29-year-old writer/director Damien Chazelle makes his feature film debut with "Whiplash"; Deaf West Theatre hits it big with the 2006 Tony Award winner, "Spring Awakening"; and Slate's popular podcast comes to L.A. for a live stage show.
'Whiplash' director Damien Chazelle on how virtuosity is bloody painful
Malcolm Gladwell's "10,000-Hour Rule," purports that one must log so many hours of practice in order to be truly great at a given task. But what does that practice actually look, sound, or feel like?
Damien Chazelle offers a gripping take in "Whiplash," a film about an aspiring jazz drummer (Miles Teller) and his perfectionist tutor, Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons).
Chazelle recently stopped by The Frame's studio, where he talked about the physicality of practice, musicians who can only communicate through their art, and the battle of artistic compromise.
Interview Highlights:
On artists who can only communicate through their art:
If you're an artist, you want to draw from real life, you want to draw from experiences, emotion, and it's something that a lot of musicians juggle with. I've always found it so fascinating. There are a few musicians that I know who seem on the outside like very asocial or somewhat unemotional people, people who aren't capable of emotions, and people think they're very cold inside. And they'll be like that, and then you'll hear them play their instrument, or you'll hear the music they write, and you'll hear emotions come out of that music that you'd never expect coming from that person, and that to me is always this fascinating thing, these people who truly can only communicate through music.
So I wanted to make a movie about people who live music in that way and compare that to what it's like in the outside world. You know, a guy who gives his heart and soul to a music school and an instrument and then he goes out to dinner with his family and he's met with indifference, and what that sort of does to you when your interior passion doesn't line up with what the world wants from you.
On the artistic similarities between himself and Andrew, the protagonist of "Whiplash":
Going back to my film education, I always have that voice in my head that's always screaming, "sell out!" And that's good, you want that, because it keeps you on your toes, and it's important to remember what's actually important. I think, especially living in L.A., it's very easy to get wrapped up in weekend announcements and the trades and the whole social life of the city, and to get divorced from what actually matters.
So it was never a thought in my mind that this movie would be about anything other than jazz drumming, or that, for example, the character of Fletcher, the conductor character, would be softened for commercial purposes, or that the lead character would be made a little more likable. I purposefully wrote this movie so I wouldn't have to make those compromises; I wrote something that I thought would be "makeable" enough, that didn't require a gigantic budget, so that I could tell exactly the story I wanted to.
Deaf West Theatre has a hit on its hands with 'Spring Awakening'
“Spring Awakening” is a 2006 Tony Award-winning musical that’s based on the 19th Century play by Frank Wedekind. It features modern music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik and Steve Sater.
In October, 2014, the coming-of-age story had an acclaimed revival in Los Angeles — with a twist: It was performed by a cast that largely can’t hear. And now that production by Deaf West Theatre is moving to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Arts, with the same director and much of the same cast.
The Frame contributor Collin Friesen spoke with Deaf West company members last fall about their staging of “Spring Awakening.”
How does the company pull it off? For starters, there are two extra subwoofers under the seats so the deaf actors can feel really the beat of the music. Some deaf actors have other actors, also on stage, sing and speak for them. But thanks to some clever use of microphones, you stop noticing about a minute in. Some lines are projected on the walls of the theater and all the actors sign as they go.
Austin McKenzie, 21, plays Melchior, the young male lead. McKenzie can hear, but he learned sign language while working at a summer camp. Still, singing, dancing, acting and signing — it’s a lot for your first professional production. Although he figures if he can make this work, the next role should be a snap.
Maybe the mechanics will be easier, I won’t have to worry about what my hands are doing all the time. In college, all of my teachers were so tedious on my hand usage, so it’s nice now I can finally use my hands.
The female lead is Sara Mae Frank, who plays Wendla. Deaf since birth, she moved to L.A. just for the play. Speaking through an interpreter, she says her hearing colleagues have picked things up fast, which in turn helps her.
Sometimes I take my reaction off them, see their facial expression, their movement. The lines are made to match up with choreography. I take some [reaction] off the light cues, but not that much. A lot of the cuing happens within the show. It’s all about trust.
Deaf West had to use Kickstarter to get this production up and running. Artistic Director DJ Kurs says many deaf theater companies around the country have shut their doors.
I think there’s a lack of funding in general. In the '90s, there were seven or eight sign language theaters. Now we’re the only ones who are producing professional sign language theater.
"Spring Awakening" has extended its run through June 14 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Arts in Beverly Hills.
This story has been updated.
Slate's Culture Gabfest comes to life in Los Angeles
The Slate Culture Gabfest is a weekly podcast produced out of New York. But this week the hosts have come to Los Angeles to perform a live staged version of the show. Accompanying them onstage Wednesday night at the Belasco Theater in Downtown L.A. will be the hosts of another popular podcast, screenwriters John August and
of Scriptnotes. Also on the bill are actress Natasha Lyonne from "Orange Is the New Black" and actress/stand-up comedian
.
Two of the Gabfest hosts, Slate Editor Julia Turner and the website's movie critic, Dana Stevens, came to The Frame studios to discuss the live show and podcasting. Turner says: "I'm a huge podcast listener as well as being a podcast producer. So I know that as a medium it's just a great way to get really smart information to cram into your earbuds at all time."
So what podcasts are Dana and Julia listening to these days?
Dana Stevens: Scriptnotes; Filmspotting; You Must Remember This
Julia Turner: Slate's The Gist; Scriptnotes; NPR: Planet Money Podcast
If you miss the live L.A. show, you'll be able to hear it in the next episode of The Slate Culture Gabfest. Meanwhile, you can connect with the show on Facebook.