However, after just one meeting with 32-year-old Damien Chazelle, the rising writer and director of La La Land, Wasco agreed to the film before even seeing Chazelle’s first hit, Whiplash. While about a third of La La Land sets were constructed, every real-life location was touched or controlled in a way. In fact, inspired by backdrop paintings in Mary Poppins, Wasco and his team tracked down the painter to emulate the effect for La La Land. Likewise, La La Land possesses the same self-awareness as a musical because, well, it's a movie-musical. Thus, the magic of La La Land is that it transports viewers to a timeless era—one that's so convincingly vintage-Hollywood that we often forget the story takes place in the 21st century.

Source: Forbes January 26, 2017 23:09 UTC