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50 free La La Land trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
41 free La La Land trivia questions with answers. La La Land is the rare modern musical people watch on repeat, and this quiz is built for the fans who know the planetarium scene by heart. Forty questions cover the story of Mia and Sebastian, the songs by Justin Hurwitz with Pasek and Paul, the Los Angeles locations from the 105-110 interchange to Griffith Observatory and the Angels Flight railway, the actors who were nearly cast, the classic musicals Damien Chazelle borrowed from, the box office, and the night at the 89th Academy Awards when it was announced as Best Picture for about two minutes. Easy questions ask who plays Seb and what instrument he plays; the hard ones want the name of Mia's hometown, the studio that first turned the script down, the aspect ratio Chazelle chose and the record the film set with its fourteen nominations. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the film, its songs, its director and the 2017 Oscars, and each question carries the sentence that supports it.
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Q 01Who wrote and directed La La Land?
Damien Chazelle
He first dreamed the film up with composer Justin Hurwitz while both were students at Harvard.
Q 02What is the profession of Sebastian, Ryan Gosling's character?
Jazz pianist
Gosling had never played piano before and learned for the role; no hand doubles were used.
Q 03Which musician plays Keith, the bandleader who hires Sebastian for his jazz-pop group?
John Legend
He also co-wrote the band's song 'Start a Fire', the only number not written by Pasek and Paul.
Q 04Which two actors were originally in talks to star before Gosling and Stone were cast?
Miles Teller and Emma Watson
Gosling, for his part, turned down the Beast in Beauty and the Beast to take the film.
Q 05Which earlier Chazelle film's success finally got La La Land financed?
Whiplash
That drama about a jazz drummer earned five Oscar nominations off a $3.3 million budget.
Q 06Who composed the score and songs of La La Land?
Justin Hurwitz
He and Chazelle were roommates in Currier House at Harvard.
Q 07Which songwriting duo wrote the lyrics for most of the film's songs?
Pasek and Paul
They went on to write The Greatest Showman and Dear Evan Hansen; 'Start a Fire' was the exception, co-written by John Legend.
Q 08What is the title of the film's opening freeway number?
Another Day of Sun
It was the first sequence shot, on a closed carpool ramp of the 105-110 interchange that arcs 100 feet in the air.
Q 09Chazelle compared the traffic-jam opening to which famous movie image?
The yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz
He wanted the arcing interchange to give a sense of how vast the city is.
Q 10Which 1955 film do Seb and Mia go to see together at the Rialto?
Rebel Without a Cause
When the projector fails they head to Griffith Observatory, a location from that very film, and share their first kiss.
Q 11Where in Los Angeles do Seb and Mia share their first kiss?
Griffith Observatory
They waltz among the stars in the planetarium first, the film's most fantastical sequence.
Q 12Mia works as a barista on the lot of which studio?
Warner Bros.
Chazelle called studio backlots the 'monuments' of Hollywood.
Q 13Which 1980s song does Mia mockingly request when she spots Seb playing in a cover band?
'I Ran'
It is payback for him shouldering past her outside the restaurant where he had just been fired.
Q 21La La Land was the third film to pair Gosling and Stone. Which was the first?
Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)
Gangster Squad followed in 2013.
Q 22Emma Stone met Chazelle in 2014 while making her Broadway debut in which show?
Cabaret
Chazelle and Hurwitz saw her perform on a night she had a cold; she credits the show with giving her confidence for the film.
Q 23Which real audition mishap from Ryan Gosling's past made it into the film?
A casting director took a phone call mid-scene
Q 14After her one-woman play flops, Mia retreats to her hometown in which state?
Nevada
Seb drives to Boulder City to tell her a casting director who saw the play wants her to audition.
Q 15In 'Audition (The Fools Who Dream)', whom does Mia sing about?
Her aunt, a stage actress
The aunt who leapt into the Seine inspired her to chase her dreams; the song earned an Oscar nomination.
Q 16How much time passes between Mia's audition and the film's epilogue?
Five years
By then she is a successful actress, married to someone else, and stumbles into Seb's club by chance.
Q 17How does Mia realise the jazz bar she has walked into belongs to Seb?
She recognises the logo she designed
He then plays their love theme, launching the what-might-have-been fantasy sequence.
Q 18Which French director's musicals were the main inspiration for the film's style and tone?
Jacques Demy
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort were both on the Friday-night screening list Chazelle ran for the crew.
Q 19Which studio first took the script on a shoestring budget but demanded changes Chazelle refused?
Focus Features
They wanted the pianist turned into a rock musician and the bittersweet ending dropped.
Q 20What was the film's eventual production budget?
$30 million
Lionsgate's Patrick Wachsberger pushed Chazelle to spend more, arguing good musicals could not be made cheaply.
Mia suffers the identical humiliation early in the film.
Q 24Who choreographed the film's dance numbers?
Mandy Moore
Not the singer, but the choreographer known from So You Think You Can Dance; she stressed emotion over technique.
Q 25The 'A Lovely Night' tap number had to be shot in what narrow window?
The 'magic hour' at sunset
The six-minute scene of the pair searching for Mia's car was done in one take.
Q 26Which historic Los Angeles funicular, built in 1901, was reactivated for the film?
Angels Flight
It reopened to the public in 2017, the year after the film came out.
Q 27In what aspect ratio was La La Land shot, to echo 1950s CinemaScope musicals?
2.55:1
It was shot on Super 35mm film with Panavision anamorphic lenses, not digitally.
Q 28At which festival did La La Land have its world premiere in August 2016?
Venice
It was the opening-night film, ahead of a slow autumn rollout that ended with a December 9 US release.
Q 29How many Golden Globes did La La Land win at the 74th ceremony, a record?
Seven
It converted every one of its seven nominations, including Best Actor and Actress in a comedy or musical.
Q 30With fourteen Oscar nominations, La La Land tied the record held by Titanic and which other film?
All About Eve
Arrival was next that year with eight.