WHIPLASH WHIPLASH
ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES
Dubbed ‘Full Metal Juilliard’ at Sundance, Whiplash explores what happens when talent is tortured rather than nurtured. James Mottram chats to its director and stars
S ince when did jazz become fashionable again? This season, you can see Alejandro González Iñárritu’s showbiz satire Birdman in cinemas, driven by a ceaseless percussive score by acclaimed jazz drummer Antonio Sánchez. John Hawkes is starring in the much buzzed-about indie Low Down, about the heroin-addict jazz pianist Joe Albany. And then there’s Whiplash, a hugely absorbing drama that claimed both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at last year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Written and directed by 29-year-old Damien Chazelle, Whiplash is the story of an ambitious student, Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), who gets selected to try out for the college orchestra at the i ctional Shaffer Conservatory in New York. But it’s his torturous relationship with the abusive bandleader, Terence Fletcher (JK Simmons, pictured), the i lm; comparisons have been made with the drill instructor in Full Metal Jacket. ‘I love a character like that,’ grins Chazelle. that drives
While the i lm got dubbed ‘Full Metal Juilliard’ in Sundance, it’s not as glib as that might sound. ‘I wanted to make a music movie that felt like a thriller,’ says Chazelle, ‘one
that had all the intensity of a gangster movie or a war movie.’ It’s exactly what he’s done, via Simmons’ insult-hurling instructor, who even throws a cymbal at Andrew in one heated moment, a deliberate nod to the legendary story of young future jazz legend Charlie Parker receiving the same treatment from a disgruntled musician.
For Simmons, the 59-year-old character actor who played Ellen Page’s pop in Juno, it wasn’t the i rst time he’d been such a ball-buster. There was his time on the HBO show Oz, as the feared inmate Vern Schillinger, and his Broadway stint as the Colonel in A Few Good Men. ‘The thing to i nd is where in their minds they’re acting out of love,’ says Simmons. ‘And it was clear to me, in Fletcher’s case, when I i rst read the script, that everything he does is motivated – and perverted – by his love for the music.’ Growing up in Rhode Island, Chazelle spent four years training to be a jazz drummer in his teens (and similarly endured a terrifying teacher). ‘My dad is a big jazz fan, and that was the reason I i rst got into it,’ he explains. ‘What I love about jazz is that it’s full of legends, full of myths. It’s an oral history because it started in New Orleans and Kansas City, under the
radar.’ It’s why he’s not even sure if the Charlie Parker cymbal tale is true. ‘It’s an iconic image of jazz, and I i nd it ironic that this iconic image of jazz – for all jazz musicians – is a moment of humiliation. And that’s how you become Charlie Parker.’
If perfection is a big theme of Whiplash – the title referring to the Hank Levy tune Andrew is constantly trying to master – it’s something that resonated with Chazelle. ‘As a drummer, you’re always i ghting for a level that you never quite attain,’ he says, in a statement that must resonate with any i lm director. He gave lessons to Teller, who practised for months before the shoot (he performed all of the drum sequences on screen, and half of the sounds you hear come from him). As for Simmons, he simply relished being in his position of power with his younger co-star. ‘Miles is a total pussy,’ he says, eyeballing me. ‘He didn’t want to be slapped. He didn’t want me to spit in his face when I was screaming obscenities at him!’ Is he joking? Judging by the ferocity of Whiplash, it’s hard to say.
Whiplash is on general release from Fri 16 Jan. See review, page 82.
11 Dec 2014–5 Feb 2015 THE LIST 45