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Three hosts of the 3 Guys and a Flick movie review podcast with movie-themed background.
🎙 Podcast Episode 236

La La Land

Join the Guys as they tap-dance through traffic, chase impossible dreams, argue about jazz, and emotionally spiral through Damien Chazelle’s modern musical love letter to Los Angeles, ambition, heartbreak, and the dangerous power of a really good piano riff.

Release Date December 9, 2016
Runtime 128 minutes
Director Damien Chazelle
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3 Guys and a Flick — Episode 236

La La Land (2016)

ⓘ Details

Movie TitleLa La Land
Release DateDecember 9, 2016
TaglineHere’s to the fools who dream.
Runtime128 minutes
DirectorDamien Chazelle
Screenplay Written ByDamien Chazelle
Based OnOriginal screenplay; inspired by classic Hollywood musicals and Los Angeles dream-chaser culture
Is It a Remake?No. La La Land is an original modern musical, not a remake.
BudgetApproximately $30 million
Box OfficeApprox. $151.1 million domestic / Approx. $447.4 million worldwide
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👥 Main Cast

Ryan GoslingSebastian Wilder
Emma StoneMia Dolan
John LegendKeith
Rosemarie DeWittLaura
J.K. SimmonsBill
Finn WittrockGreg
Callie HernandezTracy
Sonoya MizunoCaitlin
Jessica RotheAlexis
Tom Everett ScottDavid
Meagen FayMia’s Mom
Damon GuptonHarry
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🏆 Awards

⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Director: Damien Chazelle
⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Actress: Emma Stone
⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Cinematography: Linus Sandgren
⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Production Design: David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Original Score: Justin Hurwitz
⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Original Song: “City of Stars”
⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Picture
⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Actor: Ryan Gosling
⭐ Golden Globe Winner — Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
⭐ Golden Globe Winner — Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song
⭐ BAFTA Winner — Best Film, Best Direction, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Music
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📖 Short Plot Summary

In Los Angeles, Mia is an aspiring actress stuck between auditions and coffee shifts, while Sebastian is a jazz pianist determined to open his own club and preserve the music he loves. After a few rocky encounters, the two fall for each other while chasing their dreams across movie lots, jazz clubs, Hollywood parties, and moonlit dance numbers. As success gets closer, their relationship is tested by ambition, sacrifice, timing, and the painful question of whether love and dreams can survive when both demand everything.
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❝ Key Quotes

“Here’s to the fools who dream.” — Mia Dolan
“People love what other people are passionate about.” — Mia Dolan
“I’m letting life hit me until it gets tired.” — Sebastian Wilder
“Maybe I’m not good enough.” — Mia Dolan
“This is the dream! It’s conflict and it’s compromise, and it’s very, very exciting!” — Sebastian Wilder
“City of stars, are you shining just for me?” — Song Lyric
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💡 Trivia

Director

  • La La Land was written and directed by Damien Chazelle.
  • Chazelle developed the idea with composer Justin Hurwitz, his Harvard classmate and longtime musical collaborator.
  • The film was designed as a modern musical that openly nods to classic Hollywood musicals while telling a contemporary Los Angeles story.
  • Chazelle won the Academy Award for Best Director, becoming one of the youngest winners of that award.
  • The film’s visual style uses bold color, widescreen framing, long takes, and stylized lighting to create a heightened version of Los Angeles.

Cast / Casting

  • Ryan Gosling stars as Sebastian Wilder, a jazz pianist with very specific opinions and apparently unlimited blazer confidence.
  • Emma Stone stars as Mia Dolan, an aspiring actress whose audition journey anchors much of the film’s emotional weight.
  • Emma Stone won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.
  • John Legend plays Keith, Sebastian’s former classmate and bandleader of The Messengers.
  • J.K. Simmons appears as Bill, Sebastian’s restaurant boss, reuniting with Chazelle after Whiplash.
  • Ryan Gosling performed piano in the film after intensive preparation, with the movie often showing his hands in the same shot.

Soundtrack / Score

  • The score was composed by Justin Hurwitz.
  • The songs were written by Justin Hurwitz, with lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul; “Start a Fire” also includes John Legend, Marius de Vries, and Angelique Cinelu among its writers.
  • “City of Stars” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
  • Justin Hurwitz won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
  • The soundtrack includes major musical numbers such as “Another Day of Sun,” “Someone in the Crowd,” “A Lovely Night,” “City of Stars,” and “Audition (The Fools Who Dream).”
  • The music blends old Hollywood romantic sweep with jazz, pop, melancholy piano themes, and modern musical-theater structure.

Location

  • The story is set in Los Angeles, and the city is practically a third lead character.
  • Filming took place at numerous Los Angeles-area locations, including Griffith Observatory, Griffith Park, Angels Flight, Grand Central Market, the Colorado Street Bridge, the Rialto Theatre, and the Hermosa Beach Lighthouse Café.
  • The opening “Another Day of Sun” number was staged on a Los Angeles freeway ramp.
  • Griffith Observatory is used for one of the film’s most famous fantasy sequences.
  • The movie’s Los Angeles is both real and dreamlike, mixing recognizable locations with heightened musical staging.

Behind-The-Scenes

  • The film was produced by Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz, Gary Gilbert, and Marc Platt.
  • AFI lists Linus Sandgren as cinematographer, Tom Cross as editor, and David Wasco as production designer.
  • The film was shot to evoke the wide-screen look of classic musicals, while still feeling modern and location-based.
  • Many musical numbers were staged with long takes and full-body choreography rather than quick-cut music-video editing.
  • The movie had a reported production budget of approximately $30 million and became a major box-office success.
  • At the Academy Awards, La La Land was famously announced by mistake as Best Picture before the award was corrected and given to Moonlight.

Nostalgia

  • La La Land is packed with old-Hollywood musical DNA, from its Technicolor-inspired palette to its dancing-in-the-city romanticism.
  • The film nods to classic musicals while giving them a bittersweet modern ending instead of a neat happily-ever-after.
  • Its Los Angeles dreamer story connects to decades of movies about artists chasing fame, identity, and love in Hollywood.
  • The “what might have been” ending became one of the film’s most discussed and emotionally divisive elements.
  • The movie’s popularity helped bring the big-screen original musical back into mainstream awards conversation.

Easter Eggs

  • The title itself is both a nickname for Los Angeles and a phrase suggesting fantasy, delusion, and dream-chasing.
  • Griffith Observatory connects the film to Hollywood history and to earlier Los Angeles movie mythology.
  • Sebastian’s club name, Seb’s, pays off his long-running dream of owning a jazz club.
  • The final montage reimagines the entire story as the musical fantasy version of the life Mia and Sebastian did not choose.
  • The film’s seasonal structure — Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter — gives the romance a storybook rhythm while also marking its emotional rise and fall.

Misc.

  • La La Land is rated PG-13 and runs 128 minutes.
  • AFI lists the film’s genres as Musical and Romance.
  • Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus praises the film’s direction, performances, and emotional heart.
  • The film won all seven Golden Globes for which it was nominated.
  • Your 3 Guys and a Flick ratings page lists the episode as Episode 236, with Don rating it 2.00, Ken rating it 4.00, Jon rating it 2.50, and an overall rating of 2.83.
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🔗 Sources Cited

3 Guys and a Flick — Podcast 236: La La Land 3 Guys and a Flick — Ratings IMDb — La La Land IMDb — La La Land Full Cast & Crew IMDb — La La Land Awards IMDb — La La Land Quotes IMDb — La La Land Taglines IMDb — La La Land Soundtrack IMDb — La La Land Filming Locations AFI Catalog — La La Land AFI Movie Club — La La Land Box Office Mojo — La La Land The Numbers — La La Land Rotten Tomatoes — La La Land Golden Globes — La La Land Wikipedia — La La Land
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