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 "I mostly just wanted to do the best possible job of
reddening Miles' cheeks while slapping him," the actor quipped
in a recent interview.
Among his many roles, Simmons, 60, has previously played a
neo-Nazi in HBO's prison drama "Oz," a psychiatrist in police
procedural "Law & Order," a newspaper editor in the "Spider-Man"
film franchise and a blind lawyer in "Growing Up Fisher."
But it's a manipulative, abusive, but also at times charming,
jazz teacher that may be his shot at an Oscar.
"Whiplash," the feature-length directorial debut from Damien
Chazelle, pits young jazz drummer Andrew (Teller) striving to be
the best in his craft against Simmons' Fletcher, an acerbic,
calculating, foul-mouthed instructor.
Simmons is up for a best supporting actor Golden Globe on Sunday
and a frontrunner for next week's Oscar nominations.
As Andrew is pushed to his very limits of existence by Fletcher,
the film explores both the physical and mental anguish of the
pursuit of perfection - from Andrew practicing until his fingers
are dripping with blood to Fletcher continuously slapping him as
he mocks his skills.
"I wanted to portray a character who is single-minded in his
objective and his focus, and is unconcerned with what the
collateral damage might be," Simmons said.
"Without even seeing my character, you see him through all these
terrified kids' eyes, and it just makes my job so much easier as
an actor when it's been established that you have a room full of
kids that are scared."
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Simmons said finding Chazelle and the role of Fletcher was "kismet,"
or fate, as he had studied both classical and rock'n'roll music in
college.
For 29-year-old Chazelle, who scored two BAFTA nominations on
Friday, the inspiration for "Whiplash" came directly from his own
recollections as a young jazz drummer in high school.
"I certainly remember the sheer anxiety and terror of being in
rehearsals, my hands bleeding through practice," he said.
But the first-hand experience came as an advantage to the rookie
director, who initially took the film as a short to the Sundance
Film Festival in 2013.
After winning the jury award for fiction in the short film category,
Chazelle returned to Sundance with the feature length version in
2014 and won both the audience and grand jury prizes. Sony Pictures
Classics bought the film for $3 million.
And while a film about the niche world of jazz drumming was not
Chazelle's easiest pitch to make to film buyers, he said he hoped it
was the emotional journey that would connect with audiences.
"You can actually end up telling a more universal story the more you
really burrow into a specific world," he said.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Eric M. Johnson, Robert
Birsel)
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