JK Simmons – Whiplash: “I had to rest my voice to be able to scream on miles all day”
The film by Damien Chazelle, acclaimed by criticism, will return this evening to T18.
Whiplash, From Damien Chazelle with JK Simmons, Miles Teller and Paul Reiser, will return this Saturday evening to T18 (one of the new TNT channels). To wait until the replay of this drama which has a hit at the 2014 Deauville Festival, here is an interview with one of its two main actors, JK Simmons.
Damien Chazelle: “I wanted Whiplash to be violent and brutal, like a gangster film”
Before you have the role, you already had a solid musical training. What did you have to do to prepare?
I had no jazz experience. The bulk of the work consisted in learning the scores. I had to seem to know them at the fingertips since I am supposed to be a great conductor. But it helped be able to read the notes and have musical training. The other important element was to rest my voice, so as to have enough energy to scream on miles all day.
What kind of music have you studied?
I started teenagers to scratch my guitar in coffee houses, then I studied very classic music, studied singing, composition and a little of each instrument, enough to be able to write for each of them. But I did not know if I wanted to become an Elmer Bernstein or a singer. So I derived towards musical theater, and drift drift, I arrived where I am.
Have you continued to play?
I have never played any instrument well, not even the piano. I had to repeat, even to play the very simple ride that I have to play in the film. I had to train because I have poor hands coordination. Music passes through my brain and my heart, but not in my hands. Still another technical thing to work. But in college, I was conductor, singer and composer. Subsequently I happened to sing on occasion. The last time I went on a stage was before leaving New York around 1995.
How did you develop your character? Your gestures are precise at a manic point.
You have to train a little, but it comes quite naturally. One of the interesting things with this character is that it is jazzous. These people do not behave as if they were running a fanfare, they are precise but casual. But the obsessive compulsive nature of this type, with almost military discipline, led me to seek a combination of jazz conductor and someone much more precise and constipated. And then humanly, he is very unhappy. He needs to hang on to this kind of precision.
You share harmoniously between TV series and films. Do you continue the theater?
My theatrical career is very distinct for me. I started there, but since I played in front of a camera, I have not returned there. It was at the theater that I met my wife. We had children, then, 11 years ago, we decided not to make a theater anymore and therefore to leave New York to settle in. Where there is more work. And I make my agents crazy because I especially choose my roles according to geography. I have children at school and I don’t want to get away from them. I try not to travel too much. That’s why I like to turn to the. For Whiplash That said, I would have gone anywhere to turn, but fortunately, we were mostly turned.
Interview Gérard Delorme
Whiplash: JK Simmons is immense in this film by Damien Chazelle (Critique)
The story of Whiplash : Andrew, 19, dreams of becoming one of the best jazz drummers of his generation. But competition is tough at the Manhattan Conservatory where he trains fiercely. Its objective is to integrate the flagship of the orchestras led by Terence Fletcher, fierce and intractable professor. When this one finally spots it, Andrew launches, under his direction, in the quest for excellence …
Trailer:
