Damien Chazelle
Damien Chazelle
Damien Sayre Chazelleis an American film director and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with the musical Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench. In 2014, he wrote and directed his second feature film Whiplash, based on his award-winning short film Whiplash. The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival and went on receiving 5 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Chazelle received an individual nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth19 January 1985
CityProvidence, RI
CountryUnited States of America
I didn't feel the kind of joy every day playing drums that I thought you were supposed to feel.
I actually grew up wanting to be a filmmaker. I wanted to make movies, and music was a detour, almost.
By the end of high school, I had this fork-in-the-road moment where part of me considered going to vocational music school to really pursue it.
Before 'Whiplash,' I'd had a string of failed scripts. I'd pour my blood, sweat and tears into them, and no one would like them.
At the upper echelon of musicians in general, I guess performers in general, you have to have this kind of live-or-die, cutthroat mentality.
As delicate as 'Guy and Madeline' was, it was important that 'Whiplash' come off as more of a fever dream.
As a kid, I was just writing scripts and taking whatever film classes I could in college.
It's interesting when you wind up distilling all your ambitions and your goals and dreams into one single person. It's giving that person a lot of power.
If there's a good review, I'll skip over the headline, but I always find the bad reviews and read those. I don't know why. It's a little sick and demented.
I was a kid living in New Jersey, who - I'd wanted to make movies since I was a little kid, so that came before music for me. But I started playing drums just as a hobby, and I wasn't even really into jazz that much.
There are a lot of musicians in my life. But movies came first for me. That was my original passion.
I think there is something to be said for not coddling people and not accepting good as good enough.