'La La Hand:' Ryan Gosling Was Haunted by One Thing for 10 Years - And Now It’s Fixed
Soon, La La Land will be celebrating its tenth anniversary with an epic return to theatres, which makes us very happy and also feel very old.
But in a cheeky move, Lionsgate, who are never one to miss a meme, have issued a freshly-updated poster to complement the film’s next cinematic release. And needless to say, Ryan Gosling will now be able to sleep soundly at night…
What is La La Land?
La La Land is, in my opinion, one of the best movies of all time. Released in 2016, it tells the story of two dreamers: Mia (Emma Stone) and Sebastian (Gosling). Mia aspires to be an actress, while Sebastian dreams of being a jazz musician, and specifically, opening up his own jazz bar.
The pair find themselves crossing paths more than once. Their chemistry is palpable, and it isn’t too long before they find themselves romantically intertwined. However, things become difficult after Seb’s career takes off in ways neither of them expected, and as Mia continues to follow her passion for acting, the couple arrive at a crossroads: do they want to follow their dreams, or each other?
It’s a movie that asks some very difficult questions, like how much are you willing to sacrifice in order to follow your dreams, or whether it is truly possible to have it “all.” Directed by Damien Chazelle, the movie is beautifully shot with a vivid colour palette, and as a musical, it definitely has its fair share of certifiable bangers.
Now celebrating its tenth anniversary, the film was a huge success. It has received an absurd amount of accolades, including BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and Academy Awards. It was nominated for fourteen Oscars in total, and while it missed out on Best Picture in dramatic fashion, it remains highly regarded as one of the best films of all time.
What is Ryan Gosling's Problem With the Poster?
The poster is a shot from the tap dance sequence in the playful duet ‘A Lovely Night.’ In the poster, Stone and Gosling are facing each other as their hands are raised, performing the dance. It all looks perfect… apart from one irritating detail. One of Gosling’s hands is flat. The problem is that Stone’s hands and Gosling’s other hand are raised at an angle. The flat hand is a minor detail but, when noticed, it really messes with the symmetry,
The dreaded “La La Hand,” as Gosling called it, occurred for a pretty hilarious reason — the actor, who won a Golden Globe for his role as Seb, simply wanted to look cool while filming that iconic dance scene.
“We’re dancing, Emma and I, and I didn’t know this would become the poster for the movie. We were supposed to have our hands up, and I thought it would be cool to put my hand [flat] even though everyone told me it wasn’t cool. I was sure it was cooler,” Gosling told the Wall Street Journal. "Now when I look at it, and I have to see it all the time, you know what would’ve been cooler… [a symmetrical hand],” Gosling added. “It just killed the energy that way. I call it La La Hand.“
How Did Lionsgate Fix 'La La Hand'?
Previously, Gosling ‘fixed’ the problem himself by recreating the poster with Rocky as part of the promotional campaign for Project Hail Mary (another banger). At the time, in a behind-the-scenes video of the poster recreation, he said: “Here's my Hail Mary attempt to fix my La La Hand, and my buddy Rocky is going to help me.”
Now, to celebrate La La Land’s tenth birthday, Lionsgate have gone ahead and altered the poster so that Gosling’s previously-flat hand is now angled symmetrically. This has brought the decade-long saga to an end, to which I say: farewell, Ryan Gosling’s hand.
