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Miles Teller and JK Simmons Talk Whiplash | Film4 Interview Special
JK Simmons revealed in an oral history of "Whiplash" celebrating the film's 10th anniversary that he had assumed the film's director, Damien Chazelle, was a black man after first reading the script, which centered on the toxic relationship between an aspiring jazz drummer (Miles Teller) and his abusive instructor. Simmons played the latter character and won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
"I see a brilliant script from someone who clearly understands jazz, the quintessential American music — and a largely African-American art form," Simmons told Vanity Fair. "The guy's name is Damien Chazelle. I see Antoine Fuqua. I go into this meeting thinking it's going to be a tall, elegant-looking black man in a beret."
"We go to 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, like I usually do, and I literally look around the restaurant, which is not very busy — I look past or through Damien, who finally stands up and waves at me, and I'm like, 'Who is this little curly-haired kid from New Jersey?'"
