Jeremy Kay speaks to the Harvard graduate about the feature version of his prize-winning 2013 short.
Genre storytelling, Sundance Film Festival head honcho John Cooper has noted, has emerged as a device by which this year’s film-makers suck us into otherwise non-genre stories.
Damien Chazelle’s US Dramatic entry Whiplash should fit in nicely. The feature version of the Harvard graduate’s Sundance 2013 jury prize-winning short of the same name is the tale of a ruthless music conservatory dressed up as a thriller.
“I was trying to recapture a feeling I had when I was in [a high school jazz] ensemble,” says the 28-year-old Rhode Island native, who moved to Los Angeles in 2007 to work as a jobbing screenwriter.
“The movie goes a lot further then anything I went through. I set it in the world of a cut-throat musical conservatory a la Juilliard but we captured the feeling I was after – the sheer terror of performing and the competitiveness of that world.”
Rising star Miles Teller plays an aspiring jazz drummer tutored by JK Simmons’ brutal conductor.
For Chazelle, who never went to formal film school, the sheer terror (and elation) of a Park City premiere might be alleviated somewhat by the knowledge that he has friends in high places.
Jason Reitman liked the screenplay and helped Chazelle produce the short as a proof of concept. Reitman and genre specialist Jason Blum championed the short and Bold Films stepped in to finance before the autumn 2013 production start.
“I’ve always wanted to make movies,” says Chazelle. “It’s the only thing I remember ever wanting to do.
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