Damien Chazelle, who wrote and directed the 2016 hit musical La La Land, is again tackling an L.A. story, which this time is set in the 1920s.
Chazelle penned the screenplay and is attached to helm Babylon, which is intended to be his next film and is making the rounds to studios and streaming companies. The project generated immediate interest from Lionsgate, Paramount and Netflix, among others, when it hit the town over a month ago, but coming to any deal has been slow going. Those in the know have described the Babylon script as being a whopping 180 pages long and the project as having a budget in the $80 million-$100 million range.
Marc Platt, who produced La La Land, is one of the producers on Babylon, as is Olivia Hamilton, Matthew Plouffe and Tobey Maguire.
Details surrounding Babylon are scarce, but the story is said to be set during the movie industry’s transition from silent films to talkies. The rise and fall of fictional and historical characters figure into the proceedings.
One of the characters featured is Clara Bow, the early sex symbol and box office star who was Hollywood’s first “it” girl. Chazelle’s La La Land star Emma Stone has been loosely attached to portray the character, but no formal deal has been made for her involvement at this stage.
Chazelle directed last year’s Neil Armstrong biopic First Man, which reunited him with La La Land star Ryan Gosling and grossed $105 million worldwide.
La La Land, which claimed $446 million globally, was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six, including one for Chazelle’s helming achievement (he became the youngest winner of a best director Oscar) and one for Stone’s performance.
