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Damien Chazelle      

Director & Youngest Winner of the Academy Award for Best Director

Damien Chazelle is a Harvard-educated musician, director and screenwriter. Chazelle’s breakout hit, Whiplash, began as a proof-of-concept short film which debuted at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and eventually attracted attention from financiers who helped to finance the full-length version. The drama about a jazz drummer and his abusive teacher would go on to receive critical acclaim and win three Academy Awards. Then, in 2016, Chazelle made a huge mark with the box office hit La La Land, a modern movie musical, which won seven Golden Globes, including a best director nod for Chazelle. The film was also nominated for a record 14 Oscars, earning Chazelle the Academy Award for Best Director. Chazelle is the youngest filmmaker to receive both best director awards at the age of 32. Aside from filmmaking, Chazelle has ventured into television with "The Eddy," an eight-episode Netflix miniseries set in Paris.

News

Damien Chazelle: ‘I liked doing something that was the polar opposite of La La Land’
Damien Chazelle, 33, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, to a Canadian mother (a history teacher) and a French father (a computer science professor). He released his first feature film, the jazz musical Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, aged 24, but it was Whiplash that yielded a career breakthrough in 2014. He capitalized on this with La La Land, which last year won six Oscars – including best director for Chazelle – though it was mistakenly announced as best picture before the award went to Moonlight.
Keeping In Rhythm with Damien Chazelle: The Fantastically Talented Oscar Winning Director’s Movies
“I always wanted to make movies that are fever dreams,” Chazelle said in 2014, and the exhausting story of ‘Whiplash’ is by far the most personal thing he has written. Before directing Miles Teller as the bullied prodigy Jazz drummer, Damien had actually lived that very same life – he spent five years pursuing that mandatory perfection necessary to become a jazz drummer.
'La La Land' Director Aimed To Make A Film Even Musical Skeptics Would Love
Damien Chazelle, who is nominated for an Oscar for his musical La La Land, says songs are "an expression of inner feelings that can't be articulated any other way."
Damien Chazelle Releases Short Film Shot in iPhone in Vertical Display
Damien Chazelle, the acclaimed director behind “Whiplash” and “La La Land,” has released a short film shot entirely in vertical display on an iPhone. Titled “The Stunt Double,” the short film stars Tom McComas as the eponymous stunt double — McComas is a professional stunt performer whose credits range from “The Dark Knight” and “Euphoria” to “Sonic the Hedgehog” — whose life flashes before his eyes during an especially outlandish scene.

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