Ryan Gosling Reveals He Has Regrets About La La Land Dance Scene

For his performance in the 2016 film La La Land, Ryan Gosling received a nomination for an Oscar in the Best Actor category. Years after its premiere, the beloved musical rom-com still wins over the hearts of viewers, but Ryan wishes he could go back in time to one particular scene. In an interview with WSJ magazine, the actor revealed how his hand placement “killed the energy” during a dance scene with Emma Stone that would turn into the movie’s poster.

Ryan mentioned La La Land during the interview while discussing a role he’d want to play again. He said, “There’s a moment that haunts me where we’re dancing, Emma [Stone] and I. I didn’t know this would become the poster for the movie. We were supposed to have our hands up, and I thought it’d be cool to put my hand like that (shows a flat angle). Even though everyone told me it wasn’t cool, I was sure that [a flat hand] was cooler than [pointing up]. Now when I look at it and I have to see it all the time, you know what would have been cooler than this? That.”

The actor added, “It just killed the energy that way. It was sort of like, all leading to what? Just like a lazy … I call it La La Hand. I thought it would help in La La Land and then, of course, hamburger-hands Gosling over here. It didn’t help me at all in the end.”

With a record-breaking 14 Oscar nominations, La La Land took home six of them, including Best Director and Best Actress for Stone. Casey Affleck won the Best Actor Oscar for Manchester by the Sea, beating Ryan.