Ever since I wrote this story about Miles Teller one month ago, I’ve sort of been obsessed with him. I looked up old interviews and videos. He’s my latest crush!! It couldn’t come at a better time too. Miles got rave reviews earlier this year, at Sundance, for Whiplash. Whiplash has Miles as a jazz drummer and student being terrorized by a teacher played by JK Simmons. Most people believe that JK Simmons has a lock on a Best Supporting Actor nomination (if not the award), but Miles has also gotten the best reviews of his life for Whiplash. He probably won’t get an Oscar nomination, but he’ll get a lot of attention for the film. Here’s the trailer:
RIGHT?! Anyway, Miles has a new interview with W Magazine to promote the film – you can read the full piece here. He throws shade on Divergent! Which is sort of rude, but hey… at least he’s honest?
His scars: “Seven years ago, when I was 20, I was in a car accident. Some friends and I had been at the Gathering of the Vibes, a Deadhead festival in Connecticut, and we were driving back to my hometown in Florida. My buddy lost control of the car, jumped three lanes of traffic, and the car flipped eight times. I went out the window before the car started to roll. Everyone was yelling, ‘Where’s Miles?!’ I was covered in blood by the side of the road.”
He loves auditioning: “I still do. It’s like sports: I love the idea of doing a monologue and getting adjudicated. As the great actor Ed Harris said, ‘I see auditioning as a five-minute play starring only me.’ ”
He read the Whiplash script while working on Divergent: “When I first read Whiplash, I was feeling dead inside,” Teller confided, in a rare display of emotion. At that time, he was in Chicago shooting this past spring’s Divergent. “I didn’t have an interesting part, and I’d taken the film for business reasons: It was the first movie I’d done that was going to have an international audience. I called my agent and said, ‘This sucks.’ He told me about Whiplash.”
Preparation: Although he had played drums in bands in high school, Teller needed to amp up his skills: He worked with an instructor three times a week, practiced four hours a day, and watched footage of legendary jazz drummers like Buddy Rich. “I was in good shape from Divergent,” Teller recalled. “Damien Chazelle, the director of Whiplash, told me, ‘Stop working out! Don’t go outside!’ He wanted me pale and doughy. This is the first movie where I shut myself off from the world. It was, by far, the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
His career goal: “Do you know if Elvis ever had a car accident? Because my main dream is to play Elvis. That’s my goal. I think he and I look alike and do a lot of similar things well: sing, dance, and I think he played sports. I want to play Young Elvis. They’ve never gotten that right. It’s easy to do wrecked, bloated, and drug-addicted. I want to play characters who have the fever and win. It’s harder.”
I don’t really think he looks like Elvis or has the Elvis vibe. In all honesty, Miles reminds me (in looks and ‘tude) of a taller, buffer, more bro-y Shia LaBeouf. Like, I imagine that if Shia wasn’t such a drunken hooligan/performance artist, he would have been up for some of the parts going to Miles. Shia and Miles have a similar access to vulnerability and the ability to talk/charm their way out of most scenarios. Anyway… new crush! I don’t even mind that he shades Divergent. Kate Winslet did it for the money too!
Update: Miles has been issuing statements and clarifications about his statements. He’s not really apologizing in any of his statements, but he is trying to soften his language.
Photos courtesy of Richard Burbridge/W Magazine and Fame/Flynet.
He’s a douche. Can’t stand him.
I don’t know much about him, but he doesn’t come off well in this. I hate when actors shade their projects. Take a page out of Cage’s book.
I’ve only seen him in the Spectacular Now and he was okay, although I didn’t like the movie.
Not a good move, just makes him look bad.
if you think he is a douche click on the his name tag below the article and read his last interview. featuring strip clubs and viagra.
He’s brand new to me and yes, he seems like a total jerk. I can’t think of the actor’s name that he looks like a younger version of, but that guy’s a jerk, too. I have no desire to see Whiplash at all.
He looks like Jason Biggs. Is that the jerky guy you’re thinking of?
About 5 people know his name and he’s shading a project? Yes I’ve liked him in what I’ve seen of him but he’s not famous enough to be doing that. Be grateful and take a seat
I still think he and JLaw would be a perfect couple. Saw the “Spectacular Now” and was pleasantly surprised by him. He carried that film.
Now that you mention JLaw, they DO look somewhat similar to me; they would totally make sense as a couple (way more than Martin Lawrence, anyway).
As for the trailer… yeah, it’s good, Teller does a good job, but I’m not blown away.
JK Simmons, on the other hand, is one of those incredible actors whom I forget all of the time and then all of a sudden am remembered “Oh, yeah… he’s great! How come I don’t see him in movies more often?”: seems like he does an amazing job here.
JK Simmons is on my free pass list.
I absolutely LOVE JK Simmons! I’d watch him read the dictionary.
They could both be obnoxious together.
Meh. Lot’s of actors/actresses just take roles for the money. However, it’s a bit tacky to burn bridges so early in your career. You can’t predict which way a career will go. He may need a silly popcorn movie some day. Whiplash does look good. Creepy but good.
I don’t blame him for not doing Divergent for the art. The film is good as a guilty pleasure, but it was pretty ridiculous and there’s no denying that.
He looked good in the Dauntless jumpsuit, though… a bit too good 😉
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I think the books get progressively worse too.
The books do get progressively worse. The last one actually pissed me off it was so bad. And I wonder if part of it is that the character he played in the movie is really interesting/bad guy in the book but was basically throw away in the movie?
could be he wanted the check and thought he was going to be playing book character? who knows.
Yep, they do. I swear to god if Triss had wrapped up Four’s shirt in her fist one more time I would have thrown my kindle out the window. Stop stretching his shirts dammit!!!
IDK – if you’re an established star already and you want the money, the studio wants your name then it’s fair enough to indulge in a little “I did it for the paycheck” shade. It’s an equal deal.
If the producers plucked you from nowhere it seems kinda rude. If he was THAT great of an actor he wouldn’t need Divergent to make him famous.
And don’t pretend that if he was a Jessica Biel or Alba-type, he wouldn’t bring out the pitchforks in all of y’all!
Agree with your last sentence very much.
I think the guy is a total jerk and he’s biting the hand that feeds him. I’ll be skipping anything that he’s in, for sure.
Totally agree with everything especially with the last part.
It’s not professional to publicly speak badly of a job, especially in a line of work where 90% of the people in your career field ( in his case other actors) never get to work or only get bit parts in forgettable work that never gets mainstream attention if they are lucky. He just comes off unappreciative.
I’m not saying he has to claim that being in that movie was the greatest artistic experience of his career and get all Kellan Lutz about his role, but just saying you are thankful that you got a part in a movie would have been enough.
my thoughts exactly. whatever his feelings were on the movie, it’s super unprofessional to talk poorly about it. either remain neutral on the subject, or don’t talk about it at all. no need to establish a rep as an unprofessional ingrate.
I agree. I think it’s fine to be honest and say it wasn’t really his type of film, but there’s a way to do that tactfully, and still be thankful for the opportunity and the experience (and the paycheck). To publicly state that “it sucked” was unprofessional, and might not be great for future work.
It’s time like this that I miss the old movie studios of the 1920s-50s. They totally controlled the information that was dispersed about the actors. The interviews were crafted. The actors could act (which is, of course, their job) and you could appreciate them for their work. Now we have these people that you might love on screen, but when you read their interviews you cringe. Any way-that’s my observation of the day.
I was thinking the same thing yesterday with the Norman Reedus post. So many times I have really enjoyed watching an actor or actress and then made the mistake of reading an interview with them. It’s easy to separate the artist from the art, but some really are good at sticking their foot in their mouth.
Yes,I completely agree. Actors and actresses need to be more guarded and more mysterious. I can’t seem to separate the actor from the actual person when they are performing in a movie, especially when an actor or actress comes off as an idiot in their interviews or private life. That’s just me.
I don’t. Actors and actresses in the Golden Age were put on such pedestals and are held on them even today, like Hepburn or Monroe, and I don’t think that’s a good thing.
Then again, I don’t have a problem with separating actors from their roles.
Charlie…Maybe I have a difficult time separating them from their real life personna is because they aren’t very good actors. They aren’t at a Kevin Spacey level of acting.
Not just money but also the name recognition he gets from being …SPOILERS…a baddie in a potentially big film. It’s working.
Although they cut or just didn’t write into the script his worst thing from the book.
Unprofessional and rude. There are some things that as a professional you do not state publicly.
Has no one learned anything from Katherine Heigel?
He has some Patrick Dempsey going on.
Thank you! I wrote above about him looking like a younger version of someone and that’s who it was. I think they’re both jerks!
No! Patrick Dempsey is adorable. This kid is not.
I feel like he shaded his particular part within the film- not the whole movie.
Sometimes actors don’t always get to play the important roles that they dream of taking on; he was just being honest and saying it wasn’t fulfilling. I’ve had jobs like that, too.
I’m not sure if he was correct etiquette-wise in noting he was bored in his role, but looking at the quote again I also noticed that he was criticizing the part he got rather than the movie itself.
Not sure how his quote would fly if he was a woman though. I think Katherine Heigl may have criticized the writing for her character(s) more than anything else, and no one really seemed to like her for it.
He looks very much like Elvis in that clip. He has a big ego, though.
I kind of love when this happens. Public images are so controlled this kind of shade is good gossip without addiction issues or awful abuse (that Hyland story is just too sad).
Yes the movie was terrible, we know. As Spielberg said to Shia, “there’s a time to sell cars”. Save the honestly for your 40 year career retrospective.
He is too young and new to the scene to be throwing shade at anyone. Not very smart.
Don’t know him but had a quick look at his film list on imdb and well…if he was going to shade he should have gone further on his list since he seems to have done a lot of cheesy easy crap. So he’s not only unprofessional but he’s also delusional. Not a good combination.
I’d be more “dead inside” from being in the remake of “Footloose,” to be honest.
OMG i had no idea who he is, but you´re right he was that friend-guy in Footloose.
Boy should be grateful that he gets jobs.
I hadn’t heard of this guy before now, but if first impressions mean anything I’m not very impressed. He definitely comes across as a bit unappreciative. He’s in a position that few people ever will be, and many only dream of. Not a good idea to bite the hand that feeds you. And comparing himself to Elvis (not to mention essentially putting down other actors who’ve portrayed him)? He seems a bit full of himself. But like I said, just a first impression. He’s probably a really nice guy.
He’s not the first and certainly won’t be the last person to do a film they really didn’t like solely for the paycheck. However, show a little respect to the producers/directors etc who hired you on. You don’t have to gush about “amazing” the film is or whatever, just don’t go around trashing it. It’s rude and unprofessional.
I seriously like Miles and think he’s talented but hopefully he’s not headed towards doucheville.
Is his character in the next Divergent movie? I read the first 2 quite a while ago and can’t remember. Never read the third after the terrible reviews.
I love JK Simmons!
never burn your bridges
I think it’s rude and unprofessional. He is not the first to take a role for a paycheck and exposure but talking about being feeling dead inside and calling his agent saying it sucks? Stuff you STFU about. And if this was a women she would be buried already, I’ve seen women ripped to shreds for less then what he just said..
He’s awful. Feeling dead inside? He should have to work as a road scraper after fatal motorcycle accidents if he wants to feel so dramatic. At least then there would be a reason.
Maybe he’s a good actor (I wouldn’t know since I haven’t seen his movies), but he’s kind of nerdy looking. Based on his looks, I’m surprised at his success.
It’s just funny to me how when some actors are kind of … ungrateful about their franchises that helped bring them to mainstream attention, they get a pat on the back and others literally get spit on by the media. Interesting.
Glad that he didn’t take the divergent role, cause this way i have had the pleasure to know and like and drool over Theo James, beautiful and sexy ( those eyes, and that lips) while this Miller does nothing to me. Maybe is good in acting, who knows, never seen him in movies. I am conflicted about his words, on one hand i do like people that speaks honestly, it’s boring when people work together and just say good and FAKE things about each other, even if they don’t feel like it, on the other hand, he did sound a bit arrogant,
This guy felt dead inside during his part in Divergent but didn’t feel dead inside while making the way more awful 21 and Over, That Awkward Moment, or Footloose remake over the past 2 years?
Since his big critical break in The Rabbit Hole, he’s never really been above taking a role for a paycheck or visibility so who is he trying to fool.
Plenty of actors take roles, especially starting out, for a paycheck or visibility, but when you’re still trying to build a reputation and establish your bankability, not a good idea to word vomit all over those giving you your most visible, profitable breaks. Especially with phrasing like you feel dead inside and calling people and saying your role/the process of making the movie sucks.
That Awkward Moment was a terrible movie. I think Divergent was one of his better roles.
I totally forgot he was in the Footloose remake and That Awkward Moment. Learn something from Heigl, Miles. If you’ll slam one of your movies, make sure you don’t have something even worse on your record.
He should of read the entire Divergent trilogy as his character gets a whole hell of a lot more interesting and dynamic later on in the series.
This guy comes across as a super jerk. I could tell he ‘felt dead inside’ watching Divergent. He really didn’t seem bothered enough to actually act.
It’s always bugged me that when men trash their previous projects (Miles, Chris Evans, Rob Pattinson) everyone writes it off or shrugs but when a woman does it (Rooney Mara, Katherine Heigl) there is a huge backlash to the point that it’s almost an
overreaction and they are deemed ungrateful wretches.
Anyway, Miles is a great actor but he needs to be more careful.
I really liked Divergent. I haven’t read the books, reviews, or watched promotion interviews before watching it, and now I have watched it twice. What I will not watch though is any flick this dude plays in. I share the opinion of other people posting here, the biting the hand that feeds you hits the nail. I can’t stand it when actors shade their projects, Goop did that with that View from the top? she called it a shxxte movie and said she only did it for the pay-check.
No Elvis vibe here. I agree, a better-looking, more manly Shia or a taller, more handsome Sean Penn when he was younger.
Quoth the Roberts: ‘That’s so tacky!’
I appreciate the honesty, but it is pretty rude and dumb to talk like that about your biggest production yet at this point of his career. Don’t burn bridges now, dummy.
This reminds me of when RPatz when and said how ridiculous he found the story for Twilight to be. It made me laugh honestly. I don’t blame him for hating divergent, they messed up a lot in the movie version and made it worse. And the books go way downhill from the first so I can only imagine how awful the next movies will be. Anyways I do think it’s too early to be burning these bridges but I guess he’s entitled to his opinion. He doesn’t want to make movies for the sake of money. I would’ve waited 10 years to hate on your debut blockbuster film but eh. I just need him to stop giving these douchey interviews…
I don’t think he could ever cast more shade than film critics have.
The movie sounds like a real stinker
He’s 27? He looks like he’s 16.
Not professional at all. I saw WHIPLASH at TIFF a few weeks ago. It’s a really good movie, but that’s mostly due to J.K. Simmons, who is INCREDIBLE. I thought Miles Teller came off badly in comparison…he’s definitely not at the same level in acting skills. He can throw shade at his bad films once he’s won an Oscar or two. Until then, keep it zipped.
He’s needs to take a seat and thank what is between his legs because that’s the only thing keeping him from getting dragged through the coals. Remember, when Megan Fox said what we all thought about Transformers and Bay? Yeah, she got replaced, trashed in the next film, and only entered the radar against one she kissed the ring and Bay needed a hot girl for TMNT. Remember when Heigl decided to critique (correctly, I might add) the portrayal of women in Knocked Up?
I feel like he may be setting himself up to be the next Shai Lebouf, except without the mental issues. So…. strap in for the long unbearable haul. Can we have granola goop..err Shailene back now, please?
He* Also, one word; Taylor Kitsch. Studios have been trying to make him happen for years and they still are and I have yet to hear a peep from him about the quality of his films. If he can be professional and respectful after Battleship, John Carter, Savages, and playing Gambit, then Teller can take a seat and pipe down.
Do we really need another Shia “type”? Even a less crazy version of Shia? I never understood why Shia was a movie star anyway. Average looks but extra annoying personality. Not sexy. Not compelling. Just irritating. It sounds like Miles is a better actor but the attitude is a turn off.
Meh. It was a dumb thing for him to say, but I’ll give him a pass.
Few people even knew who he was before Divergent. It is rude to shade a project that gave you notariety and caused people to go watch your other projects that were largely unheard of before. Young Actors have serious entitlement issues. No one wants to put in the hard work. They want instant a list status.
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