Is Christopher Nolan a fan of musicals? It’s hard to tell as the director has never publicly shared any enthusiasm for the genre but Damien Chazelle, who has been one of the most promising directors in Hollywood seemed to make Nolan fall in love with his musical piece starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Of course, the movie in talk here is Chazelle’s 2016 musical romance La La Land as most fans might remember the movie for the Oscar mishap.
Christopher Nolan Watched La La Land Three Times
Damien Chazelle. Image Credit: Scott Garfield/PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Damien Chazelle’s third directorial feature and his second musical after Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, his debut film; La La Land touched the astonishing critical height. Of course, the movie was in the mix of one of the greatest Oscar anomalies as presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty announced the musical as the Best Picture while Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight was the actual winner at the 89th Academy Awards.
Still, the Oscar loss does not make the movie any less prominent, especially as a musical, even box-office magnet and Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan admitted the prowess of the movie. Nolan candidly recalled that the Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone starrer movie fascinated him which propelled him to visit the theaters three times to watch the musical.
Tom Shone’s 2020 book, The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan rightly established Nolan’s opinion of the genre, or at least Chazelle’s movie. “La La Land, to me, is an extraordinary film. I saw it three or four times, it’s just an amazing piece of directing, and I don’t usually like musicals,” the director said. The director further revealed that he enjoyed the musical as much as he enjoys watching his go-to genres, “I enjoyed that tremendously.”
Of course, it is hard to imagine Nolan directing a musical in his career, perhaps he never will, but his fascination with La La Land further established Chazelle’s prowess as a director. The movie claimed an outlandish 14 Oscar nods winning in six categories including Best Director and Best Actress.
Christopher Nolan Had A Change In Test Of Movies
Christopher Nolan. Image Credit: Francois Duhamel/Touchstone Pictures and Warner Bros.
Nolan’s cinematic achievement and his recurring time-themed mastery are arguably second to none as the director carefully and perfectly blends the essence of time in his narratives telling the astonishing stories since his debut. Of course, Nolan is unlikely to change his narrative style while writing/directing a film but the actor admitted roping into movies as a spectator beyond the genres of his liking, La La Land is the primary example of that. In his interview with Entertainment Weekly while promoting his World War II movie, Dunkirk, the acclaimed director revealed his growing interest in movies of different genres signifying the change in his test.
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“The one thing that I did notice changing from when I was a kid is, it’s very rare as an older person — I’m almost 47 now — that I’ll go back to see a film because I enjoyed it in a theater. [Though] I did with La La Land; I went back to see that a couple of times. That basic joy of the possibility of a new movie and being there on opening night with a crowded audience — I don’t think that ever changes. That’s just a magical experience.”
While stating the reason behind going back to the theaters again to watch La La Land, Nolan said, “I think, I almost went back to see if it was as good as I had thought, and it was, if that makes sense.”
Stream La La Land on Netflix.
