'La La Land' and its musical role models
January 12, 2017
At 31, "La La Land" director Damien Chazelle is the youngest filmmaker to win best director in the Golden Globe Awards' history. And those six other Globes weren't so bad either. As the film hits German theaters on January 12, DW takes a good look at the musical film legacy and how it inspired "La La Land."
"No one has influenced this film and everything that I have done up to now or will do more than Jacques Demy," said US director Damien Chazelle about his new movie.
French director Jacques Demy (1931-1990) was the only director of the Nouvelle Vague (the French New Wave) to devote himself to the musical genre, creating classics such as "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1964) and "The Young Girls of Rochefort" (1967). In them, his actors and actresses belt out romantic stories in song in front of the camera. For Demy, costumes, spectacular lighting and sound effects, and complicated choreographies weren't as essential as the shaping of the characters and the interaction of aesthetics and history.
And that's exactly the point of departure for Damien Chazelle's "La La Land." He celebrates the classic musical with all his heart, yet does it with a modern twist. Take a look at the picture gallery for a view into Chazelle's movie musical inspiration.