Damien Chazelle

I guess there’s not much reason for me to watch the new La La Land trailer. I saw the movie back at the Toronto Film Festival. Why watch the coming attractions for a movie I’ve already seen? Frankly, I watched it (twice) because I want to see La La Land again, and I can’t right now, and watching the trailer is the next best option.

It would be inaccurate to say there’s never been a film like La La Land — there have been movies like it many times before — but it’s been a while. Movie musicals these days are mostly lifeless exercises in prestige and Broadway adaptation, The original movie musical — with songs writing explicitly for the screen — is about as rare a species as the South China tiger.

Do you like music? How about romance? What about both of those amidst gorgeous sceneries? Then ‘La La Land’ will probably be your most anticipated movie of the year. If not, just watch the new teaser trailer for an express ticket to swoon city.

Just yesterday during a Periscope Q&A, someone asked me for my most anticipated movies of the fall. The clear #1 choice: La La Land, the latest film from Whiplash writer and director Damien Chazelle. One day later, the first teaser for the film is here, and I’m even more excited to see the movie, which opens later this fall following a premiere next month at the prestigious Venice Film Festival.

Five words: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, musical. Still not sold? Throw in Damien Chazelle, one of 2015's most talked about filmmakers and the guy behind Whiplash. Excited yet?

One small step for man, one giant step for mankind — we could be talking about the first moon walk, or we could be talking about Ryan Gosling. Or maybe both, as Universal is eyeing the actor to star in their upcoming Neil Armstrong biopic from Whiplash director Damien Chazelle and Spotlight scribe Josh Singer.

Following his stunning feature debut with Whiplash, we’ve been excited to see where director Damien Chazelle will go next. That place is La La Land, a new film that reunites the Gangster Squad and Crazy Stupid Love duo of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. But the film has one other reunion up its sleeve: J.K. Simmons will re-team with his Whiplash director for the upcoming project.

Director Damien Chazelle caught everyone’s attention in a big way with Whiplash, his debut feature film starring Miles Teller, which (rightfully) earned J.K. Simmons an Oscar. His next film is based on a screenplay he wrote before Whiplash, and it might very well star two of the most lovable actors alive: Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, who previously appeared together in Gangster Squad.

Damien Chazelle’s film, ‘Whiplash’—the story of a future jazz prodigy (Miles Teller) and his manipulative, sadistic conductor (J.K. Simmons, who seems to be the odds-on favorite to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor) has had quite the journey this year. It premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival and wound up taking home the top prize. After, it steadily built momentum from word of mouth on the festival circuit and now, having been in release for two months, it still seems to be operating on a word of mouth system. (I still get text messages from friends back in the Midwest asking, “Should I see ‘Whiplash’? I keep hearing it’s good.”)