Whiplash

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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You remember that guy in the Farmer’s Insurance Commercials. He’s also the voice of the yellow M&M, a role he has played since 1996, replacing John Goodman.

Betcha didn’t know he won an Oscar.

No, not for his television commercials. Those are just moonlighting gigs for Jonathan Kimble Simmons.

With an acting career that has spanned five decades, you may recognize him as J. Jonah Jameson in these “Spider-Man” movies, or as the police chief in “The Closer,” or as Captain Hook in the Broadway revival of “Peter Pan.” You’ve even heard his voice in video games.

Not long ago, J.K. Simmons was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of William Frawley in “Being the Ricardos.”
And he won an Academy Award for his supporting role in the independent film “Whiplash” (2014).

Good news! You can catch a reprise of “Whiplash” at Tropic Cinema.

For those of you know don’t know the film, this is a psychological drama about an aspiring jazz drummer (Miles Teller), who is pushed to his limit by his abusive instructor (Simmons).

Written and directed by Damien Chazelle (he also gave us “La La Land”), he drew upon his experiences in a “very competitive” jazz band in high school.

The story: Andrew Neimann (played by Miles Teller) attends the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory, hoping to become a jazz drummer like his childhood idol Buddy Rich. Conductor Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) recruits him to play in the school’s studio band, but Andrew soon discovers that Fletcher is a relentlessly strict and physically abusive teacher. Determined to impress Fletcher, Andrew excessively practices until his hands blister and bleed.

Andrew attacks Fletcher onstage and is expelled. Then, Andrew testifies against Fletcher after a student hangs himself, and Fletcher is fired.

Later on, Fletcher invites Andrew to perform at a jazz festival, then humiliates the boy on stage. But Andrew doesn’t miss the chance to show his stuff with an unexpected extended solo, finally impressing his mentor.

Having taught himself to play drums at age fifteen, Miles Teller performed much of the drumming seen in the film. Supporting actor and jazz drummer Nate Lang, who plays Andrew’s rival Carl in the film, trained Teller in the specifics of jazz drumming. For certain scenes, professional drummer Kyle Crane served as Teller’s drum double.

Chazelle gave J. K. Simmons the direction that “I want you to take it past what you think the normal limit would be. I don’t want to see a human being on-screen anymore. I want to see a monster, a gargoyle, an animal.”

And Simmons gave him that. On screen, he lived up to Chazelle’s instruction to become “a raging, black-hearted music teacher.”

Yet, between takes, Simmons was “as sweet as can be.”

J.K. Simmons grew up in Detroit, where his dad was a college music teacher. There’s nothing of him in the Fletcher character, Simmons insists. Nonetheless, Simmons’s sister, an English professor at the University of Washington, sent him clippings of him in “Whiplash,” saying how much he looks like their father.

In addition to Simmon’s Oscar, “Whiplash” won the 87th Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing and an Academy Award for Best Film Editing.

“Whiplash” ranked 13 on Empire’s list of “The 100 Greatest Movies of the 21st Century.” And Screenrant picked it as the Highest-Rated Music Film of All Time.

Let’s hear a drum roll for J.K. Simmons.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com