JK Simmons Refused A Body Double For Whiplash: “I’m Not Just Gonna Be Some Actor Up There Waving His Arm”

Actor J.K. Simmons explains why he refused to have a body double for his movie Whiplash. The sophomore feature from Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle, Whiplash is a story about an ambitious percussion student named Andrew who sees his dedication and morale tested during his run-ins with an intense instructor named Fletcher. Whiplash received critical acclaim during its 2014 release, and won Oscars for film editing, sound mixing, and Best Supporting Actor for Simmons.

Speaking with GQ, Simmons discusses why he did not want to use a body double for Whiplash.

After praising Whiplash as a piece of writing, Simmons went on to explain that director Chazelle originally wanted to get a body double for the conducting in order to take the “onus” off of Simmons. Then, Simmons informed Chazelle that he was a classically trained musician with conducting experience, and wanted to do his own conducting. Simmons then detailed the fact that Miles Teller “had been playing drums since he was 15.” Check out the full quote from Simmons below:

“The first thing he [Chazelle] said is ‘JK, I want to take some of the onus off of you. I want to put you at ease with the musical aspects of this. We’ll have a technical advisor for you, a conductor for a lot of the long shots. And we can just use a body double to do the actual conducting, he said I want you as the actor, so don’t be intimidated.’ And I’m staring at him like ‘dude, I’m a classically trained musician. I wanted to be Leonard Bernstein. I’m a conductor. So I’m not just going to be some actor up there waving his arms. I will learned these scores. And in another piece of Kismet, he had no idea that Miles had been playing drums since he was 15 years old, and he wouldn’t have to fake all the drumming either.”

How Whiplash’s Authenticity Made It Even Better

This Led To Great Whiplash Performances

Looking back at Whiplash, it comes as no surprise that Simmons himself had classical training. As heightened as his emotions may be portrayed, Fletcher overall seems like he could be a realistic conductor. In his most iconic scene, Fletcher asks Andrew “were you rushing or were you dragging?” While he bellows at the percussionist with ire, Simmons’ performance is not over-the-top, but bone-chilling as the audience is aligned with Andrew and his growing anxiety surrounding this moment.

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The fact that it is really Teller playing the drums was also a highly publicized part of Whiplash at the time of its release. That information may not have been made readily available to Chazelle, as Simmons’ comment about Kismet implies that Chazelle was not aware of both actors’ musical talent at the time he cast them both in Whiplash. Still, there are enough drumming sequences that heavily relying on a musician body double would have been challenging. With both actors doing the majority of their own music work, it allows their performances to shine.

Said performances lead to what is one of Chazelle’s best films to date. While Whiplash is an entirely different film than something like La La Land, which Chazelle helmed two years later, its prowess is no less evident. Whiplash was responsible for putting Chazelle on the map, allowing him to make higher-budget films such as La La Land, First Man, and Babylon. It is even more impressive to know that the film achieved its feats with the actual actors doing their own conducting and drumming.

Source: GQ

Whiplash

Directed by Damien Chazelle, Whiplash follows Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), a first-year music student at a prestigious New York City conservatory who becomes the target of abuse by one of his instructors, Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons). As Andrew works harder to impress Fletcher, their increasingly hostile relationship sends his life into a tailspin.  Paul Reiser and Melissa Benoist star alongside Teller and Simmons. 

Director

Damien Chazelle

Release Date

October 10, 2014

Writers

Damien Chazelle

Runtime

107 Minutes

Budget

$3.3 million

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