High school teen describes how he came up with 'La La Land'-inspired 'promposal' to Emma Stone

Jacob Staudenmaier said it took only two weeks to create start to finish.

ByABC News
April 5, 2017, 6:00 AM

— -- Combining his budding passion for filmmaking with his love of the Oscar-winning film "La La Land," Arizona high school student Jacob Staudenmaier has come away with one of the year's most ambitious projects -- a unique "promposal" directed at the hit movie's leading lady, Emma Stone.

"I saw 'La La Land' and loved it a lot," Staudenmaier told ABC News. "It was one of my favorite films and I've always liked Emma Stone as an actor and I guess that spawned the idea of maybe asking her to the prom."

Staudenmaier, 17, re-created the hit opening number from "La La Land" and wrote his own version of "Another Day of Sun," swapping out the lyrics to try and convince the starlet, and Arizona native, to attend prom with him.

He said the original inspiration came from a former Arcadia High School student who asked Miley Cyrus to prom a few years ago. "She didn't actually go to prom with him, but he was invited to one of her concerts and he got to go up on stage with her so I think it worked out."

But Staudenmaier said he knew he had to do something much more grandiose in hopes of garnering Stone's attention. "If I was going to do it, I had to do something more ambitious and bigger in scale," Staudenmaier said.

The entire process took two weeks from start to finish, including directing and editing. Staudenmaier enlisted his friends to help execute the elaborate "promposal," using them as extras and videographers.

"I've always been doing films and using my friends whenever possible because they're the most willing people I have," he explained.

The cast and crew snowballed from there, Staudenmaier said. "After I started showing people the lyrics more people started joining in, so it wasn't as difficult to find people who wanted to be a part of it."

He filmed the extravagant scene on Sunday and said that it didn't require too much rehearsal. "In the pre-planning phase that I had done, I had timed everything down to the second of the song so I knew when it had to happen and just very specific things like that," he said. "So on the day I could explain it to [his friend] Alli Gooch, who was behind the camera."

In his video, Staudenmaier sings a line referencing his resemblance to Ryan Gosling. He said it started when someone in his film class pulled up a picture of the "La La Land" star from his earlier acting days in "Remember the Titans," and noticed the similarity.

"We took a picture next to it and everyone was like, 'Yeah you look like him,' so I felt like incorporating that into the song, since [Emma Stone] starred in the movie with him."

"As for me believing that I don't know...But if I get compared to him, I have no problem with that," Staudenmaier said laughing.

Taking on the daunting task of changing the lyrics created by an Academy Award-winning musical team didn't deter Staudenmaier.

"Once I started writing the lyrics I felt a little bit better about it but I was more nervous about the singing aspect."

"I'm not usually someone to sing ... if people see it and don't like my voice so be it, because it was all just about having fun and it didn't have to be perfect."

Staudenamier said the track's vocals were pre-recorded and dubbed into the final product.

Since uploading the video after he went home from school on Tuesday, Staudenmaier said he hoped it might take off. "I was hoping something of this nature would happen, but I wasn't really expecting anything yet."

Since then, he said he has been blown away by the response. "I kind of lost it a little bit," he said.

"Whether she says yes or no I think just a response in general would be amazing, but I guess if she did say yes then that would be the best outcome possible," he added. "But either way I've enjoyed everything that's happened so far."

Staudenmaier said he hopes to pursue something in the film industry in the future, but is not sure yet in what capacity. "I just enjoy the whole filmmaking process in general."

ABC News has reached out to Emma Stone and as of publication time she had not responded for a comment.

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