From Blade Runner to La La Land : these Films Casted Los Angeles in a Leading Role

(Left) A non-operational Angels Flight is observed by pedestrians. Photo: Sara Newman/Flickr/Creative Commons License | (Right) Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone ride Angels Flight in the film La La Land.

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Although its not set to open until December 9, La La Land is already enjoying buzz for reviving the musical film genre. In the movie, an actress (Emma Stone) and musician (Ryan Gosling) fall in love while navigating the rocky roads of creative life in Los Angeles. With costumes in eye-popping Technicolor hues and big song and dance numbers, it recalls the musicals of Hollywoods Golden Age while paying tribute to the city where those films were made. That the films trailer shows a musical scene unfolding on a gridlocked freeway is an indication of the kind of L.A. fantasy this is.

In a recent L.A. Times article, location scout Robert Foulkes explained that the freeway scene was shot at the 110/105 interchange, which was easier to secure than the 101. Elsewhere, the filmmakers utilize landmarks like Angels Flight and the Griffith Observatory as stages. Even in the small moments of the trailer, though, you can see signs of Los Angeles with glimpses of interiors that seem to sit between the 1920s, 1950s and now.

But, La La Land is nowhere near the first movie to cast Los Angeles in a lead role. Theres even a documentary about that phenomenon, Los Angeles Plays Itself. Through the decades, directors have turned their eyes to the various angles of the city, from the glitz of the hills to the grit of strip malls. Below, we take a look at ten such films.

The 110/105 interchange as seen in the film La La Land.

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1. Sunset Boulevard. (1950)

Theres a film trope of L.A. as the villain, a city of excess and reinvention that leads to quick rises to glory and equally fast downfalls. Its the undercurrent in a lot of Los Angeles-centric stories, whether its the aging stars in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? or the working gentleman in American Gigolo or the rich kids in Less Than Zero. The benchmark for the citys fictional sinister glamour, though, is Sunset Blvd. It seeps through the cracks of Norma Desmonds dilapidated manor, it winds through the car chase roads that look so much less developed than the L.A. we know today. In Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles balances bright promises with a tempestuous darkness.

Sunset Boulevard as seen in the 1950 film Sunset Boulevard.

2. Rabbit of Seville (1950)

In the 1950 Looney Tunes short Rabbit of Seville, writer Michael Maltese and director Chuck Jones take the battle between Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny onto to the stage of the Hollywood Bowl. We hear the sounds of a summer night before our hapless hunter chases the ever-resourceful rabbit through the hills surrounding the amphitheater. Watch as they make their way backstage and your own memories of the Bowls show season will hit hard. No doubt, this city has had as much of an influence on animators as it has on live action filmmakers.

3. Chinatown (1974)

The most obvious entry on any list of L.A. movies is Chinatown. It weaves the citys water woes into the sort of hardboiled detective tale that nearly defines the citys literary history. Chinatown is an homage to the hour stylings of 1940s film and it uses the city as a canvas to let the film unfold. The striking aspect for locals is how much of Los Angeles is used in the film, from Sylmar to San Pedro and even incorporating outlying areas like Moorpark and Catalina.

Echo Park Lake as seen in the 1974 film Chinatown.

4. Blade Runner (1982)

The Philip K. Dick novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, upon which Blade Runner is based, was set in San Francisco. However, Ridley Scotts 1982 take on the tale re-sets it in Los Angeles and the results are iconic. The future L.A. presented in Blade Runner isnt pretty, but its stylish. Even with the grim dystopian lens cast over buildings like the Bradbury, this is a city that doesnt just catch your eye, but stays embedded in your memory for decades to follow.

The Bradbury Building as seen in the 1982 film Blade Runner.

5. Pulp Fiction (1994)

While Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield are talking about fast food in Amsterdam, bits of Los Angeles flash by through the car windows. Its the side of Los Angeles that people may love to criticize: a mess of concrete, vacant lots and drab buildings with the only dose of color coming from the occasional line of palm trees. Quentin Tarantino has used L.A. wonderfully in multiple films, but in Pulp Fiction he takes the most bland spots, like a pawn shop or a dreary apartment building, as the background for fast and smart dialogue and a lot of action.

6. Clueless (1995)

In a film filled with teens who sound older than they are, Clueless captures coming-of-age in Los Angeles. That scene where Dionne accidentally drives onto the freeway is filled with the comic fear that hits close-to-home to anyone who learned to drive here. The argument in front of the Valley house party over the best route home feels all-too-real as well. Clueless combines the locations that tourists want to see with the ones you want to show them. Take, for example, Chers maudlin walk through Beverly Hills. She hits up Rodeo Drive (of course), but then she walks past the fairytale house, too.

7. The Big Lebowski (1998)

In one of the Dudes dream sequences, we see him flying over the city. Los Angeles at night may be a vast sprawl of twinkling lights, but, up close and in daylight, its as mu

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