Emma Stone: “Comedy Saved Me as a Kid” | Actress Oscar Roundtable

“I wanted to do theater, I thought that would be what I would do. I wasn’t the most excellent singer or dancer in the world, so it’s funny to be here talking about a musical,” Emma Stone told The Hollywood Reporter during the Actress Oscar Roundtable about the Damien Chazelle musical feature film, La La Land.

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“Ryan [Gosling] and I both developed the characters with Damien [Chazelle] for a long time before we shot, because they were originally written people younger than us, and we were sort of able to change what was driving these two people to stay in this town where their dreams had been crushed again and again and they were on the edge of giving us,” said Stone, who scored her first Oscar nomination for Inarritu’s best picture Birdman, in regards to her involvement with La La Land‘s development.

More roundtables featuring actors, screenwriters, songwriters, documentarians, directors, composers and producers will continue throughout February in print and online. Tune in to new episodes of Close Up With ‘The Hollywood Reporter’ starting Jan. 15 on Sundance TV, and look for clips at THR.com/topic/roundtables with full episodes on THR.com after broadcast.