It's Hollywood's weekend. The 89th Academy Awards will be held Feb. 26 and nominated for a record 14 Oscars is a musical ode to the award's hometown titled "La La Land."

The Damien Chazelle-directed film is tied with "All About Eve" (1950) and "Titanic" (1997) for nominations, with nods in the major categories of best picture, actor, actress, director, writing and, of course, original score — a must for a musical. "La La Land" has already won Golden Globes in those areas.

With all the praise — and the recent news that, thanks to Chinese audiences, the film has rocketed past the $300 million mark for box-office intake — fans might be surprised to hear that best actor nominee Ryan Gosling initially thought the movie would be something of an underdog.