Damien Chazelle

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q18350026: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as writer. The films the hosts said they wrote, which the two lists below run through too: Babylon (2022). Count them as director (5 films) instead.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Singin' in the Rain (1952): 5 lines

  1. craft (scene mirror) · through Babylon (2022), which they wrote: Singin' in the Rain ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). Babylon's walk-on bar scene mirrors the flashback that opens Singin' in the Rain, where Don Lockwood gets a walk-on.
    “Um, Don Lockwood gets a walk on part in a bar in that like in that flashback to start the movie.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:48:21 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (homage) · through Babylon (2022), which they wrote: Singin' in the Rain ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). A speaker calls the sound-stage scene a direct Singin' in the Rain homage, 'on steroids times a 1000'.
    “Again, like a very, very direct homage.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 1:13:47 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. theme (echo) · through Babylon (2022), which they wrote: Singin' in the Rain ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). The silent-to-sound struggle scene in Babylon echoes Singin' in the Rain, down to the actress who cannot find the microphone.
    “And that is a huge echo of singing in the rain.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 1:14:54 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  4. craft (scene mirror) · through Babylon (2022), which they wrote: Singin' in the Rain ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). A Babylon moment is said to echo Don and Kathy Selden from Singin' in the Rain.
    “Also, echoes of Don and Kathy Selden.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 1:44:09 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  5. lineage (homage) · through Babylon (2022), which they wrote: Singin' in the Rain ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). The speaker says Babylon is deliberately built around Singin' in the Rain, with specific scenes mirrored on purpose.
    “But it is so intentionally built around singing in the rain that I do think the mirroring of the specific scenes are intentional.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 2:51:30 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

John Gilbert: 1 line

  1. unmapped (real-life basis) · through Babylon (2022), which they wrote: John Gilbert ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). Brad Pitt's character in Babylon is obviously based on John Gilbert.
    “John Gilbert, who Brad Pitt's character in Babylon, is very obviously based on”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 2:09:22 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

La La Land (2016): 1 line

  1. craft (score reuse) · through Babylon (2022), which they wrote: La La Land ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). The Babylon score is said to reappropriate music from La La Land's dream ballet.
    “This is like very much from the dream ballet of La Land, this music and the score.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:57:59 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

The Dancing Cavalier (film-within-Singin' in the Rain; heard also as 'link cavalier'): 1 line

  1. craft (scene mirror) · through Babylon (2022), which they wrote: The Dancing Cavalier (film-within-Singin' in the Rain; heard also as 'link cavalier') ⇒ Babylon (the host's read). The audience in Babylon's screening laughs at the same dialogue ('I love you') as in Singin' in the Rain's screening of The Dancing Cavalier.
    “They're literally laughing at the exact same dialogue in the screening that they do of the link cavalier.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 1:56:30 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021): 1 line

  1. lineage (series lineage) · through Babylon (2022), which they wrote: Zack Snyder's Justice League ⇒ Babylon (the maker said so: the hosts' own account of the show). The Snyder Cut watch-along, born of a lost bet, started the show's watch-along concept that led to this one.
    “The Snyder, the Snyder Cut thing was a bet that we lost, that Sean was like, if that, that's how the watch along concept started.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 3:06:12 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

No line says anything drew on them or a film of theirs.

What the speakers said they did

Directing (13) everyone in directing

Other (2) everyone in other

Writing (1) everyone in writing

What was said about them, by kind

contrast (1)

  1. contrast (contrast): Damien Chazelle → Moonlight. Another split between best director and best picture: Chazelle won director for La La Land and Moonlight won picture.
    “We had this a couple of years ago, of course, when Damian Chazelle won best director for La La Land, and then Moonlight went on to win best picture.”
    The Big Picture · Oscars 2019: Instant Reactions to ‘Green Book’ and the Two Warring Academies | The Oscars Show (Ep. 131) · 1:08:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

lineage (1)

  1. lineage (influence-wearing): Damien Chazelle → Boogie Nights. A speaker likens Chazelle's visible influences to Paul Thomas Anderson openly ripping off Scorsese in Boogie Nights.
    “when I watched the commentary track for boogie nights, and Paul Thomas Anderson explained how he just ripped off images he saw in Mean Streets or in Goodfellas or in all the Scorsese movies.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:24:42 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

people (2)

  1. people (collaborator): Justin Hurwitz → Damien Chazelle. Hurwitz's Babylon score is counted as his 4th or 5th film with Chazelle.
    “I think this is his 5th movie, 4th movie with Chazelle.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:24:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. people (spouse and collaborator): Olivia Hamilton → Damien Chazelle. Olivia Hamilton, who plays Ruth Adler and is a Babylon producer, is Chazelle's wife.
    “That's Olivia Hamilton, Damian Chazelle's wife and one of the producers of this movie, also very, very funny as the, as Ruth Adler, one of the stand in filmmakers.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:37:27 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

theme (4)

  1. theme (theme): The Natural → Damien Chazelle. Women as only destroyers or saviors is compared to Damien Chazelle's movies.
    “very reminiscent of the current Damian Chazelle experience.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Natural’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 0:59:30 · Mallory Rubin (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. theme (format echo): Damien Chazelle → The Eddy. Babylon's ensemble table-setting reminded the speaker of Chazelle's long-form TV work on The Eddy, which was forgotten on arrival.
    “Kind of reminded me a little bit of Chazelle's dalliance with long form television and doing the Eddie for Netflix, which was essentially forgotten upon arrival.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:20:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. theme (recurring theme): Damien Chazelle → First Man. Chazelle's recurring theme of people who touch greatness and then lose it runs through La La Land and First Man as well as Babylon.
    “That's what La La Land is about. If you look at the end of that movie, that's what 1st man is about.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 1:59:49 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  4. theme (recurring theme): Damien Chazelle → Whiplash. Whiplash is added to the list of Chazelle films where people touch greatness and it falls away.
    “they touch greatness and then they falls away, whiplash, same thing.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 1:59:56 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

unmapped (4)

  1. unmapped (next-film wish): Damien Chazelle → Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. A speaker pitches Chazelle making a Die Hard or Indiana Jones style throwback action movie.
    “I think Damien Chazelle was like, what we need is like a diehard or, you know, Indiana Jones like throwback stuntty action movie.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:05:00 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (next-film wish): Damien Chazelle → Babylon. Watching the sound-stage scene, a speaker says Chazelle should make a horror movie.
    “This scene makes me think he should make a horror movie.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 1:16:00 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (self-commentary): Babylon → Damien Chazelle. A speaker reads the film as possibly Chazelle commenting on himself as a holdout against blockbusterization, after its box-office failure.
    “Damien Chisel gets propped up as one of the, like, the, the, last filmmakers to, who was trying to make movies like this in the face of, DIP blockbusterization of cinema.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 1:58:43 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. unmapped (not his lane): Damien Chazelle → Green Lantern (hypothetical project). A speaker says Chazelle should not sign up for a superhero movie.
    “I don't think that he should be like signing up for the Green Lantern movie for James Guy.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 1:59:20 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about Damien Chazelle: The Trump-imitation bit: Chris plays Trump criticizing Chazelle for making a drug scene without ever having done drugs.
    “Stick to dancing, little Damien.”
    The Big Picture · The ‘Babylon’ Watch-Along · 0:17:37 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)