Movies
New ‘La La Land’ Poster Features Major Change to Ryan Gosling’s Hand, Sparks Fan Backlash
Ryan Gosling finally got his flat hand fixed, but not everyone is celebrating.
According to a report Variety published on Tuesday, July 21, Lionsgate has unveiled a new poster for La La Land ahead of the film’s 10th anniversary, swapping out Gosling’s flat-palmed pose for the hands-up look he’s said he wanted all along. But instead of applause, the update has divided fans online, with plenty of moviegoers arguing the studio fixed something that was never broken.
The original poster, showing Gosling and costar Emma Stone mid-dance, became an unexpected sore spot for the actor, 45. Per the report, in 2024, Gosling told The Wall Street Journal Magazine, “We’re dancing, Emma and I, and I didn’t know this would become the poster for the movie. We were supposed to have our hands up, and I thought it would be cool to put my hand [more flat] even though everyone told me it wasn’t cool. I was sure it was cooler.”
“Now when I look at it, and I have to see it all the time, you know what would’ve been cooler… [the intended pose],” the Barbie star added at the time. “It just killed the energy that way. I call it La La Hand.”
Reddit users, however, don’t agree. “It was cooler!” one commenter wrote in a thread on the platform reacting to the redesign. Another argued the new version doesn’t work, writing that “the lighting is now off, because they just rotated it,” since the angle no longer lines up with the light source.
Others simply preferred things the way they were. “Now it looks wrong somehow,” one fan wrote, while another kept it blunt: “The original is better. Much better.” One commenter went so far as to joke the studio should have gone further, quipping, “They should have fixed the hand and changed the font to Papyrus.”
Timed for the anniversary, La La Land returns to theaters starting on Sunday, August 16, playing in Dolby Cinema at AMC Theatres, per Variety. The film won six Oscars, including best director and best cinematography, plus a record seven Golden Globes, and grossed $447 million worldwide on a $30 million budget. Gosling, who is married to actress Eva Mendes, won a Golden Globe for his role as Seb opposite Stone, 37, who took home the best actress Oscar.
Ten years later, it turns out La La Hand had its fans too.
