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 "Being a musical, that alone was already a challenge to get
money for, but as it was not based on anything, it's frustrating
that the original movie has become this rarity," the 31-year-old
filmmaker told Reuters in an interview.
"It ultimately fell on people like Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone
and studios like Lionsgate to actually just take the gamble."
Musical live-action films have faded as superhero fare and
franchises dominated the Hollywood box office in recent years.
But Chazelle, coming off three Oscar wins for "Whiplash,"
succeeded in making his modern-day, millennial spin on the
genre, which has won rave reviews from critics.
"La La Land," released in limited U.S. theaters on Friday and
nationwide on Dec. 16, follows aspiring actress Mia (Stone) and
jazz musician Sebastian (Gosling), who fall in love while trying
to succeed in their respective fields, against the colorful
landscapes of Los Angeles.
"I wanted this to be much more natural and at its core, be a
very relatable human story about young artists trying to figure
out their place in the world," Chazelle said, adding that the
themes of dreams and reality were "ripe fodder for a musical to
tackle."
Chazelle found inspiration in Hollywood musicals from the 1930s
to the 1960s as well as the 1964 French musical "The Umbrellas
of Cherbourg," a story of star-crossed lovers.
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The filmmaker laid the foundation for "La La Land" in his 2009
directorial debut, independent jazz musical "Guy and Madeline on a
Park Bench."
"It was taking the magic that we love from old Hollywood musicals
but making it feel very gritty and real and contemporary," Chazelle
said.
"In this movie, I wanted to do the same thing but from a different
angle, in a more lush, romantic and bigger way."
He also found a modern-day equivalent of the Golden Age movie couple
in Stone and Gosling, who paired up for the third time in "La La
Land" and are known for their charming and funny on-screen
chemistry.
"I love the idea of a recurring pair. To me, it brings to mind Fred
and Ginger, Bogey and Bacall, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy,"
he said.
"I think Ryan and Emma have a way of making that old Hollywood idea
feel very new."
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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