J.K Simmons has revealed what he thought of Damien Chazelle when they first met to star in Whiplash.
Marking Whiplash’s 10th anniversary, Simmons revealed that he presumed that director Damien Chazelle was a Black man.
In the film, Simmons played a toxic and abusive jazz instructor to an aspiring jazz drummer played by Miles Teller.
The actor, who won both an Oscar and a BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actor for the movie, recalled, “I see a genius script by somebody who clearly understands jazz, the quintessential American musical art form — and a largely African American art form.”
“The guy’s name is Damien Chazelle. I’m picturing Antoine Fuqua. I’m going into this meeting thinking it’s going to be some tall, elegant-looking Black guy with a beret,” he shared with Vanity Fair.
“We go to meet at this restaurant, and of course he’s there a few minutes early because he’s a young guy,” he continued.
Simmons added: “I get there right on time, as is my wont, and I’m literally looking around the restaurant, which is not very crowded — I’m looking right past or through Damien, who finally stands up and waves at me. I’m like, ‘Who’s this little curly-haired kid from New Jersey?’”
Chazelle also opened up on casting Simmons in the role, saying, “I’d written it thinking about a variety of people, but the jazz orchestra conductor that I played under was very different physically, temperamentally, from J.K. Simmons.”
He added: “A different creature. Yet within five minutes of shooting the short, just seeing J.K. doing the first take on whatever piece of dialogue we began with — that preconceived notion of the character in my head went out the window. J.K. became that character, the character became J.K., and it became unthinkable to play the character any other way,”
Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash was released in 2014 and went on to sweep the awards season, winning Oscars, Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards and more.
