The Close-Up: Damien Chazelle Chats About His NYFF and Sundance Hit 'Whiplash'

Whiplash director Damien Chazelle. Photo by Annabel Ruddle.

This week’s episode of The Close-Up features a discussion between film critic Amy Taubin and filmmaker Damien Chazelle about his new movie Whiplash, which has been described as “Full Metal Jacket at Juilliard” for its depiction of a young, aspiring jazz drummer who encounters a hostile music teacher who will stop at nothing to push his students to their full potential. Whiplash screened at this year's New York Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival.

Chazelle carved his way into the independent film scene with his acclaimed debut feature, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, back in 2009. Following the release of the film, the Harvard graduate moved out to Los Angeles to further pursue writing and directing his own features, which led to more writing-for-hire opportunities than he had hoped for, before getting the chance to make Whiplash.

“I find L.A. kind of romantic, actually,” says Chazelle. “As a movie junkie, it’s a city that was built by the movies. There’s something really weird and surreal about it that I find energizing.”

The ability to write and direct Whiplash resulted from the filmmaker’s prior short film of the same title, which also starred J.K. Simmons in his abusive music teacher role. The premise of both films was inspired by Chazelle’s own past experiences, as well as a love of music on film.

“It was only through getting interested in more out-there and avant-garde forms that the musical suddenly seemed like such a wonderful genre to me. Just the sheer audacity of being willing to, whether you’re breaking the diegesis or not, to segue a narrative into something that might seem to be a stop in the narrative, but could actually be advancing it in an angular sort of way. That kind of storytelling suddenly seemed very exciting to me, and suddenly Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies seemed like the best experimental movies ever made.”

Listen to this week's episode of The Close-Up to hear more about the young director’s process of getting his Sundance award-winning sensation Whiplash made, his reaction to being described as the next Scorsese, and directing Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons during a quick 20-day shoot. Whiplash is currently out in theaters.

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