Damien Chazelle, who won the 2016 Best Director Oscar for the musical La La Land, is the youngest ever (only 32) filmmaker to be honored in this category by the Academy.
Chazelle had been obsessed for years over the details of making his contemporary musical, La La Land.
Casting
“The most difficult parts to cast were the smallest parts,” he said at the Nominees panel at the Directors Guild of America Theatre. “There really are no small parts because one small thing can throw the whole tone out the window. We spent so long listening to voices.”
Chazelle was joined in an informed discussion by “Lion” director Garth Davis, “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins, “Manchester by the Sea” director Kenneth Lonergan and “Arrival” director Denis Villeneuve.
The DGA presented its best feature film director award Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton.
“It was much more important to me that they look the part and act the part,” he added. “So we went for a real mix of acting style, dancing styles and looks. We were looking actors who could dance a little, and dancers would could act a little — those worlds don’t overlap as much as they used to.”
Chazelle noted that the singing needed to be conversational from stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling on down. “It had to feel like singing but not singing. We were working on that all the way into the last days of mix,” he added.
“La La Land,” which was nominated for a record-tying 14 Oscar Awards, was shot in 70 different sites in Los Angeles, mostly on locations rather than on studio backlots. Locking down the space for a night-time swimming pool scene was particularly challenging.
“Each time we would book, the neighborhood would reconsider. So one or two nights a week, we would have to scout again,” Chazelle said.