“Whiplash,” the Academy Award-winning psychological drama that transformed writer-director Damien Chazelle into a young filmmaker on the rise and co-star J.K. Simmons into an Oscar victor, returns to theaters nationwide on September 20 in a re-release a decade after its 2014 premiere. The film, starring Miles Teller and Simmons and brought the latter an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, is being reissued with a new 4K DCP following a special anniversary screening at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9. The movie won three Oscars, including for Best Editing and Best Sound in addition to Simmons. Watch the official release trailer above.
Inspired by Chazelle’s 2013 short of the same name, “Whiplash” follows Andrew Neiman (Teller), an ambitious young jazz drummer, single-minded in his pursuit to rise to the top of his elite east coast music conservatory. Terence Fletcher (Simmons), an instructor known equally for his teaching talents and his terrifying methods, discovers Andrew and transfers him into his band. But Andrew’s passion to achieve perfection soon spirals into obsession, as his ruthless teacher continues to push him to the brink of both his ability and his sanity.
After premiering in 2014 as the opening night film at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for drama and the Audience Award, “Whiplash” broke out as one of the most-buzzed-about films of that year, scoring five Academy Award nominations in all. It’s now widely regarded as one of the finest films of the 2010s. In fact, it was earlier this year voted the top Sundance film of all time in a survey of over 500 filmmakers, critics, and industry professionals conducted by the Sundance Institute to mark the festival’s 40th anniversary.
Since “Whiplash” proved his breakout project. Chazelle has gone on to make films including the musical “La La Land” (earning him the distinction as the youngest Best Director Oscar winner ever), the space drama “First Man” and the Old Hollywood epic “Babylon.” The latter was his first commercial flop as a director.
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