By Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) --Miles Teller — who can be seen on screen later this month with Zac Efron in "That Awkward Moment" — took four-hour drum lessons three times a week to play the lead in "Whiplash," shown opening night at the Sundance Film Festival.
Teller plays a jazz drummer determined to succeed, whether because of or in spite of an unforgiving instructor, played by J.K. Simmons at his most intimidating (and muscular). Attending the country's most prestigious music academy, Teller's character, Andrew, aspires to be one of the greats, playing until his hands bleed. Simmons is Fletcher, a teacher prone to belittling his students in an effort to unearth their determination and will to improve.
Writer-director Damien Chazelle said he told Simmons: "Just scare us."
The 28-year-old Chazelle, whose short film of the same title and subject won an award at Sundance last year, is also a drummer who drew from personal experiences for the story.
The original film "basically helped us get in the conversation with, like, financiers and people who might want to take a risk about a movie about a drummer," Chazelle said. "Without the short, I don't know if we would be here."
Teller described the film as "a pretty intense, dramatic almost, like, thriller environment for conservatory jazz music."
As for his co-star?
"J.K. Simmons is pretty terrifying," Teller said.
Paul Reiser co-stars as Teller's loving dad — one of two movies Reiser appears in at Sundance. The other is the dark comedy "Life After Beth."
Both "Life After Beth" and "Whiplash" are candidates in the festival's U.S. dramatic competition. Winners will be announced on Jan. 25.
Sony Pictures Worldwide announced it acquired international distribution rights to "Whiplash" just after its premiere.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More