J.K. Simmons revealed in an oral history of “Whiplash” to mark the film’s 10th anniversary that he assumed the film’s director, Damien Chazelle, was a Black man after he first read the script about the toxic relationship between an aspiring jazz drummer (Miles Teller) and his abusive instructor. Simmons played the latter character and won the Oscar for best supporting actor.
“I see a genius script by somebody who clearly understands jazz, the quintessential American musical art form — and a largely African American art form,” Simmons told Vanity Fair. “The guy’s name is Damien Chazelle. I’m picturing Antoine Fuqua. I’m going into this meeting thinking it’s going to be some tall, elegant-looking Black guy with a beret.”
“We go to meet at this restaurant, and of course he’s there a few minutes early because he’s a young guy,” he continued. “I get there right on time, as is my wont, and I’m literally looking around the restaurant, which is not very crowded — I’m looking right past or through Damien, who finally stands up and waves at me. I’m like, ‘Who’s this little curly-haired kid from New Jersey?’”
Chazelle admitted to Vanity Fair that he also had an assumption about Simmons that didn’t pan out to be true, explaining: “When we first started doing ‘Whiplash,’ I mainly thought of [J.K.] as the dad in ‘Juno.’ He had this wholesome, decent, all-American vibe to him in a lovably, gruff, comic way. So my big concern was, Can you get to a place where we don’t just think you’re kidding around all the time, we’re actually genuinely scared of you?”
“Whiplash” originated as a short film in which Simmons was cast. He reprised the role in the feature version. Chazelle remembered walking onto the set of the short film and “just waiting to see initially what [Simmons] was going to do with the role and how much I’m going to want to adjust.”
“I’d written it thinking about a variety of people, but the jazz orchestra conductor that I played under was very different physically, temperamentally, from J.K. Simmons,” the director explained. “A different creature. Yet within five minutes of shooting the short, just seeing J.K. doing the first take on whatever piece of dialogue we began with — that preconceived notion of the character in my head went out the window. J.K. became that character, the character became J.K., and it became unthinkable to play the character any other way.”
In addition to the Oscar, Simmons won best supporting actor prizes from the Golden Globes and BAFTA Film Awards. “Whiplash” earned a total of five Oscar nominations, including best picture, and it also took home the prize for best film editing. The film is being rereleased in theaters on Sept. 20 to mark its 10th anniversary.
Head over to Vanity Fair’s website to read the full “Whiplash” oral history.
Source Agencies
