Damien Chazelle, an Oscar nominee for "Whiplash," will direct the film based on his own screenplay. Ryan Gosling is also circling the project, according to Deadline.com.
TheWrap describes the film as "a two-hander that follows a pair of dreamers--aspiring actress Mia, who’s lonely desperate to fit in, and cocky yet charismatic jazz pianist Sebastian--who fall in love in Los Angeles. However, the city that brought them together may tear them apart, as they soon discover that balancing love and art in such a cutthroat climate isn’t easy."
Composer Justin Hurwitz ("Whiplash") will likely again join forces with Chazelle for the song-and-dance romance.
In his "lookbook" for "La La Land," Chazelle's Director’s Statement explains, "I’d like to make a contemporary musical about L.A., starting with the L.A. we know but slowly building to a vision of the city as romantic metropolis--one that is actually worthy of the dreams it inspires. I’d like to make a musical about the way L.A.’s peculiar rhythms can push its residents to the edge of their emotions--be they hope, desperation or love. Think the kind of teetering-toward-madness you see in 'The Graduate' or 'Boogie Nights,' and imagine if you were to push that further. In this case, the city pushes its residents all the way: it pushes them into song."
