Damien Chazelle has certainly come on to my radar this year. Over the past several years he has written and directed a couple of my favorites, “Whiplash,” “10 Cloverfield Lane,” and “La La Land.” His characters and stories are wonderfully written, and his films have consistently kept me on the edge of my seat. There’s a special quality to them that’s rare in movies these days.

A couple questions from the interview:

“Why did you want to do a dream ballet, and what were you hoping to draw on?”

“Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are reminiscent of iconic screen pairings of the past. How did the fact that they have this chemistry that is well-known change your conception of the film and these characters?”

“Did you have any thoughts about audience fear of people breaking into song and why that might exist in this day and age?”

And the link to the interview: A.V. Club’s In-Depth Interview – Damien Chazelle