Emma Watson on why she turned down La La Land
Emma Watson was at one time attached to take the Emma Stone role in Damien Chazelle’s Oscar-winning (well, not that Oscar) ‘La La Land’.
But reports emerged that she was dropped from the movie due to ‘crazy demands’ she was said to have made, including having the rehearsals uprooted from the US to London.
Now, speaking to Entertainment Weekly, she’s not exactly extinguished said rumours, but perhaps reiterated that while she wanted to do the movie, her commitments were also with ‘Beauty and the Beast’.
“I knew I had horse training, I knew I had dancing, I knew I had three months of singing ahead of me, and I knew I had to be in London to really do that,” she said.
“And [Beauty And The Beast] wasn’t a movie I could just kind of parachute into.
“I knew I had to do the work, and I had to be where I had to be. So scheduling conflict-wise, it just didn’t work out.”
So while it sounds like the London rehearsals part of the story could be accurate, whether negotiations were conducted in a ‘demanding’ manner is not known, plus she’s said that she’s since seen the film and thought it was ‘wonderful’.
Watson wasn’t the only star to miss out on the movie – Miles Teller was also in the frame for a time too, to star opposite Watson.
Chazelle told Uproxx: “The casting of this movie during the six years it took to get made went through lots of permutations, and it’s true there was a moment where Emma Watson and Miles Teller were doing it.
“And neither of those casting things wound up lasting or working out. But it was part of the up and down of this movie: that we were about to make it, we were about to not make it, about to make it, about to not make it.”
Teller was less pleased about missing out, however, believing that it might have been something to do with his starring in more ‘crowd-pleasing’ movies like ‘Fantastic Four’ and ‘Insurgent’ over more Oscar-worthy material.
It was also said that he was offered $4 million for the role, but was demanding $6 million, according to insiders.
Teller told Esquire: “I got a call from my agent, saying, ‘Hey, I just got a call from Lionsgate. Damien told them that he no longer thinks you’re creatively right for the project. He’s moving on without you’.
“So I sent him a text: ‘What the f**k, bro?’”
Indeed.
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