What Happened to the La La Land Cast 10 Years Later
This will be alarming for some to read, but it’s been a decade since La La Land opened the Venice Film Festival by blasting away the audience with the all-mighty sugar rush of 'Another Day of Sun'.
As you won’t need reminding, the movie went on to become a box-office sensation and almost won Best Picture at the Oscars. In fact, if Letterboxd ratings are anything to go by, it is already considered by many to be a low key modern classic.
Before the infamous envelope confusion, the movie did manage to convert six of its then record-equaling 14 nominations that night, including a first Best Actress win for Emma Stone and a second nod for Ryan Gosling — but strangely enough, the two stars' career paths have more or less switched around since then.
In the list below, we’ll go a little deeper into how and why that happened and look at what the rest of the La La Land cast have been up to in the ten years since.
Emma Stone
Starting at the top, Emma Stone came into Damien Chazelle’s movie as the closest thing audiences had seen to a Millennial version of “America’s sweetheart” — a moniker held by the likes of Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts in the 1990s, but which naturally had gone a little out of fashion.
Stone broke out as a comedy star thanks to Superbad and spent the next few years honing those talents in movies like Easy A, Zombieland, The Amazing Spider-Man and Crazy Stupid Love. A supporting turn in the Best Picture-winning Birdman suggested that she was fishing for more meaty work, at which point Chazelle came along to get the Crazy Stupid band back together in his musical sensation.
After her Oscar win, the smart money would have been on Stone becoming the Hollywood leading lady of the 2010s, but aside from starring in Cruella, the actress’ career choices have been consistently and admirably off beat — a run defined by her artistic partnership with Yorgos Lanthimos, with whom she’s made two shorts and four features, including her second Oscar win for Poor Things.
You can also catch her in Ari Astor’s Eddington and Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s excellent series The Curse, which Stone also produced.
Ryan Gosling
It’s strange when you think about it, but Ryan Gosling kind of did things the other way around. Sure, the Canadian heartthrob started his career on the Disney channel, but he remained a resolutely indie-focused actor (The Notebook aside) right up until the release of La La Land, scoring a an Oscar nom for Half Helson (which I adore) while helping to turn auteur movies like Drive into cult hits.
Since La La Land, however, Gosling's career has significantly shifted. Of course, he reunited with Chazelle for the ace Neil Armstrong biopic First Man, but practically every movie he’s made in the last 10 years has cost upwards of $100M.
This list includes auteur blockbusters like Barbie, Project Hail Mary and Blade Runner 2049, but the projects only seems to be getting bigger and more mainstream. Gosling, who has stated in interviews that he want to make large canvas movies that his kids can enjoy, currently has two upcoming projects in development — Star Wars: Starfighter and the MCU's reboot of Ghost Rider. Movie stars currently don't get much bigger than him.
John Legend
With its iconic California locations and musical numbers, La La Land feels so expansive at times that you almost forget that it’s really a Stone/Gosling two-hander. There are, of course, a few supporting players, chief among them the hugely successful pianist John Legend — who plays Keith, Seb’s sometimes rival and sometimes boss.
Acting has always been more of a side project for Legend, of course, who continues to have an enormous career in the music business and even managed to complete his EGOT in 2018 after producing Jesus Christ Superstar. Acting wise, Legend’s kept things pretty low key, with cameos as himself in The Simpsons and Coming 2 America probably the most high profile of his screen appearances.
He is, however, currently shooting The Road Home, a new biopic on Harry Belafonte that’s being directed by Bill Condon — the well-known screenwriter of The Greatest Showman and Chicago.
Rosemarie DeWitt
In La La Land, Seb’s sister is played by Rosemarie DeWitt, an actress who has been beloved by indie movie fans ever since an early run of movies that included Rachel Getting Married, Your Sister's Sister and Touchy Feely — not to mention her performance as Don’s artsy girlfriend, Midge Daniels, in Mad Men.
Since La La Land, DeWitt’s probably best known for her work on the small screen, with side roles in streaming giants like The Boys, And Just Like That… and Black Mirror coming alongside her usual low key indie work.
Callie Hernandez, Sonoya Mizuno and Jessica Rothe
For Mia’s three housemates, Chazelle cast the relatively unknown actresses Callie Hernandez, Sonoya Mizuno and Jessica Rothe, all three of whom have established themselves in the industry in different ways in the years since.
Rothe has probably had the most visible career, thanks largely to her lead role in the Happy Death Day movies, which made her something of a scream queen in the late 2010s.
Mizuno isn’t too far behind her, especially now that Mysaria, her character in House of the Dragon, has become so central in that show in Season 3. Outside of that, Mizuno has kept a steady working relationship with Alex Garland — after appearing as Kyoko in Ex Machina, she played supporting parts in Annihilation, Men and Civil War and is said to be a part of his upcoming Elden Ring adaptation.
Outside of Alien: Covenant, Callie Hernandez has continued to be a rock at the heart of the independent scene, collaborating with Pete Ohs on multiple projects and writing and starring in the fascinating 2024 movie Invention.
J.K. Simmons
After winning an Oscar for Chazelle’s debut, Whiplash, there was no way J.K. Simmons wasn’t going to have some part to play in La La Land — and it was especially pleasing for fans to see him pop up in such a grumpy role. After those two collabs and all the awards he received, Simmons basically became one of the most prolific and beloved character actors in Hollywood.
In the years since, he returned to play J. Jonah Jameson for Spider-Man: Homecoming, was cast as Commissioner Gordon in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and voiced Omni-Man for four seasons and counting of Invincible. In Klaus and Red One, he played two very different versions of Santa, but the most impressive things are his numbers: across film, TV and voice roles, Simmons has added somewhere in the region of 60 credits to his IMDB list since La La Land was released.
Finn Wittrock
Finn Wittrock wasn’t a familiar name when he played Greg, Mia’s dull boyfriend at the beginning of La La Land, but since then he’s been a welcome presence in a number of popular shows and movies. Wittrock came into La La Land on the back of his role in Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story and he’s continued to be involved in multiple iterations of the show ever since.
In terms of big screen work, Wittrock is more likely to be found in supporting roles, as in the Oscar nominated If Beale Street Could Talk. He did, however, play the title role in the recent Hershey biopic. Yum.
