Inside the Making of Oscar-Nominated 'Whiplash'
One of the film's stars had to undergo a jazz drumming boot camp
— -- The Oscar-nominated movie “Whiplash” tells the story of a sadistic music teacher who moviegoers and -- apparently –- Oscar voters love to hate.
The low-budget, indie film drummed up five Oscar nominations this year, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Supporting Actor for J.K. Simmons, who plays the teacher, Terence Fletcher.
The target of Simmons’ Fletcher is Andrew Neyman, a talented student played in the film by Miles Teller.
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Behind the scenes, the movie’s director, Damien Chazelle, realized Teller himself needed help jazzing up his own drumming skills.
Teller was put through a nearly two month-long jazz drumming boot camp with musician Nate Lang that consisted of several hours of practice three to four days per week.
"He asked me if there were any tips and it’s just, the more relaxed you are, the faster you can play,” Lang told “Good Morning America.”
Lang himself has a role in the film, playing a rival of Teller.
The entire film was shot in just 19 days, making for long days for all, except for Lang, his director teased him.
“Because Nate’s very, very lazy,” Chazelle joked.
“You got me for four hours, then I’m out the door,” Lang responded.
“Nate has like child hours, you know, where, like, it’s illegal to keep him for more than four hours,” Chazelle joked again.
Jokes aside, Lang’s instruction of Teller on the drums resulted in 40 percent of the drumming scenes in “Whiplash” coming from Teller's own play on the drums, according to Chazelle.
“Miles is very, very proud of himself because about three weeks into filming he drew actual blood,” Chazelle said of Teller’s drummer hands. “It’s not like you’re actually cutting yourself. It’s just blisters that eventually become bloody blisters.”
“The anatomy of it is very fascinating, especially for morning people watching,” Chazelle said.