If Whiplash served up a blistering assault on the senses two years ago, director Damien Chazelle is cooking up a much more intimate viewing experience with La La Land, an Oscar-tipped musical drama about two struggling artists trying to catch a break in the cutthroat world of Hollywood.
On board to play those down-on-their-luck characters – namely Mia and Sebastian – are Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, the impossibly attractive duo that energized Crazy, Stupid, Love with their at-times effortless chemistry five years ago. With La La Land, Stone and Gosling will be embarking on a more dramatic journey as they pursue their artistic dreams.
Mia, for instance, wants to crack into Hollywood’s acting scene, but has so far amassed a streak of forgettable auditions, while Sebastian is a soon-to-be-unemployed jazz artist circling the brink of a creative crisis. Where Chazelle’s feature blossoms into life is the scenes in which Stone and Gosling share the screen, and in today’s all-new featurette, you can go behind the scenes of La La Land ahead of its release early next month.
Rounding out the star-studded ensemble are singer-songwriter John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt, Finn Wittrock, Callie Hernandez, Sonoya Mizuno, Jessica Rothe, Tom Everette Scott, Josh Pence and Whiplash alum J.K. Simmons.
Expect La La Land to make its theatrical debut on December 2 before Chazelle’s musical ensemble expands nationwide on December 16, where it will face strong competition from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Chazelle’s dreamy pic will naturally be catering to a different audience, of course, and it’ll be fascinating to see how it fares against fellow Oscar contenders in the vein of Manchester By the Sea, Silence and the Natalie Portman-fronted Jackie when awards season kicks off in earnest.
