Making ‘La La Land’ brought back pre-fame memories for Emma Stone

SHARE Making ‘La La Land’ brought back pre-fame memories for Emma Stone
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Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in an iconic dance scene in “La La Land.” | Dale Robinette/Lionsgale/AP Photo

LOS ANGELES — Now that she’s an established star who just earned her third Golden Globe nomination, Emma Stone is inundated with scripts from directors and producers eager to work with her. Her auditioning days — when she was anxious about landing just about any role in a film or television or a TV commercial — are far behind her.

Yet, the actress clearly remembers that audition process — something her character Mia in “La La Land” (opening Friday) is seen constantly experiencing, and without much success.

“Filming those scenes did bring back a lot of memories,” said Stone, chatting about the movie in a Los Angeles hotel suite.

“It’s really like going for endless job interviews. But the difference is, you sometimes happen to cry in the middle of them — but on purpose because you’re auditioning for a crying scene, or the director wants to see how easily you are able to naturally start weeping!

“It’s a tricky business. It’s definitely a tricky business. There’s so many variables. But, in a sense, you’re actually lucky if you are getting a lot of calls to audition, because it means you’re being seen by casting people. If you are auditioning a lot, you’re at least getting into the room.

“It’s a mixed bag. On the one hand you can think, ‘I’m getting to do what I love.’ But it also can be very depressing, when you’re passed over time and time again.”

Though auditioning is specific to the world of entertainment, Stone pointed out that there is something of a universal twist to it as well.

“I imagine a lot of people — especially the past few years when there were so many people were out of work — can relate to the feelings of constant rejection as they applied for various jobs. I  think that makes the auditioning process somewhat understandable to the outside world. The major difference is that in show business it’s just so intense and condensed in terms of the time you spend doing it.”

The main storyline of “La La Land” has Stone’s Mia not only working as a barista as she supports herself while continually auditioning, but also falling in love with Ryan Gosling’s Sebastian — a music purist whose dream is to launch his own club where he can perform and also showcase other artists creating the traditional jazz he idolizes.

The actress said the film realistically focuses on the difficulty of “balancing the dream of a career and having a healthy personal life. It is tough. That is absolutely true, but not just in show business. I think many people can understand that difficult balancing act. It happens every day, in every place around the country — not just in Hollywood.”

One of the scenes in “La La Land” which will be long remembered is a dance Stone and Gosling perform on a hilltop street with Hollywood stretched out below them. The actress laughed as she remembered the tremendous amount of time and effort that went into that one, dreamlike sequence.

“We had such a long time to rehearse that scene — something like three months,” said Stone. “We rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed — alone and then together. We would practice all the time — even between shoots of other scenes, and even on weekends.

“When it was finally over and wrapped, it was very poignant, because I realized we would never do that dance again! It was very upsetting for me for some reason!”

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