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00:00Hey, I'm Scott Shillstone in the Deadline Studio at the 2024 Toronto International Film
00:15Festival.
00:16I am joined by Damian Chazelle and J.K.
00:18Simmons.
00:19Gentlemen, thank you for being here.
00:20Thanks for having us.
00:21Thanks for having us.
00:22Of course.
00:23So it's been 10 years since the release of Whiplash.
00:25First off, can you believe it's been that long?
00:27No.
00:28I mean, no.
00:29He can.
00:30Yeah.
00:31It's bizarre.
00:32And it's bizarre that the guy in my right now, the wunderkind, is now the father of two.
00:37I mean, it's a lot of things have, and I'm Santa Claus, so yeah, things have changed
00:45in the last decade.
00:46That's what I was going to say.
00:47You were 29 when this film came out and to, you know, massive critical acclaim.
00:52I mean, what was that like as a filmmaker to experience that sort of recognition at
00:57such a young age?
00:59I mean, it was overwhelming and, you know, obviously a dream come true, but I think everything
01:05about the film, including the making of it, was, you know, felt sort of like this sort
01:11of blessed experience where, you know, I was kind of pinching myself at various junctures
01:16along the road.
01:18So I think, you know, that there was something about even just getting it made and sort of
01:24being on set with someone like J.K. or Miles and the crew, it just sort of, it was my first
01:30time kind of, you know, I'd grown up sort of wanting to be a director and making sort
01:35of home movies at home and then making student films and things like that, making documentaries
01:39with the camera on my shoulder and that kind of way of making films.
01:42So the sort of making kind of a, I was going to say a Hollywood film, even though this
01:47was certainly sort of not a Hollywood studio film, but any kind of Hollywood film was sort
01:52of new to me and sort of this sort of surreal experience of its own.
01:55So I'd say kind of by the time it got released, I sort of had almost gotten for the moment
02:00used to surreal sort of out-of-body experiences because the actual making of it felt a little
02:03bit like one itself.
02:04I was going to say, because it did start out as a short film before it was adapted into
02:09a feature.
02:10Were there any sort of challenges in sort of bringing it to feature film status?
02:16I have a great answer for that, but no, no, please, please.
02:21Here's the thing.
02:23When they sent it to me, Damien had written the feature film and then per, I don't know
02:29whose advice it was, Helen or Jason or whoever, he had sort of extracted the short film from
02:35the feature as a way to generate funding for the feature as a sort of proof of concept.
02:41So a lot of people think he wrote a short film and then expanded it into a feature,
02:45but really the opposite is the case.
02:47The feature came out fully formed and as I recall, the script that I read was very
02:54close to what we see on screen.
02:57I got that right, right?
03:00That's very accurate.
03:02Very accurate.
03:03And J.K., obviously, I mean, you had been working for years prior to Whiplash, but can
03:07you talk to me a little about what sort of impact that this film has had on your career?
03:11Most importantly, it was an absolute highlight of my life creatively and personally as well.
03:21I mean, it was a ridiculously grueling shoot, particularly, and I had like two days off
03:29in the shoot, so particularly for Miles and Damien and the crew and everybody, given what
03:34we were accomplishing, what he was accomplishing on the budget we had.
03:39But it was just one of those very rare experiences that the creative juices are just flowing
03:47everywhere and we always were able to find ourselves on the same page and it was just
03:54a magnificent experience.
03:56And then to see the finished product be as brilliant as it was, I mean, I almost always
04:04have quibbles with the final cut of anything.
04:08And he cut all the scenes that I had all by myself, which was so the right choice.
04:20Because people don't realize this about this film, Miles Teller is in every scene of this
04:24movie.
04:25I mean, that's who it's about, right?
04:28And so that perspective, Damien and Tom Cross didn't want to change that perspective by
04:35suddenly seeing Fletcher at home or Fletcher in the office kicking back and smoking a cigar
04:42or whatever.
04:43You were great in those scenes, though.
04:46Yeah, well, they'll be on the DVD, the 10th anniversary VHS tape will have the deleted
04:55scenes.
04:56Also, it was pretty good for my career, by the way.
04:59I mean, I was already in a ridiculously fortunate position of being able to more or less choose
05:04what I wanted to do.
05:07But after Whiplash, just the sheer volume of opportunities increased dramatically.
05:14Just looking back on your time filming, was there anything that stands out to you as a
05:18particularly fond memory?
05:20Slapping Miles Teller.
05:21Yeah.
05:22You got a disturbing amount of joy out of that.
05:25Really, really, really did enjoy that, yeah.
05:28Just because we're talking about 10 years later, obviously the industry has shifted
05:33and is so different now.
05:35I'm curious of just maybe your opinions on the state of the industry now versus then
05:41if we're heading in the right direction.
05:43I don't know.
05:44I guess the one thing I will say is that part of what makes it feel like, oh, it can't have
05:48been 10 years because in some ways, so many of the same questions were being asked then.
05:53Obviously, there have been changes in the industry since we made this film.
05:57But the struggle of is there a place for movies that are not IP-driven, say, or that maybe
06:07are more character-based or more dramas?
06:10The dreaded word.
06:11That was a dreaded word.
06:12It's a dreaded word today.
06:13It was a dreaded word 10 years ago.
06:15I think sometimes we think that things we're dealing with in the industry constitute very
06:21recent history.
06:22But in some ways, it's kind of the story of Hollywood on some level that it's constantly
06:27going through these moments of people looking in the mirror and wondering what the state
06:34of the industry is.
06:36I have this poster I like in my office.
06:41It's like a cover of a Paris Match magazine from 1953, I think.
06:45The title is Cinema Dead.
06:47It's all about TV coming in.
06:50You think of the movies that were made since 1953.
06:52There's some great ones.
06:55So yeah, on our side of the aisle, we have to just keep trying to do what we were doing
07:0110 years ago, I guess.
07:02And just trying to keep making the stuff that we're interested in making, however hard or
07:07not it might be.
07:08Finally, I would just love to know, we love to see you guys collaborate together.
07:13Is there anything coming up that you guys are going to be working on together?
07:17Any talks?
07:18Yeah, Damien.
07:19What are you writing for me now?
07:20It would be an absolute honor to work with him again, because we were just reflecting
07:24how long it's been since we've even seen each other in person.
07:27And we've been in touch, obviously.
07:28But working with this guy was one of the great joys of my both professional life and just
07:36life in general.
07:37So I would really love to find a way to replicate that experience, if possible, if you'll have
07:42me.
07:43I guess.
07:44I'll try to make it a little less grueling.
07:45But I can't promise it, especially in the state of the industry.
07:49I can't promise it.
07:50I hear you.
07:51Well, we have to leave it at that.
07:53That's too good.
07:54I appreciate it.
07:55Thank you so much.