Ryan Gosling tells Attitude filming 'La La Land' helped him to 'open up more'

As the world goes gaga for La La Land, we’ve caught up with the film’s star Ryan Gosling to get the inside scoop on the romantic musical spectacular, which cleaned up at the Golden Globes last weekend and look set to do the same at next month’s Academy Awards.

The interview features in our 68-page travel guide ‘Made in LA: 101 things we love about Los Angeles’, supported by DiscoverLosAngeles, which comes free with Attitude’s February issue – available to download and in shops now.

With top tips and interviews with everyone from Davey Wavey to the brilliant folks at the LA LGBT center, you’ll know the City of Angels inside out before you’ve even touched down – and after watching La La Land, you’ll be gagging to get there. Over to Ryan…

Do you think the film captures some of that old Hollywood musical spirit?

I’m a big fan of musicals, and Damien (Chazelle, the director) is a serious student of the genre; his ambition was to capture the spirit of those movies and also pay homage to the city of Los Angeles. There’s a sense of heightened romanticism to the relationship between the characters and you really feel that Damien has created this wonderful feeling of nostalgia in the way he tells the story. That’s part of the inherent beauty of the musical genre, because you can combine both fantasy and an underlying drama that is going to touch people.

Everyone is very impressed with your song and dance work in the film. You have an early background as a dancer growing up in Ontario (Canada), don’t you?

I had taken a lot of dance classes as a kid because it was a great escape from school, where I kept getting into trouble and did badly in my classes. I went to the Top Hat Dance School in Cornwall, where I grew up, and also to the Elite Dance Studio in Ottawa. Dancing helped give me a lot of self-confidence and it was a great way for me to feel creative and get to express myself.

Did you feel that you were getting caught up in the spirit or nostalgia of La La Land while you were shooting it?

Oh, I had a lot of fun making it. I’m very excited about people getting to see it. Most of the time I’m playing brooding or very troubled, quiet kinds of guys. I often take my work and myself too seriously, so getting to do this film and Nice Guys [his previous movie co-starring Russell Crowe] was a great way for me to be able to get to talk a lot, open up more, and make people laugh and enjoy themselves.

‘Made in LA: 101 things we love about Los Angeles, supported by DiscoverLosAngeles‘ is free with Attitude’s February issue, available to download and in shops now.

Download an individual copy instantly and free at pocketmags.com.

For more information about Los Angeles, visit discoverlosangeles.com

Ryan Gosling tells Attitude filming ‘La La Land’ helped him to ‘open up more’

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