The Hollywood Foreign Press Association held its grants banquet in Beverly Hills last night and there were some big names who showed up in the name of charity but with the side benefit (or maybe main benefit) of Golden Globes. Come on, now. Please don’t try to tell me that you’re unfamiliar with how celebrities suck up to the HFPA. And how the HFPA is susceptible to being sucked up to.
Emma’s next film is La La Land. It will open the Venice Film Festival at the end of the month before screening at TIFF in September. La La Land will be released in theatres in December, which means the studio is hoping that it will be a contender during award season on the strength of its two leads, Emma and Ryan Gosling, and director Damien Chazelle whose last film, Whiplash, won 3 Oscars and was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
If La La Land is well-received at the festivals, it will build early momentum going into the fall before it hits theatres. Two years ago, Emma Stone was in another film that opened the Venice Film Festival: Birdman. Birdman went on to win Best Picture. I’m not sure that’s going to happen with La La Land. But the point is Emma Stone keeps getting closer and closer to her own Oscar.
