Not Missing a Beat: Miles Teller in "Whiplash" and "The Spectacular Now"

Submerging oneself in the recently released Whiplash soundtrack—which includes classic jazz standards like Duke Ellington's Caravan and Stan Getz's Intoit—and the compilation Complete Buddy Rich: 1946-1956/1957-1962, it's easier to connect with Charlie Parker's ghost. Bird became an obsession for genius drummer Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) in the three-Oscar-winner film Whiplash (2014). In Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker (2013), the biographer Stanley Crouch affirmed: "Charlie Parker knew how to listen and hear, instant by instant, and how to respond with aesthetic command to that instant, gone now and never to return."

By comparing Damien Chazelle's milestone Whiplash with Sundance Film Festival's darling The Spectacular Now (which earned Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley the Special Jury Award for Dramatic Acting in 2013), we'll notice many similarities between their outwardly disparate filmic concepts.

Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), the ruthless jazz instructor at Shaffer, transforms Andrew's admiration for Buddy Rich into Charlie Parker's renewed greatness, turning a dangerously unhealthy obsession into predetermined and irrevocable success, whatever the cost may be. In Andrew's case, the resurrection of Charlie Parker's spirit will bestow on him an absolute dissociation with the world outside of music. In real life, Parker maintaned an obscure business relationship with his benefactor Ross Russell and was committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital in 1946 after his "Lover Man" breakdown, echoing the parallel confrontation between Neiman and Fletcher in the film.

No family or girlfriend can rescue the lost innocence of Andrew Neiman, who will exist virtually outside of society from then on, having ceased to distinguish between passion and madness, love and hate, humanity and cruelty. But nothing will ever tarnish the legendary magnitude of his triumph in that sublime instant that's never to return, and that's why genuine art is often so strange and scarce. That painful divorce of heart and reason in Whiplash was narrated in more relatable terms through Teller's performance as Sutter Keely in The Spectacular Now the previous year.

A high school senior bereft of ambition or plans for the future, only fortified by his abuse of alcohol and fake parties, Sutter Keely casually meets introverted A-student Aimee Finecky (Shailene Woodley), whom he vows to save from her downtrodden life: "I’m not a lifestyle accessory to her. I’m a necessity. I’m the guy that’s going to crack open her cocoon. She doesn’t need to change me—she needs me to change her. At least until her little butterfly wings get strong enough to fly away."

The same focus on the need of saving someone from affliction or mediocrity was manifested in the reveal that Andrew finally obtains from Fletcher in a rare bonding moment: "I wasn’t [at Shaffer] to conduct. No, it’s about pushing people beyond what’s expected of them. And I believe that is a necessity. Because without it you’re depriving the world of its next Armstrong. Its next Parker."

In the scene when Andrew's ex-girlfriend Nicole, an unambitious theatre concessionist, confesses to him on the phone she's dating another man and she will not come back, Chazelle's script says: "You can see it in Andrew’s eyes - real hurt. And surprise at how hurt he feels."

Sutter, unlike Andrew, is not surprised by the feeling of hurt, he simply has learned to hide it socially. "God’s own drunk... he’s looking out for you in your beautiful intoxication but you end up spending half the day feeling like the Antichrist when the fact is you didn’t do a thing to hurt a soul."

When Andrew makes love to Aimee (she's been sexually victimized in the past and Andrew behaves cautious yet nonchalant about it), he feels for the first time something more than sexual pleasure, a painful sensation he cannot conceal: "I look down at her face. Suddenly, I feel all the layers that have grown over my own purity stripping away. The faster we go, the more layers burn away, until magic time hits, and there’s nothing left but the original me, as pristine as her body, shining and glorious."

The final solo scene in Whiplash: "It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen... 450 beats per minute... trying to go even faster... trying to reach that mythical place where only the greats live... Andrew tearing a hole through the stage, blood gushing from his hands and staining the cymbals... A second of pure silence. Fletcher turns to the band, raises his hand... and cues the final note. The whole band roars it out, horns hitting their highest C’s, and Andrew rolling around his drum set like a madman, eyes about to pop, the next Buddy Rich, Fletcher’s only Charlie Parker on that very last hit of hits... cut to black."

Sutter's most pessimistic observations are found in the Chapter 66 of Tim Tharp’s novel The Spectacular Now: "We’re not the Faster-than-the-Speed-of-Light Generation anymore. We’re not even the Next-New-Thing Generation. We’re the Soon-to-Be-Obsolete Kids, and we’ve crowded in here to hide from the future and the past. We know what’s up—the future looms straight ahead like a black wrought-iron gate and the past is charging after us..."

An experiment conducted by the neuroscientist David Eagleman in 2010 on time perception in drummers illustrated that drummers have different brains from the rest of us: "Establishing the beat is a drug for drummers," Brad Henderson (author of Drums: A Novel) concluded.

Andrew Neiman and Sutter Keely both probably suffer from depression and alexithymia. According to psychoanalyst Joyce McDougall, the disaffected individuals "experienced overwhelming emotion that threatened to attack their sense of integrity and identity." Jazz and alcohol are indulged thus methodically in order to numb their emotional damages. Sutter masks his psychogenic unrest with a blasé party-boy façade whilst Andrew unmasks the secrets of artistic greatness, whose center is sheer bright pain. Sutter swaps his own happiness for Aimee's future. 

Andrew sacrifices part of his soul for brief immortality. Their stories simultaneously mutate into a prolonged coda that marks their slow-tempo self-destruction, a shut-down from the outside world that they'll enact as the ultimate form of compassion towards others. Miles Teller nails both performances without missing a beat: 'bad boy' Sutter who courts redemption in The Spectacular Now, and the remoteness of the genius in Whiplash.

Published previously as In ‘Whiplash’ and ‘The Spectacular Now,’ Miles Teller Isn’t Missing a Beat on Blogcritics.

Miles Teller: Getting A-List Jobs, "No Exit", "You Never Know/Crazy About My Baby" video

Miles Teller really established himself when he blew people away in The Spectacular Now. Playing a wise cracking teen who lives in the moment but comes to find that existence hollow due to his relationship with Shailene Woodley’s good hearted character, Teller stretched and wins you over in a big way. It’s a touching performance in a nearly perfect film. Teller and Woodley have tremendous chemistry and this was the role that I feel started the actor off on this path to the A-list. 

Since then, he’s had a few comedies/romantic comedies in That Awkward Moment and Two Night Stand (which happens to be much better than you’d expect and well worth seeking out) that have showcased him either as a comedian or as a romantic lead, while he’s also taken a big step into the mainstream with a notable part in the epic Divergent. The success of Divergent as well as its sequels was his entrance to the big A-list rankings, though he left us all stunned with his work in the drama Whiplash. Alongside J.K. Simmons, Teller essays the best performance of his career as a drum student going up against his instructor. It’s a magnificent bit of acting.”

Be sure to check out Get a Job, finally coming to screens this weekend! Source: www.hollywoodnews.com

Josh Brolin and Miles Teller are set to star in the firefighter action movie “No Exit,” sources tell Variety. “Tron: Legacy” helmer Joseph Kosinski is directing the pic, which tells the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a group of firefighters that faced one of the deadliest wildfires in history in order to save an Arizona town, resulting in the tragic death of 19 crew members. In the past year, Brolin has appeared in “Everest,” “Sicario” and, most recently, the Coen brothers’ black comedy “Hail, Caesar!” 

Teller has “The Divergent Series: Allegiant”, and the Todd Phillips movie “War Dogs” premiering on Aug. 19. He is currently filming the PTSD drama “Thank You For Your Service” at DreamWorks. Source: variety.com

A video featuring pictures of Miles Teller, his co-stars Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Anna Kendrick, etc., and girlfriend Keleigh Sperry. Soundtrack: "You Never Know" by Wilco, "I Got Stung" & "Stuck on You" by Elvis Presley, "Whole lotta Loving" by Fats Domino, "Crazy About My Baby" by Randy Newman, "Ooh Wee Baby" by Jeff Barry and "I'm Gonna Love You Too" by Buddy Holly.

Miles Teller ("Stuck on You"/"Let There Be Drums") video

A video dedicated to Miles Teller, featuring co-stars Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, and girlfriend Keleigh Sperry.  Soundtrack: Elvis Presley hits and Sandy Nelson's "Let There Be Drums."

"I don't download movies, I don't watch Hulu, I don't have Netflix. But I do geek out to music. Honestly, I'm not a big movie buff in general. I always had ambition. I always knew I was going to go to college. I could party and do that stuff, but I always got straight A's." -Miles Teller

Romanticism in "La La Land" and "The Spectacular Now"

Summit Entertainment has announced that La La Land has been pushed back from its previously scheduled July 15 release date. Instead, Damien Chazelle’s modern-day musical will open Dec. 2 in limited release before going wide on Dec. 16. Chazelle, who scored an Oscar nomination for Whiplash, wrote and directed his musical love letter to the city of Los Angeles, starring Gosling and Stone as musician, Sebastian, and struggling actress, Mia. The two see each other as kindred spirits, only to find their blossoming relationship threatened by success. “There’s an incredible romanticism in L.A. that you don’t always see when you’re stuck in traffic on the 405,” Chazelle told EW about La La Land in December. “I wanted to make a big love letter to the city and focus on that push and pull that all young artists experience, between dreams and reality, which old Hollywood musicals are so good at expressing. I think there’s something poetic about that.” Source: www.ew.com

It’s strongly implied in the interview that the reason Miles Teller was no longer "creatively right" was that Whiplash became an Oscar winning film, thus making Chazelle and his films much hotter properties in Hollywood. The male lead in La La Land (which is the role we assume is being discussed) is now being played by Ryan Gosling, so that shows you a little how that went... Teller’s Whiplash co-star J.K. Simmons is also in it. Of course, it’s also possible that filming summer superhero movies and other more mainstream fare like the Divergent series also soured the director on him creatively. Source: www.cinemablend.com

Miles Teller and Brie Larson starred in the indie darling The Spectacular Now, playing a high school's most popular couple (before Teller's character struck up a relationship with Shailene Woodley, of course). Miles decided to honor his former costar by throwing it back to that beloved flick. "I never should've let her break up with me in Spectacular Now!" he wrote on Twitter shortly after her big win. "Congrats @brielarson." Source: www.eonline.com

As far as chemistry goes, no one showed more connectivity than Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley, redefining high school romanticism through fears of commitment and embracing future unknowns. The Spectacular Now is a rare film that wears its colors on its sleeve, and sucks you into the world of Miles Teller’s character Sutter for a watch that could be classified as emotionally bi-polar. Source: wegotthiscovered.com

Shailene Woodley may steal the show, but there's no doubt that the film belongs to Miles Teller's Sutter. A good-time kid smarting from his breakup with his girlfriend and determined to live in an eternal present despite his half-assed attempts at filling out college applications, Sutter is also haunted by the absence of his father. The early scenes between the two lovers are among the film's finest, and the filmmakers smartly undercut the romanticism of many of these sequences by suggesting that even as Sutter is wooing Aimee, she still serves as a consolation prize for the ex he can't win back.

Unfortunately, the film then turns its attention primarily to the question of Sutter's parental inheritance, particularly the ways in which he either has been, or imagines he has been, shaped in both his alcoholism and his philosophy of living in the moment, by his absent father. It's a questionable turn for a movie that that, until that point, succeeded largely by avoiding this kind of easy psychologizing, instead unfolding as a series of sharply rendered interactions between young people trying to figure out their place in a world that exists beyond their fragile understanding. Source: www.slantmagazine.com

The reality is the idealist perspective of the man-child does not really hold up. James Ponsoldt's riveting "The Spectacular Now" humanizes the "man-child" and examines the origins and evolutions of this archetype. Sutter reacts to his environment without really giving it much thought. His decisions slowly reveal more about his desire to use his nonchalant nature as a defense for a fear of the world he desperately wants to avoid. Teller makes a star turn as Sutter. He's full of energy and his smile makes him a loveable character. His characterization tries to put up the front of the strong character and yet comes off as awkward and out-of-place. As his character descends, the smile dissipates behind an increasingly stern face that is wrestling to keep its emotions in check. 

The idyllic, carefree world of prom and high school is dominated by the complex and disappointing one inhabited by adults. Woodley is breathtaking in her turn as Aimee. Her timid and insecure nature is genuine and palpable, and her transformation, like Sutter's, is one of trial by fire. Ponsoldt and cinematographer Jess Hall utilize the long take to terrific effect in pivotal scenes; a powerful portrayal of the title's "Spectacular Now" if you will. A sex scene is filmed in a tight long shot that creates a powerful sense of intimacy but also reflects naturalism. Source: www.latinospost.com

Miles Teller: Divergent, Whiplash, Bleed for This

"Allegiant" (2016) The latest episode of the Divergent sci-fi series suffers from over-elaborate production design, too much hardware and far too many special effects. It doesn't help that the plotting is so convoluted and so wayward. One moment characters are being dressed in "plasma" clothes to protect them from nuclear radiation, the next they are whirring through the sky in futuristic buggies. There are so many chases, fights and shoot-outs that the film-makers lose sight of the story they are trying to tell. 

Tris, Four and the other young heroes (including Miles Teller's still perfidious Peter) escape the city and take their chances in the toxic red desert beyond the wall. There, they encounter the Bureau of Genetic Welfare, as shadowy an organisation as its name suggests, run by the friendly but inscrutable David (Jeff Daniels). The Hunger Games combined dystopian political satire with teen drama in effective, coherent fashion – and it ended on a very strong note. By contrast, Divergent is losing its way. Some of the action scenes (notably the escape from Chicago and the scaling of the wall) are staged with energy but others are formulaic in the extreme. Source: www.independent.co.uk

"When I first read Whiplash, I was feeling dead inside," Teller told W magazine of the film festival favorite, in which he is berated by his art college professor (J.K. Simmons) to become the next great name in jazz.

-Can you compare music to acting, in the sense of striving for perfection?

Miles Teller: What's similar - it's not a perfect medium. With actors, there are three performances: there's the one in their head they want to give, there's the one that they actually give, and there's the one they wish they gave. Every movie I finish, once I see it, I say: 'I could've done that.' You try and learn from it, and then with the next movie, you try and come back stronger and have a deeper, richer performance. The thing about acting, you're really just conveying the human condition… so you're always trying to understand yourself more and understand other people more and understand emotions more. It's a never-ending excavation process. Source: thequietus.com

Miles Teller: "Photo shoots are so weird. I hate them." Next up is Bleed for This, in which he will play the world champion boxer Vinny Pazienza who survives a car crash only to learn he might never walk again, before going on to make an inspirational comeback. It’s a plotline not entirely unfamiliar to the actor, who survived a near-fatal car crash in 2007, which left him with multiple scars on his face and neck. Source: www.independent.co.uk

"Bleed for This": Miles Teller stars as champion boxer Vinny Pazienza who makes an improbable comeback after a near-fatal car crash breaks his neck. Ben Younger ("Boiler Room") wrote and directed this movie, which prompted a bidding war last year after a 12-minute promo reel was shown to distributors. (Fall 2016) Source: www.latimes.com