Emma Stone Says She Had a 'Meltdown' Over Ryan Gosling's 'Dirty Dancing' Lift in 'Crazy, Stupid, Love'

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Emma Stone's dancing may appear flawless on camera, but the red-headed beauty admits she actually has some fears about the performance art form.

The 28-year-old actress was a guest on The Graham Norton Show on Friday, where she got candid on working opposite Ryan Gosling for the third time. The two currently star together in La La Land, following their performances in Crazy, Stupid, Love and Gangster Squad.


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While rehearsing for La La Land, Stone said the process wasn't an easy feat -- "it was a little bit of a mind game" -- as she and Gosling were solo for most of their dance lessons.

"I would go to my tap dancing lessons every day, and I was learning these primitive moves, and every day I would ask how Ryan was doing," she explained. "They would say, 'He is really good, he is amazing, he's exceeding our expectations.' So for two months I thought he was the best dancer of all time and I was failing miserably. Then they put us together and I was like, 'I've got this!'"

Gosling, who was also a guest on the show, chimed in, telling Norton he grew up loving musicals from the '50s and "assumed they were a thing of the past."


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"When I met the director [Damien Chazelle] he was really passionate to make a musical that was relevant to a modern audience," he dished. "It was a really exciting idea. We tried to make a musical for people that don't like musicals."

But La La Land isn't the first time fans have seen Stone and Gosling dance together. In one of the most memorable scenes from Crazy, Stupid, Love, the two nailed Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey's iconic lift from Dirty Dancing. According to Stone, however, it "didn't go to plan" in rehearsals.


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"When I was seven years old, I broke both my arms because my gym teacher let go of my ankles when I was on parallel bars and I fell six feet to the ground," she explained. "When we did the film, I knew Ryan was going to lift me up, but what I didn't know was that I had an internalized phobia about being lifted six feet in the air and it all went horribly wrong."

"I've never had this experience," added Gosling, "but I can only imagine if a possum fell out of a tree, landed on my head and tried to scratch my eyes out it would be something similar!"

Stone admitted there were actually a lot of tears while prepping for the risky lift. "I went into full meltdown," she recalled. "I had to lie down and watch Labyrinth while crying!"

ET caught up with Gosling on the red carpet at the Golden Globes last weekend, where he opened up about what it was like filming La La Land. The 36-year-old actor later took home the Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for his role in the movie.

"You know, this movie was so fun to make," he gushed. "It was such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, really. I thought the old Hollywood musical was dead, [so] to get to work on one was reward enough."


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"So this is just, such a surprise, really," he added. "I was ready to defend the film, but the response has been quite the opposite. I was ready for a bit of a fight. But this response has been a bit of a surprise, and a very nice surprise."

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