To celebrate the release of the mighty WHIPLASH on June 1st on Blu-ray and DVD, we’ve got an exclusive interview with director Damien Chazelle.
The movie focuses around Andrew, an ambitious young jazz drummer, single-minded in his pursuit to rise to the top but plagued by the failed writing career of his father. Meanwhile, Terence Fletcher, an instructor equally known for his teaching talents as for his terrifying methods, leads the top jazz ensemble in the school. Fletcher discovers Andrew and transfers the aspiring drummer into his band, forever changing the young man’s life.
Check out some words from Chazelle on the process of getting this truly unique film made…
Q. As a first-time director, what was it like working with Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons?
A. I was spoiled. I think that’s the easy way to say it when you have actors like that and when you’re allowed to sort of make the movie you want to make. I had a sort of level of creative freedom on this that’s pretty unusual for a newbie writer/director. This was a very personal script for me and it dealt with issues I’ve been grappling with for a while, so to be able to put them on screen and in the hands of actors of this caliber was just a gift.
Q. When you were a young musician, who were your musical inspirations?
A. I was the sort of anachronistic high school teen who spent most of my time listening to Buddy Rich or Joe Jones or Charlie Parker and people from an earlier era. How I angled my drums and how I held my sticks was always in homage to those older figures. That’s what I find interesting about young jazz musicians, in general: [having] one foot in the past and one foot in today and how it sort of cuts you off from the contemporary world, in a way.
Q. What kind of advice do you have for aspiring young artists?
A. Hopefully, there’s a sort of simple message: Don’t give up. It takes fifty or a hundred or a thousand “No’s” before you hear a “Yes.” Certainly, that applies to both music and my experience as a writer/director. This movie wasn’t easy to get off the ground. It required a lot of strain and heartbreak. At the same time, I wanted to sort of question that process in this movie and show someone who goes through so much to achieve something that maybe it’s too much. So, I don’t necessarily mean to condone what happens in the movie. It’s more a matter of trying to question what we’re willing to sacrifice in the name of art.
Q. Do you remember the first music you bought?
A. The first CD I bought was “The Gin Blossoms.” It was just the single, the EP, with “Follow You Down.” That was really exciting because I lived in Princeton, New Jersey, and its one claim to fame, other than the University, is this one record store, The Princeton Record Exchange. It’s one of the great record stores in the country. So I went and got it and I was really excited. It was right when I was starting to play drums. [But] I started off playing rock drums. I didn’t actually get into jazz until high school because I had this conductor who just scared me so much into practicing that jazz became utterly my life. So, the idols switched but the love of music stayed the same.
Q Do you remember your first concert?
A. My Dad is big into music and guitars, so he would take me to a lot of stuff. I remember he took me to an Otis Rush concert. It was this really loud blues concert in this small space where everyone’s trying to hold their ears. Somehow, I was so tired that, half way through the concert, I fell asleep – even though everyone else was having hearing damage [laughs]. But I remember the part I was awake for and it was just amazing. There’s something about seeing that kind of raw musicianship up close. It’s amazing.
WHIPLASH is out on Blu-ray and DVD 1st June, Pre-order here!
