Seb receives a phone call from a prominent casting director who attended Mia's play and invites her to audition for an upcoming film. Unable to forgive him for missing the play and for their prior argument, Mia breaks up with Seb and moves back to her hometown of Boulder City, Nevada. The play does not go as well as planned few people attend, and Mia overhears dismissive comments about her performance. Two weeks later, Seb misses Mia's play due to a photoshoot he had forgotten about. The band finds success, but Mia knows this is not the type of music Seb wants to perform.ĭuring the band's first tour, Seb and Mia have an argument she accuses him of abandoning his dreams, while he claims that she liked him more when he was unsuccessful. Although dismayed by the band's pop style, Seb signs on after overhearing Mia trying to convince her mother that he is working on his career. Seb's former classmate Keith invites him to be the keyboardist in his jazz fusion band, which will give him a steady income. He begins to perform regularly at a jazz club, and they move in together. They spend their evening with a romantic visit to the Griffith Observatory and a lovely dance.Īfter more failed auditions, Mia decides, with Seb's encouragement, to write a one-woman play. Bored with the latter date, she goes to the theater and finds Seb as the film begins. Seb invites Mia to a screening of Rebel Without a Cause and she accepts, forgetting a date with her boyfriend Greg. He takes her to a jazz club, describing his passion for jazz and his desire to open his own club.
backlot, where she works as a barista, while explaining her passion for acting. Seb arrives at Mia's workplace, and she shows him around the Warner Bros. After the gig, they walk to their cars and 'lament wasting a lovely night together' despite their clear chemistry. Months later, she runs into Seb at a party where he plays in a 1980s pop cover band. As he storms out, Mia attempts to compliment him, but he brushes her off. Moved, she enters the restaurant and observes Seb being fired for his disobedience. Mia overhears him playing as she passes by. After her car is towed, she walks home in disappointment.ĭuring a gig at a restaurant, Seb slips into jazz improvisation, despite the owner's warning to only play traditional Christmas pieces. That night, her roommates take her to a lavish party in the Hollywood Hills, promising her that someone in the crowd could jump-start her career. After a hard day at work, Mia's subsequent audition goes awry when the casting director takes a phone call during an emotional scene. While stuck in Los Angeles traffic, aspiring actress Amelia "Mia" Dolan has a moment of road rage directed at Sebastian "Seb" Wilder, a jazz pianist.
In the latter category, Chazelle became the youngest winner at age 32.
The film also received a record-tying fourteen nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, winning in six categories, including Best Actress for Stone and Best Director for Chazelle. It won a record-breaking seven awards from its seven nominations at the 74th Golden Globes and received eleven nominations at the 70th British Academy Film Awards, winning five, including Best Film. It went on to receive numerous accolades. The film was a commercial success, grossing $448 million worldwide on a production budget of $30 million, and received widespread critical acclaim with particular praise given to Chazelle's screenplay and direction, the performances of Gosling and Stone, score, musical numbers, cinematography, and production design. La La Land premiered at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 9, 2016. Filming took place in Los Angeles between August and September 2015, with the film's score composed by Hurwitz and the dance choreography by Mandy Moore. Miles Teller and Emma Watson were originally slated to star, but after both dropped out Gosling and Stone were cast. After the success of his film Whiplash (2014), the project was picked up by Summit Entertainment. After moving to Los Angeles in 2010, Chazelle penned the script but did not find a studio willing to finance the production without changes to his design. Having been fond of musicals during his time as a drummer, Chazelle first conceptualized the film alongside Justin Hurwitz while attending Harvard University together. John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt, Finn Wittrock, and J. It stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a struggling jazz pianist and an aspiring actress, respectively, who meet and fall in love while pursuing their dreams in Los Angeles. La La Land is a 2016 American romantic musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle.