Damien Chazelle in Retrospect

With his latest film, the extraordinary FIRST MAN, set to open this week, it seems like the perfect time to walk down memory lane with Damien Chazelle, starting with my interview with him and composter Justin Hurwitz for LA LA LAND.  I was the first person to talk to them on their tour for the film that famously >didn’t< win Best Picture that year, but did garner Chaselle the Oscar for directing (the youngest person ever to receive that honor). Hurwitz won another for Best Score. Oh, and those kids Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling did okay, too.

LA LA LAND came up in my first interview with Chazelle, when I spoke to him for WHIPLASH,  In that interview, we talked passion, sweat, and blood on the drum set in a story of a musician’s obsessive quest for perfection.  Full review of FIRST MAN coming, but for now, enjoy a look back at the man who has now scored three out of three superb films without repeating himself.