J.K. Simmons returning to work with writer/director Damien Chazelle isn't very surprising. The character actor was guided to his first, well-earned Oscar through the writer/director's work in Whiplash. It's still great, however, to see the two artists back in action together, especially for the upcoming musical La La Land.
Envisioned as something of a modernized '50s-esque MGM musical, Simmons' joins the picture alongside Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as Boss, The Hollywood Reporter reports. The boss of whom, you may ask? It's not clear, but given his fierce music-leading skills he showed before, he's probably more than certified to do the job here.
The movie tells the story of a jazz pianist (Gosling) who falls for an aspiring actress (Stone) in LA., only to have their relationship tested by the various decisions success mounts for them. Also rounding out the cast are Jessica Rothe, Sonoya Mizuno and Callie Hernandez playing Stone's three roommates.
La La Land, a passion project Chazelle envisioned to make before he directed his Oscar-winning film, was also once set to reunite the director with his Whiplash lead Miles Teller, but both he and the original female lead, Emma Watson, dropped out of the film some months ago.
There's no word yet on when filming should begin on Chazelle's third movie, but with Summit planting a firm July 15, 2016 release cameras should begin rolling near the fall. Fred Berger, Gary Gilbert, Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt produce this musical re-invigoration.
Last seen in Terminator: Genisys, Simmons' finds himself attached to a number of projects coming up. Those would include Kung Fu Panda 3, The Accountant, The Meddler, Still Punching the Clown, Worlds Apart, The Lake, Rock Dog and the upcoming Starz series Counterpart.
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