Emma Stone almost turned down “La La Land” — Here’s what happened
La La Land has been the hottest movie of the moment. So when The Hollywood Reporter released its cover story we were so shocked to read that Emma Stone almost didn’t do La La Land! Sometimes things truly are destined and perfection is only reachable when all of the stars line up.
Emma Stone looks every bit a soon-to-be Oscar winner on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter but our favorite part of the interview isn’t just her enviable outfit, it is how open she is in the interview. So when we found out that she was actually not going to take the role, we actually understood where she was coming from.
According to Stone, Emma Watson and Miles Teller were set to play the lead actors, but after negotiations with Miles Teller stalled and Emma Watson was cast to star in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast remake, talented director and screenwriter Damien Chazelle met with Stone Thanksgiving 2014 on a break from performing live in Cabaret. At a diner, the pair talked over chicken pot pies and Chazelle pitched the romantic throwback to a time when MGM and RKO used to make song and dance pictures.
"I was very sick," Stone recalls of the meal. "My voice was gone, and I was struggling to get through the shows — I was still doing Cabaret — and the idea of doing another musical was like, 'You've got to be out of your mind.' After Cabaret, I wasn't sure I would ever sing or dance again."
But the ever persistent director would not let up. He met with Stone again in her dressing room and showed her demo tracks of Justin Hurwitz’s score. By walking her through how he wanted to shoot each production number and also bringing up the fact that Gosling was in talks to play the male lead, Stone seemed a bit more on board. She did have a history co-starring with Ryan Gosling in 2011’s Crazy, Stupid, Love and again in 2013’s Gangster Squad after all!
After that, the rest was history!
"I've never been part of anything like it," says Stone of the campaign for the film, which according to The Hollywood Reporter has grossed $175 million worldwide so far. "I mean, we went to Venice with Birdman" — the 2015 best picture winner and the role that earned her first Oscar nomination, for best supporting actress — "but nothing like this. This is a new world. I'm not complaining because I love this film — it's fun to talk about it — but I've been doing interviews about this movie for almost six months."
From Superbad to La La Land we are so rooting for Emma Stone! No matter what happens on Oscar night we can guarantee that her name will be cemented in the stars for years to come.
