Stars recall real-life pain seen in 'La La Land' auditions

Los Angeles : In "La La Land," the nostalgic musical tipped for glory at Sunday's Oscars, Emma Stone channels some of the pain she and Ryan Gosling experienced in their early auditions.

As her character Mia is reading for a part, someone bursts into the room and begins to discuss a phone call, while on another occasion she is asked to stop no more than two seconds into a painstakingly prepared monologue.

"People would look up at me and look back at their paper and not look at me again," the actress told Variety magazine, recalling how her own entry into showbiz echoed her character's travails.

"I remember feeling very insignificant. I would almost rather you yell at me."

It is a rite of passage any young hopeful seeking his or her fortune in the bright lights of Hollywood must endure, and stars reminded by "La La Land" of their own excruciating experiences have been speaking out.

"I absolutely hate auditions with, like, a passion. I get so nervous, I've thrown up before," 18-year-old Elle Fanning ("Super 8," "Maleficent") recalled at the Sundance Film Festival in January. 

"But I've passed out in an audition -- like, flat out, just passed out. I was young... 12 or maybe younger than that -- like nine."

All of these small humiliations are an occupational hazard, according to French actress Adele Jacques, who has plied her trade in Los Angeles for 14 years.

Jacques, who has appeared in several movies including "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" (2009), recalled being auditioned by a highly strung person who made her fall repeatedly, each time hurting herself a little more.