History Trivia / LaLaLand

* ActorSharedBackground: Mia is a college dropout who moved to LA to become an actress. Creator/EmmaStone herself dropped out of school to move to LA and pursue an acting career. Though she dropped out of ''high school'' at the age of fifteen.
* CreatorCouple: The woman who asks for a refund given her snack wasn't gluten free is Olivia Hamilton, wife of director Damien Chazelle.

* DoingItForTheArt: Creator/RyanGosling had to learn the piano to properly mimic the previously recorded keyboard track, while John Legend, who is a pianist in real life, had to learn another instrument as his character plays guitar.

* ReferencedBy: Canadian figure skater Nam Nguyen performed to the ''La La Land'' soundtrack for [[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6xdbia his long program]] during the 2018-2019 competitive season.

* BigNameFan: Creator/HideoKojima ''loves'' this film so much that he wrote a [[http://www.glixel.com/news/read-hideo-kojimas-love-letter-to-la-la-land-w461525 love letter]] for this film.

* ActorAllusion:
** Sebastian tells his sister he'll set her up with a man who has a face tattoo. Ryan Gosling sported a face tattoo in ''Film/ThePlaceBeyondThePines''.
** Mia says she could have been a lawyer. Emma Stone played a law school graduate in ''Film/CrazyStupidLove''.
** [[spoiler: Mia's husband]] played by Creator/TomEverettScott, pulls her into a jazz bar [[spoiler: that belongs to Sebastian]]. Everett Scott played a jazz-loving drummer in ''Film/ThatThingYouDo''.

* ActorSharedBackground: Mia is a college dropout who moved to LA to become an actress. Emma Stone herself dropped out of school to move to LA and pursue an acting career. Though she dropped out of ''high school'' at the age of fifteen.

* CastingGag: Damien Chazelle again casts Creator/JKSimmons as a mean character - only while in ''Film/{{Whiplash}}'' he was a jazz maniac, here he's a jazz hater.
* DoingItForTheArt: Ryan Gosling had to learn the piano to properly mimic the previously recorded keyboard track, while John Legend, who is a pianist in real life, had to learn another instrument as his character plays guitar.
* NonSingingVoice: An instrumental version, as with Miles Teller in Film/{{Whiplash}}. No TalentDouble is used for Seb, but Ryan Gosling isn't playing the music that we hear in the film.
* RealLifeRelative: The woman who asks for a refund given her snack wasn't gluten free is Olivia Hamilton, wife of director Damien Chazelle.
** His sister was also a dancer in the opening sequence.
* RealitySubtext: Emma Stone was cast as Mia after Damien Chazelle saw her on the stage in a production of ''{{Theatre/Cabaret}}''. [[spoiler: This parallels how Mia gets a big acting opportunity after a casting director sees her play]].

* ThoseTwoActors: This is the third time, following ''Film/CrazyStupidLove'' and ''Film/GangsterSquad'', where Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone work together. All three are set in Los Angeles and feature their characters hooking up.

** "LA - where they worship everything and value nothing" was an ad-lib by Ryan Gosling, after he heard Creator/EvaMendes say it one day.
** Emma Stone originally only wore the yellow dress as a stand-in for rehearsals. Emma liked it so much she asked to wear it in the film.

* CastingGag: Damien Chazelle again casts J.K. Simmons as a mean character - only while in ''Film/{{Whiplash}}'' he was a jazz maniac, here he's a jazz hater.

* ActorInspiredElement: The audition scene, where the casting director interrupts Mia's emotional performance to take a phone call, was actually inspired by one of Creator/RyanGosling's auditions in real life.

** [[spoiler: Mia's husband]] played by Tom Everett Scott, pulls her into a jazz bar [[spoiler: that belongs to Sebastian]]. Everett Scott played a jazz-loving drummer in ''Film/ThatThingYouDo''.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/MilesTeller and Creator/EmmaWatson were originally going to play Sebastian and Mia, but their respective commitments to do ''Bleed for This'' and ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017'' prevented them to do so (though Teller said in a summer 2015 interview with ''Esquire'' that his agent told him that he was no longer creatively right for the project, despite him interested in working with Damien Chazelle again after doing ''Film/{{Whiplash}}'' as said by Chazelle in a January 2017 interview with ''Uproxx''). The characters were originally younger before Chazelle aged them up when Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were cast.
* On the other side of things, Gosling turned down the role of the beast in Beauty and the Beast because of this project.

On the other side of things, Gosling turned down the role of the beast in Beauty and the Beast because of this project.

* BigNameFan: Creator/HideoKojima ''love'' this film so much that he made a [[http://www.glixel.com/news/read-hideo-kojimas-love-letter-to-la-la-land-w461525 love letter]] for this film.

** [[spoiler: Mia's husband]] played by John Everett Scott, pulls her into a jazz bar [[spoiler: that belongs to Sebastian]]. Tom Everett Scott played a jazz-loving drummer in ''Film/ThatThingYouDo''.

* DoingItForTheArt: Ryan Gosling had to learn the piano to properly mimic the previously recorded keyboard track, while Music/JohnLegend, who is a pianist in real life, had to learn another instrument as his character plays guitar.

* ActorInspiredElement: The audition scene, where the casting director interrupts Mia's emotional performance to take a phone call, was actually inspired by one of Ryan Gosling's auditions in real life.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Miles Teller and Emma Watson were originally going to play Sebastian and Mia, but their respective commitments to do ''Bleed for This'' and ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017'' prevented them to do so (though Teller said in a summer 2015 interview with ''Esquire'' that his agent told him that he was no longer creatively right for the project, despite him interested in working with Damien Chazelle again after doing ''Film/{{Whiplash}}'' as said by Chazelle in a January 2017 interview with ''Uproxx''). The characters were originally younger before Chazelle aged them up when Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were cast.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Miles Teller and Emma Watson were originally going to play Sebastian and Mia, but their respective commitments to do ''Bleed for This'' and ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017'' prevented them to do so. The characters were originally younger before Chazelle aged them up when Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were cast.

* GenreRelaunch: Judging from the glowing critical and audience reception (the film currently holds a 95% critics rating and a 90% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes), the film seems to be this for the musical genre after having been in stasis after ''Film/LesMiserables2012''.

* AuthorAppeal: Sebastian's zealous love of jazz doubtlessly comes from Creator/DamienChazelle's own background as a jazz musician. Several of his lines on the history and passion of jazz come across as [[AuthorTract Author Tracts]] because of this.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Miles Teller and Emma Watson were originally going to play Sebastian and Mia, but their respective commitments to do ''Bleed for This'' and ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017'' prevented them to do so. The characters were originally younger before Chazelle aged them up when Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were cast.

* AuthorAppeal: Sebastian's zealous love of jazz doubtlessly comes from Creator/DamienChazelle's own background as a jazz musician. Several of his lines on the history and passion of jazz come across as AuthorTracts because of this.

* GenreRelaunch: Judging from the glowing critical and audience reception (the film currently holds a 95% critics rating and a 90% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes), the film seems to be this for the musical genre after having been in stasis after ''Film/LesMiserables2012''.

* GenreRelaunch: Judging from the glowing critical and audience reception (the film currently holds a 95% critics rating and a %90 audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes), the film seems to be this for the musical genre after having been in stasis after ''Film/LesMiserables2012''.