Much of the power of the extraordinary film "Whiplash" comes from the interaction between two remarkable performers. This is a star-making role for Miles Teller, an actor who has previously appeared in films like "Rabbit Hole" and the "Footloose" remake, and he's soon to make a further splash in the big-budget "Fantastic Four" reboot and "Divergent" sequel.
J.K. Simmons may be known to most as the dad from "Juno" or J. Jonah Jameson in the previous "Spider-Man" series, but his roles in a series of films by the Coen Brothers, or his inimitable portrayal of Vernon Schillinger on HBO's "Oz" has ably demonstrated his capacity to play almost any role. With a fearsome, nuanced performance, Simmons' role of Terrance Fletcher should, with any justice, garner J.K. a nod at Oscar time.
Moviefone Canada spoke to the two performers during the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.
This film's director, Damien Chazelle, has talked about how personal this project is for him. How do his experiences connect with you personally?
Miles Teller: I kept asking him "Is this believable? " I would be drumming for a long period of time, all of my drumsticks would be covered in blood. After I started rehearsing and practicing as much as I was, I started getting blisters and there were a lot of Band-Aids, a lot of blood. Damian wrote a beautiful script and I think that's the actor's job to make it as personal as they can. I was very much in that world. The guy just wanted to be the greatest drummer that ever lived. It was nice to play a character that has one goal in mind. I'll have all of these relationships, but my relationship is with this dude and with my drums.
Were you guys kept separated through the shooting?
J.K. Simmons: Yeah, it was a contractual thing for me. He was not allowed to look at me or speak to me [Laughs]. We settled into this rhythm pretty quickly, actually. We just behaved like a couple of douches, had a good time and kept it light, because there was enough drama when the cameras were rolling.
I find it amusing that a general audience thinks you're a terror, and some musicians don't think you go far enough.
JS: A lot of musicians had a guy like me in their background. Even guys that didn't play with Buddy Rich. The most gratifying thing to me is that between Miles and Damien and myself, all actually have a musical background, and the first thing that we hear, that we all hear from musicians is "Well, you guys were bringing it. You guys knew what you were doing and you made a musical movie."
Obviously the final step in that was the way it was assembled, the way that Damien and the editor put it all together, which was brilliant. The two things I get are musicians saying that they had -- whether it was a teacher or a conductor or somebody else -- they were like, yeah, he was at least that hard on me, either that or coaches. Miles equates it to a baseball coach he had. For me it was a high school football coach. You look back and you go, what a psycho, I mean, back off ... [Laughs]
But have you had a musician or a coach go "I'm that guy!"
JS: Oh, no, I haven't met that guy, nobody's going to own up to it. Oddly, I did have that when I was doing [the white supremacist Nazi character on] "Oz" a few times, which was a little ... I'd have guys coming up to me on the street going, "Oh, man, dig what you said!"
Did you have to build up to project that level of authority, or is it something that comes naturally to you?
JS: I guess I'm just a natural bastard. It's like anything you're bringing out, whether it's laughter or tears or anything, you've got to go down and get it and bring it out, but that's our job, is to have all of that accessible to ourselves and be able to do it.
MT: I think for J.K., for the character of Fletcher, J.K. has such control over his voice and that's a very powerful tool for an actor. J.K. can get very quiet, and he can also get very loud, and his mannerisms as Fletcher are very controlled and precise.
It's hard to imagine this film really working with another type of music other than Jazz
JS: Damien came from a jazz background, but Miles and I both, our musical background was not jazz. I think both of us really gained more of an appreciation for jazz as an art form as we prepared for and shot the movie.
Was this a dream, being able to show that you have these other skills in a way that you haven't been able to before?
MT: My mom says that this will always be her favourite movie because she gets to watch her kid play music. We always had a household where everybody was playing multiple instruments. I really think she thought she'd be the lead singer in her kids' band. It's rare to find a movie where you get to play an instrument that's not a biopic, and for me to be able to play drums in something was great, because with drummers nobody ever tells you hey, play a drum solo! It was very gratifying and it will probably never happen again.
JS: I studied music in college, but I was never good at any instrument, my hands just don't work that way. But I did study conducting and composition and singing. It was cool when I was playing the piano, it was pretty simple piano obviously, but I practiced it quite a lot again because my hands just don't connect. There were times when I was playing with that quartet, there were brief moments where I got to feel like Miles often did as we were playing with the big band -- wow, this is what it would be like if I actually had the chops to do this for a living. This feels pretty great.
The film uses a mix of playing with live performers and playback. How much of a challenge was that process?
MT: Most of the time it just feels so artificial and they don't know how to do it with the playback and get the audio. We did zero ADR [automated dialogue replacement, or "looping"] for this movie. Damien is a freaking wizard. Between the playback and when we were playing live, it was just all so symbiotic. The musicians in the scenes, most of them were real musicians so they would be playing with the playback. When we were playing Whiplash, and I first get on the kit, I don't know what happens to that folder, I really don't. Who knows what happens, I swear to God, but you feel like you're part of an ensemble.
The ending is pretty extraordinary
JS: That's the whole question, can you pull this off? The answer is yes because we've seen audiences respond to it now, and I think we both quickly developed a confidence in Damien that he was going to make it work.
MT: I think it's awesome that the film ends with a climax. I can't tell you the last time I saw a movie that does that. Rarely do films leave you like that.
JS: Yeah, where they leave you with, there's no denouement, it's like bang, over, which is awesome.
Has Fletcher's style of criticism ever worked on you to get you where you are?
MT: I was never the kid who wanted to be coddled. I did like when coaches I had were tough. When I was in theatre school, I had this one teacher that everybody thought was crazy, outrageous and stuff, but I saw the method to her madness. As long as it's coming from a point of view where you respect their opinion, you can't just have anybody barking orders at you, because as soon as you lose that respect for them, it doesn't matter what they say.
JS: I don't condone everything the character does. But many of the people that I've worked with, whether it was a teacher or coach or director or producer who were extreme like that and sort of abusive, it was because they realized their own inadequacies. In Fletcher's case, it's a true passion for the work, for the art, the greatness. With a lot of people, it's just their own inner frustrations and their own inner unhappiness. A lot of times you work with a director who's just always screaming at people and being abusive. I don't even see where this is coming from with you, you're just an asshole.
Who's your biggest critic to date?
JS: I'm his biggest critic.
MT: I think there's no shortage of critics in this business that we're in, especially with Twitter and everything. There's going to be people out there that just want to hate it so you click on their review, stuff like that, so I just stay away from it.
JS: I don't always watch my work, but having seen "Whiplash" three times now. I look at it and think, well, that could have been better, and I blame the editor. [Laughs]
"Whiplash" is now playing in theatres.
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