FRED & GINGER TO WALL-E AND THE BEAST
CLASSICS, NOT-SO-CLASSICS INSPIRED ‘LA LA LAND’ DANCES
While watching the dance sequences in La La Land (expands nationwide Friday), Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers might come to mind. Astute viewers may also think of ... Wall-E? According to choreographer Mandy Moore (not the singer), who crafted the dance numbers for the movie starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as tapping, waltzing lovers, decades-old musicals and more recent animated movies all served as inspiration for the Damien Chazelle musical. USA TODAY’s Carly Mallenbaum rounds up Moore’s references for five La La Land routines. 1‘ ISN’T THIS A LOVELY DAY’ FROM ‘TOP HAT’
This routine from 1935’s Top Hat was the primary inspiration for a tap number that Stone and Gosling perform at sunset on a hill as they’re falling in love. In the original number, Astaire and Rogers flirt while effortlessly showcasing expert footwork. In order for a similarly styled routine to work for the La La Land actors, Moore knew she had to “instill a feel and love of learning dance” early on, so their movements weren’t mechanical. The sequence was shot in one take, just as in Top Hat, and featured many similar (though less challenging) taps and turns.
2WALL- E PROPELLED BY A FIRE EXTINGUISHER
In Disney/Pixar’s 2008 film Wall-E, the titular robot uses a fire extinguisher to propel him- self through outer space. For La
La Land’s floating waltz sequence that takes place in a planetarium, Chazelle wanted Gosling and Stone to look as if they were jetting through the air in a similar way. Wire work was required.
3BEAST AND BELLE DANCING
Another Disney movie that influenced the look of the waltz scene? 1991’s Beauty and the Beast. In the animated film, a waltz between the main characters is shown from what looks like a camera that flies above the twirling dancers and gets in close. Chazelle wanted similar sweeping movements and angles for his magical dance number.
4MARIA’S ACCESSORIZING IN ‘I FEEL PRETTY’
In the 1961 musical movie West
Side Story, Maria (Natalie Wood) playfully sings with her girlfriends as she puts on different accessories while getting ready to go out. In La La Land, Stone acts just like Wood as she reluctantly dresses to go to a party with her roommates. She sings, dances and even does a similar dressflinging move for the first part of the song Someone in the Crowd.
5‘ THE RICH MAN’S FRUG’
1969’s film version of Sweet Charity has a song called The Rich
Man’s Frug, which has a group of dancers performing at a VIP party in director Bob Fosse’s signature angular choreography. “Damien (Chazelle) loved the shapes of that time, and Fosse,” says Moore, so the second part of the Someone in the Crowd number has partygoers at a sceney L.A. soirée arching their backs and bending their arms in Fosselike sharp angles.