How do you get the attention of Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone? Just ask Jacob Staudenmaier.
With a couple of weeks planning, a two-hour video shoot and the help of several friends, the Grade 11 student from Arcadia High School in Phoenix re-created the opening scene from La La Land.
And it caught Emma's attention.
She called Jacob's gesture the "greatest proposal she had ever received." In the end, she politely declined as she would be working in London at the time of the Arcadia prom.
Meanwhile, Jacob has been contacted by media around the world and has been given a confidence boost to pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker.
20 questions with Jacob Staudenmaier
1 - How would you describe yourself in one sentence?
Jacob - Trying not to take anything in life too seriously, but being highly determined to succeed in the things I am serious about.
2 - When—and how—did you come up with the idea of recreating the opening to La La Land in order to ask Emma Stone to your prom?
Jacob - I came up with the idea about 2 weeks before the filming took place. There were a few things that factored into deciding to ask Emma Stone. A kid at my school had asked Miley Cyrus to prom several years ago, so that was the initial inspiration. I knew that if I was going to do a celebrity promposal, it needed to be big and ambitious to get attention. Since I love film making, re-creating a scene from La La Land, which happened to be one of my favorite films of last year, seemed like the perfect idea.
3 - How long did it take to shoot the proposal video?
Jacob - Less than 2 hours to shoot.
4 - How long did all of the preparation take?
Jacob - The preparation took place over a 2 week time span.
5 - Was it tough to convince your friends to help out, or did they grasp the concept right away?
Jacob - At first it was hard for them to realize that I was being serious, but after they saw the lyrics I'd written, more of them started to hop on board. I'm always making films with my friends so they knew I'd follow through with something like this, especially when they started to get a better picture of it. I don't think anyone fully realized how serious I was about it until the day of filming though. That's when it truly became a reality. But I'm so glad all of them helped me out because I couldn't have done it without them.
6 - How many people were involved in the creation of the video?
Jacob - There were about 17 or so people involved, including my camera girl, Alli Gooch, and my film teacher, Eric Luse. My mom was also there on the day of shooting.
7 - In the Youtube description, you give a shout-out to your film-teacher. Was this part of a school project, or did he simply want to help because he loved the idea?
Jacob - This wasn't a film project, but I wanted to tell my teacher about it because I knew he could help me organize it on the day of. Once I told him my plan he was fully on board, which is amazing and I'm thankful for that since it was such a ridiculous idea. Even though it wasn't an assigned project, I probably wouldn't have had the confidence to make it if I hadn't had such great experiences in my film class to begin with. Being in that class has helped grow me as a filmmaker and give me that confidence to follow through with an idea like this.
8 - Did you expect to get a response from Emma?
Jacob - Once the video started going viral I had people texting me and telling me people had sent it to people who knew Emma - and that was about 6 hours after I posted the video. So I knew pretty quickly that it would get to her in one way or another. But to say I knew for sure it would get to her when I first came up with the idea, I'd probably have to say, "no." I had a good feeling that it might reach her since it was a re-creation of her Oscar-winning film, and she was from Phoenix (like me), but I couldn't tell for sure.
9 - What was your reaction when Emma Stone actually reached out to you?
Jacob - Her response was very overwhelming. I got it on a day when the video was starting to go global and I was being bombarded with interview requests and notifications from everything imaginable. So when I got that message from her it just tipped me over the top and officially made that day the craziest of my life. It is definitely an unforgettable moment and the fact that she even responded in the first place will continue to amaze me for a long time.
10 - How would you describe Emma Stone in one sentence?
Jacob - She's hugely talented and I believe she's only getting started with an amazing lifelong career of acting.
11 - How does it feel to have her agree that you look like Ryan Gosling?
Jacob - That comment made me laugh quite a bit, but I'm glad she confirmed that for me.
12 - Other than La La Land, what is your favorite Emma Stone movie?
Jacob - I would have to say Birdman.
13 - Now who are you going to take to prom?
Jacob - I'm going with one of my good friends. But a lot of people have referred to this as a back-up. I wouldn't call it that mainly because I never expected Emma Stone to say, "yes," so I'm thankful I have such a good friend who was willing to let me follow through with the idea even though we'd been planning on going to prom.
14 - How many media requests have you had in the last week?
Jacob - The amount of media requests has been mind-boggling. I thought it'd be local news and stop, but I've been contacted from media outlets all around the world.
15 - Which interview have you been most excited about?
Jacob - I think I was most excited for Good Morning America because I got to reveal Emma's response on air. It was nerve-racking, but a lot of fun and a really great experience in a high pressure interview situation.
16 - How many Twitter followers have you gained since publishing the video?
Jacob - I've gained about 2,000 followers since the release of the video. I've also gained about 800 subscribers on YouTube.
17 - How does it feel to have a video with more than 1 million views on Youtube?
Jacob - It's pretty funny to me because the rest of my videos have about less than a thousand each, so the view difference is pretty hilarious. It's also amazing though to say I've reached a milestone like that in my high school career.
18 - I can only imagine how much of a whirlwind the last week has been for you. What have you learned from this experience?
Jacob - This has been one of the most important experiences of my life so far. It's taught me how to interact with all kinds of people and how to act in a number of different, high pressure situations. It's helped me gain a lot of confidence and given me a lot of motivation to continue making films and getting my work out there.
19 - Your Twitter bio suggests you're "sometimes filming things." Do you want to be a filmmaker?
Jacob - I put that into my bio as a joke because, as most of my friends know, most of my free time is taken up by film related activities. I'm always thinking about film making and it's my greatest passion so I think I can confidently say I'd love to pursue a job in the industry, whatever it may be.
20 - What is one thing very few people know about you?
Jacob - Before this I'd probably answer that a lot of people don't know I make films, but now I think a lot more do. Most people don't know that I spent my Winter Break finishing a 34-minute short film I'd been working on. Or another thing is most people don't know that I'm an Eagle Scout.
A huge shout-out to Jacob who took time out of his junior year schedule to answer these 20 questions.
As always, thanks to all of you for taking the time to read.
Who would you like to see me throw 20 questions at? Drop me a comment below and I'll work on setting up the interview.
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This is great! I actually wrote about it on here a few weeks ago when it broke the news out here in AZ! It's nice to see you delve a bit deeper into it!
https://steemit.com/entertainment/@jrcornel/high-school-student-asks-emma-stone-to-prom-with-a-la-la-land-proposal
Awesome @jrcornel! Great job bringing this story to Steemit when it was incredibly fresh!
I reached out to Jacob shortly after, but as you can imagine, he's had a lot of media requests! But, I'm thankful he took the time to give some great answers for the Steemit community :)
So am I :) Great job!
Another fantastic story - who would have thought that she would actually respond. Unfortunate that she was working in England and couldn't make it but it is still a beautiful and inspiring story. I think we will likely hear about Jacob in the future as a film-maker in his own right.
Thanks @thecryptofiend :)
I think we haven't heard the last of Jacob, either. Dude is way more motivated than I was in 12th Grade!!
Yes I think he has shown that he takes action!
Disclaimer: I am just a bot trying to be helpful.