More than a decade into her career, Emma Stone hasadopted a “no risk, no reward” attitude when it comes toselecting roles. “You have to be growing and that really onlycomes from taking risks” says the star, who reflected on herflourishing big-screen life when she sat down with Hello!Canada and at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Emma received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in La La Land
And with Oscar buzz mounting for her portrayal of struggling actress Mia in the modern-daymusical La La Land, it’s safe to say thather latest risk is paying off. Reminiscent of studio spectaculars from Hollywood’s Golden Era, the song-and-dance film sees Emma, 28, waltz her way into the heart of a stubborn jazz musician (played by Canada's own Ryan Gosling). The duo tap into theirpalpable chemistry (established on previous collaborationsCrazy, Stupid, Love and Gangster Squad) to transport audiencesinto a dreamlike world where anything seems possible.
La La Land is Ryan and Emma's third film together
Here, the star opens up about her Canadian co-star,saying yes to La La Land and cringe-worthy auditions.
Emma, you and Ryan seem to be such a natural fit onscreen.What makes you so compatible? We’ve been asked to improvise in most of the things that we’ve done, and we were askedto do that in our first audition together. It sort of brings youtogether in a way. You get to know each other quickly whenyou have to go off what each of us is throwing out there. Nowit’s just nice because we’ve known each other for a long time.It makes it easier when you work with anyone multiple times.
What was your reaction when director Damien Chazellepresented the role to you? I was singing and dancingeach night in Cabaret in New York when I met Damien.He was very patient with me throughout that process because I was very sick. And I was like [in a deep voice], “Amusical? What do you mean a musical?” [Laughs] I asked him so many questions like, “What’s thetone? What’s it going to look like?” But itwas exciting from the very beginning,just the idea of an original musical thattakes place in modern day but feels likean old MGM CinemaScope film.
Emma revealed that despite her success she still auditions for roles.
Could you relate to Mia’s struggle with bad auditions? Yeah. When you feel dismissed so early on or people reallydon’t pay attention to you. And when you go in andthey’re like “OK, we only need you to read half the scene– thanks for coming in.” Those four words “thanks forcoming in” mean it’s never going to happen. It’s whatyou dread hearing at the end of an audition.
Do you still have to audition for roles? I auditioned thisyear for the Yorgos Lanthimos movie I’m going to do!The character is British and he wanted to hear it. So Iworked with a dialect coach for a while and did, like, anhour audition with him!
