If the door for acting opportunities was ajar for working actor J.K. Simmons before, his latest role has kicked it wide open; he and his wife are calling it “the ‘Whiplash’ effect.”
On Jan. 8, Backstage Editor-in-Chief Mark Peikert sat down with the SAG Award nominee for a filmed Q&A about his outstanding work in the indie film, part of Backstage and SAG Foundation’s series highlighting Film Independent Spirit Award nominees. As Fletcher Schaefer, a masochistic teacher in a competitive jazz conservatory, Simmons brings a refined explosiveness to his performance. Directed by Damien Chazelle, who Simmons referred to as a “boy wonder” looking “all of 18 years old” when they first met, “Whiplash” is now garnering serious Oscar buzz for both.
Originally an 18-minute short meant as a proof of concept for a feature—“because no one was going to sink $2 million–$3 million on a film that ends with a 12-minute drum solo”—the film (which Simmons also appeared in) ended up winning the Short Film Jury Prize at Sundance in 2013, and also gave the actor the confidence to work with the first-time director on a full-length.
The feature—shot in 19 days—follows ambitious jazz drummer Andrew (Miles Teller) and his willingness to be emotionally and physically abused in the pursuit of greatness. The film is understandably heavy on musical technicalities, an aspect Chazelle didn’t want Simmons to feel intimidated by. “He said to me, ‘I don’t want you to worry about it; we can fake a lot of it,’ not knowing I have a degree in music—I thought I was going to be the next Leonard Bernstein!” the actor said.
He went on to explain how he prepared for the role by studying the film’s sheet music, and also highlighted its rare approach to the “music movie.” “Virtually all the time you’re seeing guys playing those instruments, they’re playing those instruments,” he said about the actors. It was a choice that added a sense of realism to the set, which was only magnified by well-written characters and bold directorial decisions.
“[Damien] tells so much about my character by living on the faces of these guys,” Simmons said about the director’s preference to show the looks of fear his students have instead of focusing on Fletcher.
While some viewers felt the teacher went too far in that fear-instilling technique—which included hurling a chair at Andrew’s head, facial slaps, and verbal barrages—Simmons said the debate is very much alive over whether or not he was justified, citing an email he received from an orchestra conductor who was “completely in Fletcher’s corner.”
“To play any character, if it’s not something I can understand or empathize with, it’s not something I can play,” he said. “It was important to me that I didn’t want to dictate to the audience how they were supposed to feel about it.”
The actor, who spent 20 years doing theater before moving into television and film, wanted to be sure he could understand Fletcher’s controversial aggressiveness, as well as understand what it is to be physically threatening. He described Fletcher as “Jack LaLanne goes to music school,” and bulked up for the role.
“Fletcher relies on his intimidation of these young musicians, and he had to have the physical stamina and strength and agility to do it,” he explained about his muscular build before cracking a joke about pushing 60. “This might also be the last time I look halfway decent—I wanna get it up on the big screen!”
While speaking with his “Terminator Genisys” co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger (“’Cause ya know, we hang out now”), he jokingly asked the former bodybuilder what he thought of his biceps. Schwarzenegger responded, “Your biceps were OK. Your triceps were extraordinary.”
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