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 With a leading 14 Academy Award nominations including best
picture, director, actor, actress and screenplay, Damien
Chazelle's love letter to Los Angeles is favorite to waltz away
with an armful of Oscars on Sunday and revive musicals as a
force to be reckoned with.
"The country is so sad right now and 'La La Land' is the only
escapist movie," said Craig Zadan, co-producer with Neil Meron
of "Chicago," the last musical to win a best picture Oscar in
2002.
"The others are artistically wonderful, but they are not
necessarily peppy and boost you into a flight of fancy. The
cards are all aligned for this to be the year of the musical
again."
It's been a long time coming.
Musicals have long been snubbed in the top categories by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
"That's probably because musicals just aren't as cool as they
used to be and Academy members care a lot about what's cool,"
said Tom O'Neil, founder of awards website Goldderby.com.
"The miraculous thing about 'La La Land' is that it's anti-cool
-- shamelessly and joyously old-fashioned. It's performing so
well with Oscar voters because of its impressive craftsmanship,"
he added.
Only 10 musicals have won the coveted best picture Oscar in the
89-year history of the Academy Awards.
The winners include "Chicago," "The Sound of Music," and "West
Side Story," but the losers list is longer. Along with "The
Wizard of Oz" and "Singin' in the Rain," it also includes screen
icons like Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, none of
whom ever won a major Oscar.
It took director Chazelle, 32, six years to get "La La Land" off
the ground, fusing a 1950s musical sensibility with a
contemporary love story.
"I like to think that it's providing an emotional experience.
That was the goal of the movie -- to use the tropes of musical
traditions to say something about what it means to be young and
in love today, and what it means to be an artist and chase a
dream," Chazelle said.
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Some awards watchers think "La La Land" could win up to 11 Oscars on
Sunday, a feat that would tie it with all time record holders "Ben-Hur,"
"Titanic" and "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
Its success is already changing perceptions about the genre at
Hollywood movie studios, which have been slow to catch up with the
trend elsewhere.
Shows like "Glee," and live versions of musicals like "Grease" and
"Hairspray" have brought in big TV audiences while Broadway hit
"Hamilton," with its rap twist on history and politics, has given
musicals new respectability.
Movie musicals have often been associated with large budgets, big
casts and long rehearsals for singers, musicians and dancers. "La La
Land" however cost a modest $30 million to make and has taken $300
million global box office.
"Musical used to be a dirty word when you are going to these studio
meetings. But the word has taken on a better patina lately. It seems
people don't look at you and throw you out of the office if you say
you want to do a musical these days," said Meron.
"I would say there is a buzz going round the studios right now that
everyone is looking for the next musical," added Zadan.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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