Here's Why Damien Chazelle's Whiplash Was Produced By Horror Studio Blumhouse
Blumhouse is a household name among horror fans. The studio, founded by the eponymous Jason Blum, is a frequent producing partner of James Wan and helped launch the directing career of Jordan Peele by producing "Get Out." The studio has a track record of both reviving dormant horror staples, whether it be "Halloween" or "The Invisible Man," and creating new ones, such as this year's "M3GAN."
The Blumhouse catalog is not entirely horror, though. In 2014, the studio produced "Whiplash" alongside "Paranormal Activity" and "The Purge" sequels. Some might argue that the former film, about aspiring drummer Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) enduring "Full Metal Jacket"-style abuse from his instructor Terence Fletcher (JK Simmons), is a flavor of psychological horror. Still, compared to Blumhouse's usual output, it's a grounded drama.
This makes director Damien Chazelle another wunderkind filmmaker who Blumhouse helped along. During an interview with /Film's own Ben Pearson, Chazelle revealed why Blumhouse was the studio that produced his breakout feature.
Musician to script doctor to director
Chazelle studied as a musician, but filmmaking was always his aim. After directing the super low budget "Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench" in 2009, he hit a wall trying to get a musical made — he would ultimately make this project, "La La Land" after "Whiplash" became a success.
So, for the time being, Chazelle started working as a screenwriter for hire. Given the nature of the business, he almost certainly did uncredited work, but produced scripts that bear his name include "The Last Exorcism Part II," "Grand Piano," and "10 Cloverfield Lane." Chazelle told /Film about writing the latter:
"That's how I got my start in Hollywood, let's say, was as a writer for hire and very much in that sort of space of genre stuff, whether it was doing rewrites — 'Cloverfield Lane' really, was a rewrite. So I can't really take much credit there. That was a genre spec script that Bad Robot had, and they had me come on and do a pass on. Then I think another writer did a pass, and Dan Trachtenberg directed the film. So I was one of several writers on that."
In the meantime, Chazelle conceived of "Whiplash" after seeing "Full Metal Jacket." The movie reminded him of his own experiences with a demanding instructor while studying music. According to Chazelle, his script doctoring is how he made the connections he needed to tell stories of his own.
Networking by pitching
Chazelle made his inroads at Blumhouse while pitching himself as a writer on one of their horror movies. He doesn't remember exactly which one, which should tell you how much his heart was in it. As he told it:
"I got to know some of the Blumhouse folks by pitching, I think it was 'Ouija.' I was pitching as a writer on 'Ouija,' or maybe it was 'Paranormal Activity 5' or '6,' or one of those. Anyway, didn't get those assignments, but got to know one of the producers at Blumhouse, Cooper Samuelson, and gave him 'Whiplash.'"
The rest is history. Chazelle and Blumhouse first made "Whiplash" as an 18-minute short film and when that earned raves at Sundance, they plowed ahead with making a feature that, in turn, earned similar acclaim. Chazelle admits the "connection" between his script and Blumhouse wasn't "obvious," but that only proves that the most surprising partnerships can be the most successful.