CHINAEUROPE AFRICAASIA 中文双语Français
Culture\Tops News

Chazelle becomes youngest directing Oscar winner for 'La La Land'

Updated: 2017-02-27 13:44

Chazelle becomes youngest directing Oscar winner for 'La La Land'

Damien Chazelle and Olivia Hamilton arrive at the 89th Academy Awards. [Photo/Agencies]

Damien Chazelle became the youngest ever winner of a best directing Oscar on Sunday after picking up the prize for his third feature film, musical La La Land.

It was the first Academy Award for Chazelle, 32, who was the favorite going into Sunday's ceremony after winning Directors Guild and Golden Globe awards earlier this year.

La La Land, a contemporary original musical, is set in Los Angeles and stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as an aspiring actress and a tortured jazz musician who fall in love.

Chazelle thanked his girlfriend, actress Olivia Hamilton, while accepting his statuette.

"This was a movie about love and I was lucky enough to fall in love while making it," he said.

It took six years for Chazelle to find a studio willing to finance and take a gamble on La La Land, which was conceived as a modern take on 1940s and 1950s Hollywood musicals. He also wrote the screenplay.

In 2015, Chazelle was nominated for a best adapted screenplay Oscar for his breakout film Whiplash, about a young jazz drummer. That success helped catapult La La Land into production.

Chazelle started out as a jazz drummer at high school but later studied film at Harvard University.

He took the Oscar on Sunday over a field that included Denis Villeneuve for Arrival, Mel Gibson for Hacksaw Ridge, Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea, and Barry Jenkins for Moonlight.

Reuters

Related:

Stars shimmer on Oscar red carpet as diamonds and gold have their day

How Oscar nominees perform in China

'Moonlight' wins Best Picture at 89th Academy Awards

BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US