Damien Chazelle's Whiplash has been noted as one of the notable films of 2014. But for the writer-director, the opening scene may have been the hardest scene to create. Nevertheless, he found a way to jam pack all the most important ingredients into one, compact opener.
Earlier this year, Chazelle spoke to The New York Times about the perspective he tried to implement into his opening scene — something he describes as the most pivotal and important scene of the movie.
But he wanted to "begin the movie with my main character drumming. I wanted it to be almost reductive," said Chazelle in a recent interview with Vulture.
That is, he wanted to "stick all the movie's main ingredients into the first few minutes. Drummer, music school, mean teacher. No beating around the bush."
And that's exactly what he did, with a most ominous J. K. Simmons protruding through a shrouded practice room where Miles Teller is practicing his chops. In these first moments the audience already finds an impassioned hatred for Simmons' callousness and respect for Teller's unwavering innocence.
"I like movies that do that," continue Chazelle, "establish a theme right away, then perform a series of variations on that theme. To me, it's a very musical way of approaching storytelling."
We couldn't agree more, Chazelle.
So for now make your way to Vulture for an exclusive interview (with some caps of the actual script) and watch the opening scene below, with commentary from Chazelle himself.
