New Photos From 'La La Land' With Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone Show Los Angeles In A Whole New Way

Lionsgate has been playing a very careful awards-season game with “La La Land.” After receiving ecstatic raves at the Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival (where it won the coveted Audience Award), the studio has been wary of burning out the buzz for the film. But with a new trailer dropping this week, and the release date a little more than a month out, the campaign is swinging into full gear, with multiple outlets dropping pieces on the movie, and with it, new photos have surfaced showing a beautifully stylized Los Angeles.

Starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, who have never been more engaging or better together, the movie charts the romance and aspirations of a would-be jazz musician and an actress with big dreams. And Los Angeles is a key character in the movie, the backdrop where anything can happen, and where, sometimes, dreams come true. The movie bounces from Hollywood backlots to jazz clubs and, memorably, to Griffith Observatory. And this idea of the city carrying with it hidden gems appealed to director Damien Chazelle.

READ MORE: ‘La La Land’ Starring Emma Stone & Ryan Gosling Is An Absolute Triumph [Venice Review]

“L.A., even more so than any other American city, obscures, sometimes neglects, its own history,” he told The New York Times. “But that can also be its own magical thing, because it’s a city that reveals itself bit by bit, like an onion, if you take the time to explore it.”

And then, of course, there are the songs in “La La Land.” The musical boasts a terrific set of tunes, without a dud in the bunch, that aren’t just excuses for show-stopping setpieces, but also carry the narrative along. And for Chazelle, it was about balancing old-school flavor with a real-world feel.

“It was about finding a tone that would never veer too old but never too new, never too magical or fantastical, but never too realist,” he told Variety about the picture. “It needed to have its foot in both worlds at all the times.”

Well, he found the pitch perfect blend and the result is one of the best movies of the year. “La La Land” starts rolling out on December 9th.lalaland lalaland-ryan-gosling-emma-stone lalaland-planetarium lalaland-ryan-gosling-emma-stone-kiss

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