The romantic movie musical La La Land has become a runaway success and Oscar favorite. But while both Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling took home Golden Globes for their lead performances as the lovestruck couple pursuing their dreams, they weren’t always the actors chosen to play the ambitious duo—or at least, not according to a spoof on The Ellen Show.
“It turns out Emma Stone was not their first choice,” the comedian deadpanned on her show, cutting to an alternative trailer featuring herself playing the lead female role, Mia.
“When we were casting up the movie, part of the appeal to me was that, you know they’re going to be a couple,” director Damien Chazelle explains in the clip. “You can see them and imagine them together.” Cue Gosling sweeping DeGeneres up into his arms.
“You have two actors who have an onscreen chemistry that I think is one for the ages,” adds producer Marc Platt. Flash to Gosling barely concealing his laughter as DeGeneres gives him a chaste kiss on the cheek, and DeGeneres hamming it up for the cameras in a full wig.
Watch above.
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