What you may need to know:
1. A talented young jazz drummer secures a place in one of the country’s top music schools where he is placed under the tutelage of a fearsome jazz music teacher.
2. The title is a nod to Hank Levy’s jazz classic ‘Whiplash‘.
3. It’s unnerving to see J.K. Simmons play such a role. He’s usually so nice!
4. The film has been doing the festival rounds garnering high praise along the way. It picked up the top audience and grand jury awards at Sundance.
5. Writer and director Damien Chazelle took 15 pages from his original screenplay and adapted it into a short film starring Johnny Simmons in the role of the drummer and J. K. Simmons in the role of the teacher. The 18-minute short of the same name ultimately attracted investors to sign on and produce the complete version of the script.
6. To prepare for the role Miles Teller had to stop working out or even going outside so that he would be “pale and doughy”. Teller described it as being “by far, the hardest thing I’ve ever done”. Mmmf.
7. Broadsheet Prognosis: We’re snared.
Release Date: January 16, 2015
Re JK Simmons, he’s not so nice in ‘Oz’. Oh no.
He’s nice as pie in Law and Order.
Yeah, vern schillinger is a pretty cuddly character over all
Vern’s a lover, not a fighter…..
He is a schweetie in Juno and those farmers insurance ads.
Nice poster.