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He’s an Oscar-winning composer and amazing piano player, so it probably takes a lot to impress John Legend musically. But John says Ryan Gosling, his co-star in the Oscar-nominated movie musical La La Land, managed to do it.
In La La Land, Gosling plays Sebastian, a talented but ultra-traditional jazz pianist. John plays his musician friend Keith, who finds success by pushing the boundaries of what people normally think of as jazz. While it was easy for John to play a musician — and to contribute a song to the soundtrack — Gosling had work to do to pass himself off as a pro.
“I worked a lot with Ryan, and Ryan was really so good. He was so prepared,” John tells ABC Radio. “He had to learn how to play piano — and he had played probably a little bit before — but he had to learn how to play like a virtuoso.”
Not only that, but he also had to sing and dance, as did his co-star, Emma Stone. Their efforts paid off with Oscar nods for Best Actor and Best Actress: two of 14 the film scored on Tuesday. John says he admired the dedication that Gosling and Stone put into their work, since neither of them are singers or dancers.
“[Ryan] spent a lot of time just getting ready for that, and they had a lot of singing and dancing to do,” John tells ABC Radio. “And I was just so impressed with how prepared they were and how great they were at all the musical things that they had to do. It was really, really impressive, and I was just humbled to be part of the cast.”
John won an Oscar for Best Original Song in 2015 for “Glory,” from the movie Selma.
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