By Erica Chayes Wida
There are a lot of class acts born and bred in Princeton. From those raised here to those who passed through or set up their home after falling in love with the town, Princeton has a brag-worthy list of notable characters., Filmmaker Damien Chazelle based his 2014 “Whiplash” on his Princeton High School jazz band. “La La Land,” his follow-up, is continuing his hot streak, having just won 14 Oscar nominations, tying the record previously set by “All About Eve” (1950) and “Titanic” (1997)., A starry-eyed musical, “La La Land,” stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, and is reminiscent of another time in Los Angeles: a time where the classics roamed, where movie sets were magic and so were Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. It holds a whimsical yet realistic depiction of pursuing one’s dreams, a feat Mr. Chazelle knows well., From a young age, Mr. Chazelle was interested in movies (then on VHS) and filmmaking (then with a camcorder). His family moved to Princeton in 1986 when he was 1 year old. They moved to Philadelphia about two years later so his mother, Celia, a professor of medieval history at The College of New Jersey, could finish her post-doctorate work. His father, Bernard Chazelle, is a professor of computer science and applied mathematics at Princeton University., By 1990, the Chazelles were back in Princeton, where Mr. Chazelle and his younger sister, Anna, who now lives in Los Angeles and makes a few on-screen appearances in his her brother’s latest hit, grew up., “Damien started kindergarten here and went all the way through the public schools,” Ms. Chazelle said. “It’s a great public schools system that really nourishes the arts.”, In the fourth grade, Mr. Chazelle’s ambitions were already realized, as he was quoted in his Community Park yearbook saying, “I hope to be a film maker who makes up lots of stories on his own.”, During high school, Mr. Chazelle found a counterpart to his passion in the PHS jazz band. With his father often playing jazz music in the house, the affinity for its sound ignited early in Mr. Chazelle’s life and he picked up the drums when he was around 10. Still, according to Ms. Chazelle, cinema held him tight as he continued on his path toward success., After graduating from PHS, Mr. Chazelle attended Harvard University’s small film department. His senior thesis was a well-received independent musical, “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench.” Immediately after graduating in 2008, Mr. Chazelle moved to the “City of Stars” his mother says he adores, and if you’ve seen “La La Land,” it shows., The movie has been exceeding expectations and thrilling critics. At the 74th Annual Golden Globes on Jan. 8, Mr. Chazelle’s “La La Land” broke the record of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975) by winning all seven of its nominations., “What he’s done already, he’s the youngest ever to win best director at the Golden Globes,” Ms. Chazelle said. “We still haven’t wrapped our heads around it. It was incredible. We did not expect that at all. We always knew pretty early on Damien was going to go into film because he kept on that track, he was a good student, hard working, tenacious — we had reasonable confidence he’d make himself a career in Hollywood. But never in a million years expected this kind of success so soon. We’re still processing. It’s still a little unbelievable.”, “La La Land” Oscar nods came in the following categories: best picture, best director, best actor, best actress, best original music score, best original song, best original screenplay, best cinematography, best costume design, best film editing, best sound editing, best production design, best sound mixing, and costume design., The Chazelles, with both kids out in LA, watched The Golden Globes nervously and excitedly at home together, balancing a constant stream of phone calls and texts from friends and family. For the Academy Awards ceremony Feb. 26, they may just take a flight to LAX to demonstrate their support in greater proximity., “I try not to think too much about the Oscars because it’s too nerve-wracking,” Ms. Chazelle said. “My feeling is first, what he’s done already, even if he didn’t get any Oscar recognition, I would still think it is incredible what has happened That being said, we hope for the best. We’re very happy.”
