September 20, 2024, marks the tenth anniversary for the world-wide favorite drama: Whiplash. Centering around a Jazz percussionist studying in the Shaffer Conservatory, the movie follows Andrew Neiman and his mental spiral under the direction of his abusive instructor, Terence Fletcher. Falling in a deep obsession concerning gaining the validation of his instructor, Neiman drives himself mad, hoping to find some form of approval.
Originally premiering in the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Whiplash started off as a short film. Released under the same name, the eighteen-minute film received a short film jury award. Shortly after, Damien Chazelle, the writer and director for both, had the idea to turn the short film into a full-length movie. “I wanted to make a movie about a different side of music, about the fear and anguish of it,” Chazelle tells Hollywood Reporter Magazine. Chazelle wrote the first draft within a few weeks and continued to work on it for the next year. After it was completed, Chazelle was stuck marketing the script around for the next six months with no takers. Jason Reitman finally gave the film a chance and decided to produce the film with the help of some other companies and connections. Eventually the independent film company Bold Films donated $3.3 million for the film budget.
While writing the script, Chazelle claimed to have had the upcoming actor, Miles Teller, in mind while crafting the main character. Once the crew was ready to start casting, the team immediately reached out to Teller for the movie. Due to Teller’s bustling schedule at the time and the film’s budget, he had a limited amount of time to shoot the movie. Capturing the film in just nineteen days, the cast and crew worked tireless days and nights to wrap up filming. “There was no room for error,” said Chazelle. “Every day was walking a tightrope between really getting something special and utter, crushing disaster.” Once it was done, the crew only had one month to edit the entire film to be able to be submitted in time.
The final product Whiplash premiered in January at the following Sundance Festival. “It was a lot of stress,” remembers Chazelle. “I handle screenings and award ceremonies really badly. But this was always the goal — getting the feature to Sundance was what it was all about.” The film won the Grand Jury Prize for Drama and the Audience Award.
Released publicly in October, the major motion picture ended up grossing $26,136,741 worldwide. Quickly becoming a worldwide classic, Whiplash won five Academy Award nominations. This was the breakout project for Damien Chazelle, that put him on the spotlight as a promising up-coming director. As an event of remembrance, Whiplash is releasing in theaters nationwide for its 10th anniversary on September 20, 2024. To kick off this celebration, The Toronto International Film Festival is doing a special re-showing on September 9, 2024. This film will be presented with a new 4K DCP at the festival, attracting much attention worldwide. We invite you to join us in this celebration of this amazing movie, whether it be at home or in your local theater, as we enjoy this wonderful piece of film.
