Miles Teller on his well-earned douchebag reputation: ‘I know who I am’

“Thank You For Your Service” Premiere

Here are some photos of Miles Teller at the LA premiere for Thank You For Your Service, a film about soldiers/veteran returning home and PTSD and all of that (the film was released this weekend). Miles posed with the cast, and with his fiance Keleigh Sperry. Whenever I write about Miles, I’m reminded of several things all at once, mostly that he’s a fratty douchebag in real life, but he’s one of the most “watchable” of the younger actors. I’m not saying he’s a great actor (yet), but he has “presence” and a watchable quality on-screen, and that’s something that can’t be taught. For the record, I do think he can act too. He just hasn’t found his niche or a defining role.

One of the reasons why I know Miles Teller is a douchebag in real life is because several years back, he gave a series of increasingly douchey interviews, the peak-douche of which was his now-infamous Esquire cover profile. As Miles tries to promote his latest film, people are still bringing up that Esquire profile and his fratty-douche reputation. This is Miles Teller trying to defend himself:

On the fact that a lot of people think he’s a douchebag: “Look, I don’t have Instagram and I’m not blowing up Twitter and I’ve still gotten cast in a bunch of great projects. I absolutely know actors that have been cast in things because they have a big social-media following but I don’t know — certain people expect that if you’re an actor in your 20s that you should be glad-hand-y and smiley and all that sh-t. Maybe some people have been turned off of me because I take what I’m doing pretty seriously and I don’t feel the need to charm everybody. So, do I think of acting as a popularity contest? No. Was it tough for me when that Esquire article came out? It was.

How was the Esquire article tough? “If how that story made me look was how I really was, I’d think I was the biggest douchebag too. The main idea in that story was that Miles Teller doesn’t give a rat’s ass what you think of him. That’s really not true. I absolutely do care what people think about me. But I can’t put much weight into whether the public likes me because the more important thing is that, as an actor, I can truly say that there’s not a single director or actor who I’ve worked with who’d have a bad thing to say about me. I’ve never missed a day of work. I’ve never not known a line. So I feel good about where I am.

Whether he felt introspective after the Esquire profile: “If you really let that kind of thing get to you, man, it’ll get stuck in your head. And when I put my head to my pillow at night, I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I honestly felt like I was behaving like an a–hole to people. I know the kind of brother I am. I know the kind of son I am. I’ve had the same friends since I was 14, 15. I’ve been with the same girl for four-and-a-half years. I have a dog. I know who I am, and it’s not who I was in that story.

[From Vulture]

It’s funny that his reaction to “you come across really poorly in print interviews” is “I have a girlfriend and a dog!!!” To be clear: coming across poorly in interviews is not the worst crime. Most of Miles’ coworkers and costars think he’s a nice, hard-working guy, just kind of a frat boy. I also think he took himself way too seriously when he first started getting some heat, and he probably lacked the self-awareness to know that it was bad form to endlessly sh-t talk. My point? I don’t know. I think he’s still the same old douchebag, but he’s just gotten better about censoring himself in interviews.

“Thank You For Your Service” Premiere

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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55 Responses to “Miles Teller on his well-earned douchebag reputation: ‘I know who I am’”

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  1. AVVSAJNC says:

    He comes across better but he still has resting-douchebag-face and that doesn’t help. HIs fiance is lovely, an upmarket Emily Ratatouille lookalike.

    • supersoft says:

      Lol. My thought as well. The Emily Ratatouille lookalike is almost uncanny. Like a clone.

    • minx says:

      To me he looks like k.d.lang.

    • Elle says:

      Yeah honestly I thought he soundsfine. Like, realistically you can’t obsess as an actor in what Twitter or the public is saying since we area fickle bunch. And at the end of the day, none of us have met him, we are just getting a soundbite judgement. But if people that worn with him, who get to know him have good things I do think that says alot. But I’m also a miles fan, I think he is a good actor. Not to pretty but has great charisma. Loved whiplash

  2. Shambles says:

    Jesus, his answer to that first question is a word salad only Sarah Palin could love. His fiancé’s lip injections are terrible and extremely distracting.

    • Giddy says:

      “Look out! She’s gonna blow!” I wonder if she can enunciate clearly with those pillows stapled to her face. She’s a beautiful girl, and she’d be even prettier without that.

      • HeidiM says:

        I did’t recognize her with those things, I thought he must have someone new.

      • amilu says:

        She definitely looks different than she used to! I think a lot of it is the lighter hand with the eye makeup, but her lips are definitely augmented, too. (But they have had that look for a good while.)

  3. RBC says:

    He reminds me of a snooty salesperson who judges people by the way they dress. The type who will direct a customer towards the clearance rack because “ you could not possibly afford full price with the way you are dressed”

  4. emma33 says:

    I just cannot wait until the skinny-pants trend ends. (I’ve just finished watching an hilarious seaaon of the Batchelorette Australia and some of the guys looked like they were wearing leggings instead of pants!) Miles’ effort isn’t that bad, but still, it needs to end!!

  5. Nev says:

    So good looking.

    • Odette says:

      To me, he looks terrible in pictures, but fantastically sexy in movies.

      • amilu says:

        I’m with Odette. I don’t even think he’s that good-looking in movies, but he’s definitely got IT.

        One of the first things I saw him in was a straight-to-DVD comedy called Two Night Stand with Analeigh Tipton. He was so affable and cute. Despite what I’d read about him, I was like, “BE MY BOYFRIEND NOW.”

    • Dee says:

      I’m on your side, Nev. He’s my shame f*ck, except…I have no shame about it.

  6. He was superb in the Spectacular Now.He looks like a young Andrew McCarthy to me and I suspect has the same kind of appeal he had in his heyday.So much better if he could be humble and successful instead of having an air of self importance.

  7. manta says:

    Well The Rabbit Hole put him on the map for me and the fact that he held his own opposite Kidman was a good sign. I cried in some of his scenes.
    Don’t know much about him outside movies, except he’s not well liked around here.
    Well, at least he admits he cares about the way he’s perceived.
    I’ll check some of his work if the story is interesting enough. I know all of that is subjective but he’s hardly the most annoying to me.

  8. third ginger says:

    I do not care for him, but he can act. His problem is that he will have to have something like an Oscar bait project[ WHIPLASH, although he was not nominated] because the larger movie going audience does not embrace him. This is a problem for many actors. Connecting with audiences often has little to do with talent.

    • HeidiM says:

      The teen girls and the 18-25’s love him. At least that’s been my perception from those I know.

      • third ginger says:

        I wonder if they go to see his films. I am saying that with all seriousness and no sarcasm. Not a snarky response. He has two films out now. Both are predicted to be box office bombs. Sometimes this happens. On this site, we have discussed this about actors like Idris Elba [older, of course] Many people, especially here on CB, adore him, but his films do not make money [now, bad scripts have something to do with that.] One example for Teller is THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. Good reviews for his performance; no one going to see it. Sorry for the long post. Following show business is one of my hobbies.

      • A says:

        @third ginger, I fall into the “teen girls & 18-25” bracket, and you’re right. A lot of people like his face, but that’s about it. They don’t really watch his films.

  9. Patricia says:

    He was really really good in Whiplash.

  10. Patricia says:

    He was really good in Whiplash.

  11. Westie says:

    He’s overrated as an actor and seriously unattractive to look at.

    • Ruyana says:

      ^This

    • Snazzy says:

      +200

    • RedBerry says:

      Thank you! Exactly. I’ve seen so many of his films, old to recent. He was so horrible in Footloose, he was horrible in That Awkward Moment, where he was such a d-bag (playing himself, basically.) And in all of his recent films, he’s been nothing but overrated and overhyped.

    • JG says:

      Could not agree more. Between him, Ansel Elgort and Lucas Hedges, I feel sorry for this young generation of movie audiences.

  12. JEM says:

    That is one punchable face.

    • Justjj says:

      To me he looks like a keg stand, a roofie, a bacterial std, ball sweat, oversized basketball shorts, and an mma cable subscription in the flesh. No thanks. Such a bro looking bro. He looks like the dude at the gas station with a Hummer blaring Hinder who cuts in front of you in line and takes forever with lottery tickets, his monster energy drinks, and his hot fries, while all the while checking out your boobs/the 19 year old gas station attendant/assessing the physical attractiveness of every woman in a fifty foot radius while he holds up the line until he finally struts out while putting on his wrap shades. He looks like that guy.

    • Lexter says:

      My thoughts exactly. “What a punchable face”

  13. Keaton says:

    He’s a decent actor but I think he’s a little over-rated simply because there aren’t many good young American actors in their 20s to early 30s. I know what you mean about him being watchable but I find him tremendously unattractive on screen. To the point where his face makes me physically recoil. I hate saying that because I like the fact he’s not conventionally attractive. But in his case? eek.
    I’ll say something positive though: I think he has the potential to age into an interesting character actor or even a compelling but unusual leading man.

    • zuzusgirl says:

      I have the same reaction to him. It’s also the way I felt about Shia LeBeouf.

    • Blinkbanana says:

      @Keaton – I feel that way about Ansel Elgort. I do not understand how he keeps getting work with that face. He’s a total charisma vacuum as well.

      • JG says:

        Yes! I posted the same above. Also Lucas Hedges from Manchester. What a joke that he was supposed to be a hockey playing stud. JUST NO.

      • Annetommy says:

        Lucas Hedges was brilliant in Manchester and cute too. Not everyone has to be generic quarterback hunk of the month to get action.

  14. SJ says:

    I read the Esquire interview, well, paged thru it. I still have zero idea who this young actor is, so many in their 20’s look alike to me. He does look a lot like a younger Andrew McCarthy. I guess I posted all this to say in a nutshell….huh, who?

  15. Anname says:

    He and Ansel Elgort are both the same to me – talented actors who I really dislike. They both come across as entitled and smug, no thanks.

  16. Myhairisfullofsecrets says:

    I’d still hit it. I’d bang him like a screen door in a hurricane.

  17. WingKingdom says:

    Eh, I don’t really get it. He comes across sorta bad in that Esquire interview, but it’s not John Mayer level douchery. He does have resting douchebro face though, as pointed out above.

  18. Electric Tuba says:

    Well Im glad you know who you are, son. Because even when it was explained to me I still don’t know who the hell you are. And your face was too typical to read much more of why you think we should know that you know who you are. Go have a seat and think about the nothingness that is you.

  19. raincoaster says:

    Is he also aware that he isn’t nearly good-looking enough to get away with frat boy behaviour once the heat is off him? And it will be.

  20. Julianna says:

    I don’t get why people have such an issue with him?

    I mean, sure, he comes off a little douchey, but in a totally harmless way that just makes him slightly annoying and self-absorbed. Nothing unusual for an actor his age. I totally get that that won’t make him anyone’s favourite person, but people react to him like he goes around kicking dogs and starting orphanage fires.

  21. A says:

    He sounds like someone who’s trying very hard to say he doesn’t give a shit, when in fact he gives multiple shits.

  22. Mallory says:

    I think he sounds fine, like a perfectly normal human being. I don’t find him attractive, but I don’t understand the “punchable face” thing. Moving on.

  23. Magenta says:

    His movie was DOA at the box office…like his 4th major bomb in a row.

    I also think the real story is that he was offered LaLa Land but he made so many outrageous demands that the director yanked the role back and then gave it to Gosling

    The thing is he has nothing at to back up his arrogance….at least Clooney & Damon have Oscars. Teller gives nobody a good reason to hire him

  24. RedBerry says:

    I cannot stand Miles Teller. I still remember when he had that film with Zac Efron.. You know, that Awkward Moment? The entire time he was just a complete d-bag to Efron, while would be buddy buddy with Michael B Jordan. Zac the entire time acted professional and nice to him, but you could tell he was so jealous/insecure of Efron, that he couldn’t stop targeting him. Zac clearly didn’t like him either.

  25. blonde555 says:

    Ugh. With a scar that big from a boob job she should stay away from those kind of side boob dresses. That and the lips and there’s your L.A face barbie.

    He is a douche but hey, he has a dog!

  26. Jordan says:

    Good he knows who he is, cause I don’t!