Director Damien Chazelle discusses his electrifying musical drama.
If you asked me right now for my favorite movie of 2014, Id sayWhiplashwithout hesitation.
The finished film is the antithesis of the feel-good music school movie: this is art as war.
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Damien Chazelle: Yeah.
Wed have rehearsals every day at about 2:00 PM, and then sometimes evenings like 9:00 PM.
My career wasnt even in danger.
In my case I was in high school.
I didnt even really want to be a jazz drummer before that.
So what the hell was I scared of?
Theres nothing rational about it.
I practiced my ass off out of fear.
It certainly took the story in different directions, but it started with that same kind of question.
A lot of stuff is pulled from that.
So I had a treasure trove of little anecdotes and stories from them.
A lot of it being more physical and more kind of purple language sort of stuff came from that.
Where was your high school?
Princeton, New Jersey.
What happened with the teacher?
Is he still there?
He actually passed away about ten years ago.
Maybe Im more of a wuss than other people, certainly in my head it wasnt quite as rosy.
What I love about the movie is theres no redemptive arc for either of them.
I love the way you put that.
I love movies like that.
Its very kind of actor-based, is the crass way of putting it.
Because as an actor what you care about is, Whats my motivation in the scene, right?
Thats the cliche sort of thing.
And conflict arises from your motivation contradicting another actors motivation.
You cant imagine people more motivated in their perspective pursuits than Fletcher and Andrew.
It just doesnt exist.
So put those two people in a room, its like putting two rabid dogs into a cage.
Its like watching a dog fight.
Were Miles and J.K. always in the mix on this or did you see different people too?
Definitely different people were in the mix at various junctures.
And J.K. was the first person to be attached in any capacity to the project.
And I hadnt really thought about any particular actor in that role.
I havent yet put my mind in that space and as soon as he said it we did it.
We gave the script to J.K.
He was there right from the beginning.
So the casting process was probably pretty unusually quick on this movie.
Now what did Miles do in terms of actual drumming?
It was important for me that Andrew be the kind of kid whose heroes were not contemporary drummers.
His heroes were people who were dead or had been playing decades ago, even before he was born.
The drummers I worshiped where those same guys.
Its a whole movement of your arms and everything.
So then he just learned stuff really quickly.
Hes an actual drummer.
And certainly the vast majority of the stuff you see on screen is him.
Tell me a little bit quickly aboutLa La Land, your next film.
Thats a romantic musical that Im shooting with Miles and Emma Watson in L.A. in March.
And do you still play drums?
A little bit, not too much.
I occasionally play with friends, but its sort of depressing.
Im not as good as I used to be.
Maybe I need someone barking in my ear.
Whiplashopens in limited release tomorrow (Friday, October 10).
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