Why did Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling just get referred to as a “broken shark??”
We’re pretty sure there’s no fictional couple better than Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.
The duo play romantic interests for the third time in their careers in La La Land, a musical tale about two aspiring artists in Los Angeles. The two were most recently cast together in Gangster Squad, but we still haven’t quite recovered from that adorable Dirty Dancing scene from Crazy Stupid Love.
That said, why are they being called a “broken shark” and what in the world does that mean?
Turns out it was actually an endearing statement made during an interview with La La Land director Damien Chazelle and a reporter at the Denver Post. In the discussion, Chazelle admits that he originally had his eyes on Miles Teller and Emma Watson for the roles. (Teller played the lead of Whiplash in 2014, which was nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards and took home accolades for best editing, best sound mixing and best supporting actor.)
When he caveats that when Stone and Gosling were reunited on the set he realized it was meant to be, Denver Post writer Lisa Kennedy noted that it’s like the broken shark in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws.
Uh, how is this a compliment??
For those who don’t know the full backstory, Spielberg’s crew struggled greatly with making a fully operational mechanical shark. Over the 65 days there were given to shoot, the shark broke down routinely, causing Spielberg to rewrite the script to cut the amount of scenes that actually involved a shark. As a result, it created a film centered an anticipation and fear of the unknown which was largely credited for its success.
“I love that analogy, Damian Chazelle told the reporter, before turning to Emma to tell her “Now I’ll always think of you and Ryan as the broken shark.
So while they weren’t Chazelle’s original cast members, Gosling and Stone ended up being even better than he anticipated.
“Aww, we’re the broken shark,” Emma Stone said, cracking up. “How sweet. You’re my broken shark.”
Can’t wait to see these two broken sharks hit the big screen together, yet again.
