Ten years have passed since Damien Chazelle's La La Land first dazzled audiences at the Venice Film Festival. The musical romance, starring Emma Stone as aspiring actress Mia and Ryan Gosling as jazz musician Sebastian, became one of the defining films of the 2016 awards season, competing against the likes of Moonlight, Arrival and Manchester by the Sea.
That awards season is remembered for its infamous envelope mishap, but the film's journey from festival favourite to near-historic Oscar sweep is a fascinating study in how a heralded movie can be received once it becomes too acclaimed.
From Venice premiere to record nominations
Premiering at the Venice Film Festival on August 31, 2016, La La Land was Chazelle's follow-up to his 2014 film Whiplash. Written by Chazelle in 2010 while he was struggling to break into Hollywood, the film was designed as an ode to dreamers pursuing showbiz careers in Los Angeles.
Following the critical and commercial success of Whiplash, which earned five Oscar nominations including best picture, all eyes were on Chazelle's next project. The adoration was immediate after the first screening, with Oscar glory quickly predicted. Variety critic Owen Gleiberman called the opening one-shot sequence on the freeway 'one of the most extraordinary sequences in years.'
The film continued its rollout across autumn festivals, gathering more praise before its wider cinema release from December 2016. It grossed nearly $450million (£332.5million) worldwide during its original theatrical run and held a 91% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
At the Baftas, La La Land received 11 nominations, more than any other film that year. At the Academy Awards, it scored 14 nominations, tying the record for most nominations by a single film with All About Eve and Titanic. It also won all seven of its Golden Globe nominations.
The backlash and the Oscars night
As with any frontrunner, backlash soon followed. Criticism pointed towards Seb's arrogance in his endless 'jazzsplaining', with Ira Madison II at MTV News writing: "If you're gonna make a film about an artist staying true to the roots of jazz against the odds and against modern reinventions of the genre, you'd think that artist would be black."
Morgan Lewis of the LA Review of Books wrote that despite the film being a two-hander between its male and female leads, 'Sebastian's drive and dedication are more textured than Mia's, and it is his melody that recurs through the film to denote particularly important moments in their relationship.'
On the night of the 89th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on February 26, 2017, La La Land was doing well. Emma Stone won best actress, and Chazelle became the youngest filmmaker to win best director at age 32.
Then came the best picture announcement. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway took the stage, and Dunaway announced La La Land as the winner. As the La La Land team celebrated, Beatty looked confused. Jordon Horowitz grabbed the microphone and said: 'Guys, there's a mistake. Moonlight, you guys won Best Picture.'
Beatty and Dunaway had been given a copy of Stone's best actress envelope by mistake. The moment is now considered one of the greatest Oscar blunders of all time, with Barry Jenkins and his Moonlight team taking the top prize.
A decade later: 'La La Hand' resolved
Looking back, La La Land losing best picture may have been the best thing for it. Moonlight was more of an underdog in the narrative, and its recognition by the Academy was heartening, particularly after the #OscarsSoWhite controversy.
If La La Land had won, it might have been seen as a villain in Oscar conversations. Instead, the moment brought the film back down to earth and made it easier to appreciate on its own merits.
One piece of justice has come from a surprising place: the newly released posters for the 10th anniversary. The original poster shows Gosling and Stone performing the dance from A Lovely Night, with Stone's arm elegant and straight while Gosling's hand is bent. Gosling told The Wall Street Journal in 2024 that the poster 'haunts' him, saying: "We're dancing, Emma and I, and I didn't know this would become the poster for the movie. We were supposed to have…" He joked, 'It's just a lazy. I call it 'La La Hand.''
Lionsgate released a new poster to mark the film's return to the big screen, giving Gosling closure on a moment that haunted him for a decade. La La Land is currently playing in select cinemas for its 10th anniversary and is available to stream on Netflix and BBC iPlayer.
