Emma Stone in a scene from ‘La La Land.’ On Wednesday, Stone was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role for her role in the film.Dale Robinette/The Associated Press
At one point in La La Land, the tremendous new musical from director Damien Chazelle, a young actress named Mia walks dejectedly through a Hollywood production office, its bland hallways lined with slightly taller, perhaps slightly more confident facsimiles of herself: all perky, saucer-eyed, red-headed ingenues gripping their audition sides, hoping to break through a reality of constant rejection.
It wasn't hard for Emma Stone to nail Mia's walk of shame – the actress, like most anyone who now commands a name above the credits, experienced that same scene over and over again during her first few years in Hollywood. (The only difference: While Mia earns a living as a barista, Stone survived by working at Three Dog Bakery, hawking doggie muffins. Points to Stone for stepping outside the cliché, at least.)
But just as Mia eventually finds herself twisted in a new direction thanks to a curious casting director, Stone, too, caught a break when Allison Jones – renowned for stocking Freaks and Geeks and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air – kept Stone in the back of her mind for Superbad. The raunchy-sweet comedy would kickstart Stone's career, which has now, with La La Land, found itself curiously dovetailing with her past.
While at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this fall to promote the Oscar-tipped musical, the 28-year-old Stone spoke with The Globe and Mail about fame and the future of independent film.
Both La La Land and Birdman dissect the creative process a bit. Did you ever have any trepidation approaching that subject – I mean, that's what you do, so is there a danger in overthinking it?
With Birdman, my character was outside the actor's mind really – she was just his daughter, not totally involved in that world. But with La La Land, I had a little more trepidation playing an actress in L.A. who was auditioning over and over, yeah. It's pretty close to my exact appearance when I first moved there. It was scary – like, is this going to be too much? But then it quickly became fun because we were all sharing horror stories and dramatizing our little traumatic auditions.
When Mia finally gets the chance to have that big break, though, did you feel the need to pull any memories from your own career?
It didn't directly remind me of any single audition I went on where I was, "Wow, that might be the one!" But what it did remind me of was the casting director who put me in Superbad, Allison [Jones]. She just had a feeling about me, and she kept bringing me in for things over three years.
If it weren't for her, I don't know what would've happened. But the audition for Superbad was pretty different than here – I wasn't singing a ballad, but, well, there was improvising with Jonah [Hill]. I guess that's kind of similar.
You have experience on Broadway with Cabaret, but here with Ryan Gosling, the performances seem very raw, almost intentionally so, maybe to reflect that these are characters who are still working their way up in the industry. How closely did you work with [choreographer] Mandy Moore on that?
No, we were really trying our best! Well, Damien said from the beginning that none of this needs to be perfect, that he likes flubs, and that when you miss a note or a step it feels more natural. But I think Ryan and I were both working our asses off. That's why in the [song] City of Stars I laugh a little, because I was really going for it and still missing notes.
It's interesting that this movie is being marketed as a return of the musical, but do you think that the genre has fallen off? There seems to always be a few successes a year.
I don't think musicals have gone anywhere: Les Mis, Into the Woods, Chicago … But what I do think there's been is a fear about original musicals, because those aren't tried and tested with a built-in fan base. Though that's the fear in every genre, let's be honest. It's scary to make original films. The money that goes into it, what could happen to a studio or filmmaker if it's made over a certain budget and fails … I understand there are people who need to make decisions on safe bets. But I know that Damien tried to get this movie made for five years and no one would make it. It was only after Whiplash that Lionsgate was like, get over here! He had been through a lot of rejection, and even says he made Whiplash so he could make La La Land. Which seems like it was a pretty good senior thesis.
The fact that he had to make a low-budget movie that went on to sweep the industry and win Oscars, and that's the only reason he could push an original idea through the door …
Yeah, but now I'm fascinated to see what he makes after this. And I do understand to a point that it's scary. It's a lot of money, a lot of pressure, for places to take chances that way. But thank God they did on this one.
It reminds me of what Tom Hanks said recently in Telluride about La La Land …
I'm basically paraphrasing what Tom Hanks said, yeah.
It seemed a bit pessimistic to me, him saying, if audiences don't embrace this, we're all doomed.
I don't even see what he was saying as pessimistic. He was being hyperbolic, maybe, but what I think, again, I do understand that mentality. But it is amazing when people take a chance on anything. It goes back to Superbad. I had no credits, and they took a chance on me. And that's just me as an actor, not making an entire movie. But those kinds of chances can change things for so many people, or for Damien. He's had this movie in his heart the whole time. I believe in taking those chances, but I don't know if I feel pessimistic, because these things do come out. After someone makes Whiplash, of course.
Your next project is Battle of the Sexes, playing tennis star Billie Jean King – your first time playing a real-life figure. How much responsibility did you feel toward her?
It was a fascinating balance for me internally, in terms of how much I was researching footage of her and how much I was asking her questions now, with the hindsight she has. It's funny, her voice was so different back then, and I was like, "I'm really working on your voice." And she's just, "Why? We have the same voice! What are you talking about?" "Well, now we do, but back then you were so soft-spoken." And she says, "Well, I had to be, they weren't going to listen to a woman who was speaking in that loud, outspoken way so I had to pull back." "Exactly, that's why I'm working on your voice!" It was incredibly daunting, as she's the first person I've ever played, and is such an icon.
And a living icon, too.
Yes, someone I can text!
This interview has been edited and condensed. La La Land opens Dec. 25.