La La Land: The Actor’s Choice

How do two award-winning actors make a good scene? In the movie La La Land, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling do exceptional work in showing the subtleties in a scene. Stone and Gosling show more complex emotional strains as their characters face more complicated situations. 

La La Land is a love story between Mia and Sebastian. They are both artists following their dreams: Mia an actor, and Sebastian a jazz pianist. They fall in love and want a life together, but quickly realize they need to let each other go to follow their dreams. 

Near the end of the film, Sebastian and Mia choose to part ways. While they are broken up, Sebastian goes to Mia's house to tell her that a casting director is finally looking at her after all the rejections she has gotten in the past. Sebastian shows up unannounced and tries to convince her to go to the audition with the casting director even though she has given up. 

Gosling comes into this scene enthusiastic while Stone is reserved. Mia asks in a monotone, tired voice, “Why did you come here?” while Sebastian comes in big and enthusiastic, pushing the words out, telling Mia, “Amy Brant, the casting director, she was at your play, and she loved it.” Gosling leans in, eyebrows raised. This makes his character more intriguing; he has big news and wants his co-star interested in what he has to say. On the other hand, Stone’s character, Mia, is tired and wants to escape the disappointment of not following her dream, but Stone also shows that Mia still wants to be an actor. To show Mia’s conflicting emotions of internal excitement and external rejection, Stone uses her eyes. While Sebastian tries to share the good news, Stone chooses not to blink, showing interest and unease about what to decide. Stone looks up at Gosling with a soft expression, as if she could cry at any second. Mia wants to become an actress but believes she does not have a chance after not getting anything for six years.

Mia responds to Sebastian's news about Amy Brant wanting her to audition for an upcoming movie by saying, “I’m not going to that.” Stone refuses to make eye contact as she squirms around and stares into the distance. 

When people are thinking or telling a story, they usually stare off somewhere to replay events in their head. People need to focus on their memory when telling a story. The best way to remember events is not to focus on what you are seeing but on what your brain is replaying, which causes you to stare off into nowhere. By looking off, Stone shows that Mia is thinking about the audition, but it conflicts with the fact that she answers quickly. Mia wants to go to the audition, but she isn't confident and prepares for disappointment. 

Gosling, seeing Stone's conflicting emotions, chooses to yell, “What, no!”  This takes the pressure off the scene for a second, showing the characters come back to life and out of their sadness. Gosling’s character cares about Mia and wants her to follow her dreams. Through Sebastian, Gosling uses his enthusiasm to distract Stone from falling into a sad state by yelling.

Mia starts to get frustrated with Sebastian, telling him, “I’ve been to a million auditions, and the same thing happens every time.” Stone keeps her eyes open and eyebrows up, leaning forward, and as she runs through past situations, she looks off once again, showing the frustration in her body language. As Stone leans forward, eyes wide, she conveys a defensive mix of frustration, irritation, and sadness. Stone looks off to show her character reliving the moments she explains to Sebastian. Her body language shows how defensive and frustrated the past is and how it influences her decisions now. 

La La Land makes subtle choices to show the conflict within their characters. Stone stays reserved on the outside, yet inside she shows conflicting emotions of denial and hope. Gosling pushes back against Stone's denial by enthusiastically urging her to go back to her dream. Both actors fought in this scene, not necessarily with each other, but with their conflicting emotions.