“ The go-to reflex all over Hollywood is still likeability. I've always had a problem with it because I think I have a weird barometer in the sense that some of the characters I've cared about the most… Damien Chazelle
“ The greatest thing has been that projects that were pipe dreams before 'Whiplash' are now feeling more realistic. Damien Chazelle
“ I love movies where you can sense that the director risked biting off more than they can chew. Damien Chazelle
“ I find L.A. kind of romantic, actually. As a movie junkie, it's a city that was built by the movies. There's something really weird and surreal about it that I find energizing. Damien Chazelle
“ When someone is playing drums, they aren't actually moving around a space; they're just moving their arms and limbs. They're stuck behind the drum set. So to film someone playing the drums and make it… Damien Chazelle
“ I like movies that are specific. Movies that home in on a very specific subculture, a specific discipline, a specific world. Damien Chazelle
“ It's interesting when you wind up distilling all your ambitions and your goals and dreams into one single person. It's giving that person a lot of power. Damien Chazelle
“ 'La La Land' is about the city I live in. It's about the music that I grew up playing it's about movies that I grew up watching. Even the big spectacle of the movie feels private to me in that way. Damien Chazelle
“ There something to be said for having even unrealistic dreams. Even if the dreams don't come true - that, to me, is what's beautiful about Los Angeles. It's full of these people who have moved there t… Damien Chazelle
“ FLETCHER: The truth is I don’t think people understand what it is I did at Shaffer. I wasn’t there to conduct. Any idiot can move his hands and keep people in tempo. No, it’s about pushing people beyo… Damien Chazelle
“ ANDREW: But do you think there’s a line? You know, where you discourage the next Charlie Parker from becoming Charlie Parker?FLETCHER: No. Because the next Charlie Parker would never be discouraged. Damien Chazelle
