.
- Golden Globes: 7 nominations; 7 wins, including Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song.
- BAFTA Awards: 11 nominations; 5 wins, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Music.
Short Plot Summary:
A struggling actress and a jazz pianist meet in Los Angeles while chasing their artistic dreams. Their romance grows alongside their careers, but ambition and opportunity begin pulling them in different directions. The film blends modern Los Angeles with the style and emotional structure of classic Hollywood musicals.
Key Quotes:
- “And here’s to the fools who dream, crazy as they may seem.” — Mia
- “City of stars, are you shining just for me?” — Sebastian
- “People love what other people are passionate about.” — Mia
- “This is the dream! It’s conflict and it’s compromise, and it’s very, very exciting!” — Sebastian
Trivia
Director:
- Damien Chazelle wrote and directed the film after previously directing Whiplash.
- Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz had been collaborators since their Harvard years.
- Chazelle conceived the film as a modern original musical inspired by classic Hollywood musicals and French musical cinema, especially the work of Jacques Demy.
- Chazelle became the youngest person to win the Oscar for Best Director, at age 32.
Cast / Casting:
- Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone had already appeared together in Crazy, Stupid, Love and Gangster Squad, giving the film a built-in screen chemistry.
- Emma Stone won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Mia.
- John Legend appears as Keith and also performed songs from the film during the 89th Academy Awards ceremony.
- Gosling’s character, Sebastian, is built around a romanticized obsession with preserving traditional jazz culture.
Soundtrack / Score:
- Music was composed by Justin Hurwitz, with lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
- “City of Stars” won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song.
- “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” was reportedly one of the final major songs developed and became one of the film’s central emotional pieces.
- Emma Stone’s “Audition” performance was shot live, emphasizing raw performance over polished studio playback.
Location:
- Major Los Angeles locations include Griffith Observatory, The Lighthouse Café in Hermosa Beach, Hermosa Beach Pier, Angels Flight, Grand Central Market, Watts Towers, the Colorado Street Bridge, and the Smoke House Restaurant.
- The Lighthouse Café is a real Hermosa Beach jazz club with a history dating back to 1949.
- Griffith Observatory is also strongly associated with Rebel Without a Cause, a film directly referenced within La La Land.
Act 1:
- The opening freeway number, “Another Day of Sun,” was filmed on an actual Los Angeles freeway ramp, requiring major logistical coordination.
- The opening establishes the film’s central contrast: Los Angeles as both a dream factory and a place of exhausting gridlock, rejection, and competition.
- Mia’s early audition scenes draw from the real frustration of repeated Hollywood rejection.
Act 2:
- Sebastian’s work with Keith’s band creates the film’s central professional conflict: artistic purity versus commercial opportunity.
- The film uses real L.A. nightlife, jazz clubs, parties, auditions, and studio lots to ground its musical fantasy in recognizable industry spaces.
- “City of Stars” functions as both a romantic duet and a thematic question about whether ambition can coexist with love.
Act 3:
- Mia’s final audition number, “Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” serves as the emotional turning point of her career arc.
- The ending uses an extended fantasy sequence that imagines an alternate version of Mia and Sebastian’s relationship.
- The finale is structured as a bittersweet musical memory rather than a conventional romantic resolution.
Easter Eggs:
- The film contains visual and musical homages to classic musicals including Singin’ in the Rain, An American in Paris, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and The Young Girls of Rochefort.
- The Griffith Observatory sequence evokes Rebel Without a Cause, which Mia and Sebastian watch earlier in the film.
- The title “La La Land” refers both to Los Angeles and to the idiom meaning a dreamy, unrealistic state of mind.
- The film’s color palette, widescreen compositions, and stylized transitions deliberately recall mid-century Hollywood musicals.
Misc:
- The film tied the then-record for most Academy Award nominations for a single film with 14 nominations, matching All About Eve and Titanic.
- At the 2017 Oscars, La La Land was mistakenly announced as Best Picture before the error was corrected and Moonlight was named the actual winner.
- The film was one of the rare original movie musicals to become a major commercial and awards success in the modern era.
- Box office reporting varies by source/page because some totals separate original theatrical release grosses from broader cumulative title totals.
Sources Cited:
- IMDb: La La Land main page and quotes page.
- Wikipedia: La La Land and accolades overview.
- Box Office Mojo: release-level and title-level box office pages.
- Academy Awards / Oscars: 89th Academy Awards records.
- Golden Globes: official La La Land awards page.
- BAFTA: La La Land Best Film article and award reporting.
- Additional Sources: Discover Los Angeles, Visit California, Entertainment Weekly, GQ, IndieWire, Time, Variety, Pitchfork.
