J.K. Simmons Thought Damien Chazelle Was a Black Man After Reading ‘Whiplash’ Script. Then They Met: ‘Who’s This Curly-Haired Kid From New Jersey?’

J.K. Simmons revealed in an oral history of “Whiplash” to mark the film’s 10th anniversary that he assumed the film’s director, Damien Chazelle, was a Black man after he first read the script about the toxic relationship between an aspiring jazz drummer (Miles Teller) and his abusive instructor. Simmons played the latter character and won […]