This film awards season all eyes were on La La Land. The film accumulated a number of awards in SAG Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. The film has also hit the record of nominations for the Oscars. With 14 nominations, La La Land ties with Titanic and All about Eve in nominations to the Oscars.
With La La Land being a smash hit, people wonder what could have been as the cast is not what the director first had in mind. Originally Emma Watson and Miles Teller were going to play the lead lovers and dreamers of La La Land. That initial plan didn't become a reality, with Emma Stone playing the female lead role while Ryan Gosling replaced Teller.
According to Page Six, insider sources reported that Watson and Teller lost the chance for awards and La La Land's box office because they were too demanding when it comes to salaries and in terms of Watson's expectations that rehearsals would take place in London.
This is what the insider told Page Six: Miles was offered $4 million to star in 'La La Land' but he said he wanted $6 million. Watson was offered the lead female role, but she initially wouldn't commit. Then she began making all these crazy demands, like rehearsals for the film must be done in London... they jumped through hoops to make it work with her, but she just didn't feel the film was right for her.
That is how producers ended up casting Stone. Shortly after, Gosling jumped on the wagon as he wanted to work with Stone again. They previously starred together in Gangster Squad and Crazy, Stupid, Love.
According to the insider, now that the film is a major success, Teller and Watson have blamed their agents for not securing the roles for them. The insider told Page Six: Now both Miles and Emma Watson are raising hell with their agents for not securing the roles for them - even though it was the actors' fault for being too demanding.
Apparently, Watson began her negotiations when she was being represented by the WME agency, but then she signed with rival CAA. However, other sources claim that Watson turned down the opportunity to do La La Land so she could focus on Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast film.
Teller told GQ in 2015 that his agent said La La Land director Damien Chazalle decided to drop Teller because he was no longer creatively right for the project. Chazelle confirmed that there was a moment where (Watson and Teller) were doing it. And neither of those casting things wound up lasting or working out.
Teller didn't offer comments to Page Six, but he went to social media and addressed Page Six as ‘reporting' alternative facts. In an interview with Esquire in 2015, Teller share the story of how he learned he'd been let go from the project:
These are just facts, he explains that he almost passed up the chance to be in Arms and the Dudes because it was incompatible with La La Land. And I got a call from my agent, saying, ‘Hey, I just got a call from Lionsgate. Damien told them that he no longer thinks you're creatively right for the project. He's moving on without you.' The reporter that interviewed him said that Teller sent his agent a text saying What the f*, bro?