J.K. Simmons Called This Beloved Drama With 94% On Rotten Tomatoes 'Genius'

Although the best role of J.K. Simmons' career is clearly J. Jonah Jameson in the Sam Raimi "Spider-Man" movies, his part in 2014's "Whiplash" is definitely up there. Directed and written by Damien Chazelle, "Whiplash" stars Simmons as Fletcher, an intense and outright abusive music teacher. Fletcher is established as being a musical genius, which would make him a great instructor if he wasn't also certifiably twisted.

Fletcher spends most of the movie tormenting young drummer Andrew (Miles Teller), showing the kid little glimpses of warmth here and there to keep him vying for his approval. There's since been an ongoing viewer debate over whether or not the ending to "Whiplash," in which Fletcher's abuse leads to a triumphant musical performance from Andrew, is meant as an endorsement or a condemnation of the "tough love" method of teaching. I think it's a condemnation, but it's a testament to the film's writing and performances that so many viewers come to different conclusions.

Although every viewer has a different takeaway from the movie's conclusion, they all seemed to agree the ending is great. Indeed, "Whiplash" holds a 94% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes among both critics and regular viewers.

In a 2024 interview with GQ, Simmons explained exactly why he thinks "Whiplash" was so well-received:

"It's one of the most genius pieces of writing. It was one of those things that I read and just, I mean, I don't know if I was literally shaking, but I could 100% see myself as Fletcher in every sentence, every frame of the movie. I understood who this guy was, what he wanted, what he needed. ... What was most important to this character? Jazz, music, art, nothing else mattered. There is no perfection in art, but attaining perfection in your art is still the goal. He is such a psychopath that nothing else matters."

Simmons recalled a conversation he had with Chazelle early into making "Whiplash" during which the filmmaker offered to put him "at ease with the musical aspects" of the movie, largely by subbing in a body double to do the actual conducting onscreen. The actor remembered then telling Chazelle, "Dude, I'm a classically trained musician. I wanted to be Leonard Bernstein. I'm a conductor. So, I'm not just going to be some actor up there waving his arm. I will learn these scores."

The other "piece of kismet," Simmons explained, was Teller's musical background. "[Chazelle] had no idea that Miles had been playing drums since he was 15 years old and that he wouldn't have to fake all the drumming either," the actor noted.

The result is a movie that avoids a lot of the common pitfalls of music-based films. To be sure, many a viewer has complained about being able to tell when an actor has no experience with the instrument their character is supposedly talented at playing (looking at you, "The Crow"), but few real-life drummers have ever taken issue with Teller's drumming in "Whiplash."

Combine Teller and Simmons' musical backgrounds with Chazelle's, who himself wanted to be a jazz drummer in his youth, and you get a movie that's able to portray both its main characters with impressive specificity. Over a decade later "Whiplash" is still often considered to be Chazelle's best film, perhaps because it's the one that hits closest to home for all three of the main artists involved in making it.