Whiplash

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Damien Chazelle directs. Sharone Meir behind the camera. Justin Hurwitz scores. Tom Cross cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Shot for just $3.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
• 2Grossed $50M — a 15.2× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
• 3Released 12 years ago.
• 4Directed by Damien Chazelle, shot by Sharone Meir. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Justin Hurwitz. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Tom Cross shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons and Paul Reiser carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "Do your best, he said…".
• 9IMDB entry: tt2582802 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 1017,176 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
• 11Classified under 21 themes, including "new york city", "jazz", "musician", "obsession".
• 12Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Sharone Meir

Original score

Justin Hurwitz

Editing

Tom Cross

Production design

Melanie Jones

Costume design

Lisa Norcia

Makeup / hair

Nacoma Whobrey

VFX supervisor

Jamison Scott Goei

Sound

Ben Wilkins

Stunt coordinator

Mark Riccardi

Runtime

107 min · 1h 47m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$3,300,000

Box office

$50,307,484

Return

1524% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

Whiplash (2014) ↗

Also by

Damien Chazelle

• 
  La La Land

  2016 · ★ 7.9
• 
  Whiplash

  2013 · ★ 7.8
• 
  Babylon

  2022 · ★ 7.3
• 
  First Man

  2018 · ★ 7.0
• 
  The Eddy

  2020 · ★ 6.4
• 
  Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench

  2010 · ★ 5.4

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Fletcher’s Dinner (Deleted Scene)

  Featurette · Official
• 

  ▶
  Extended Preview

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  10th Anniversary Rerelease Official Trailer

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  J.K. Simmons wins Best Supporting Actor

  Featurette · Official
• 

  ▶
  "Whiplash" winning the Oscar® for Sound Mixing

  Featurette · Official
• 

  ▶
  "Whiplash" winning the Oscar® for Film Editing

  Featurette · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• MJM2015-01-28

  DISGUSTING NONSENSE... This review may contain spoilers I find it very sad that so many people - including so-called professional reviewers - have rated this crap so highly. I did not walk out (although I was greatly tempted to do so) but saw it to the end. A total waste of time. Here's what might spoil it for you, should you believe the BS that's being spread around this stinking pile of excrement: It could have actually been OK if it hadn't been so laughably impossibly ridiculous. Perhaps if it had been set in the fifties or the forties when people had much less developed consciousness of human rights? But even so... I suppose the moral/lesson we are supposed to learn is... if you can't warp your students enough by abuse to force them to become great musicians then it is perfectly alright to discard or destroy them in the attempt. This glorified tyrant and bully can himself only produce music at a grade one level and so because he cannot 'do' he 'teaches?' He does not teach, he does not inspire; he withholds approval, negatively reinforces and rules by fear, and is feared rather than respected. I would have a difficult time to point to a single (pedagogical) scene in the film that had any merit whatsoever or was worth watching for any reason. Maybe I should say that its evident popularity may be evidence that we are truly living in the end times... ha! See the film if you want to be current, but please decide for yourself from watching it and don't believe the hype about its 'genius' or 'brilliance.' It is not either of those things; it's a poorly written, sad joke. I would expect that those people who rate it so highly A) want to seem cool because 'it's about jazz' B) have never actually been in a teacher/student situation and therefore, can only imagine how its done C) see all the other positive reviews and so must follow the herd D) don't really know their ass from their elbow or E) thought the the actor had truly grown because in Spiderman he only yell, but it THIS one, he throws chairs.... or F) all of the above. Save your money or see something uplifting instead rather than this horseshit.

  Read full review ↓
• Andres Gomez2016-01-29
  ★ 9/10

  Fantastic movie with a good cast with an impressive Miles Teller and a yet even more impressive J.K. Simmons. Decent script, great directing, selection of the repertoire and performances. Just sit down, get a good audio system and enjoy one of the best movies of the 2010s.

  Read full review ↓
• DanDare2017-02-26
  ★ 5/10

  J K Simmons won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his mean, bullying monster. Jazz teacher Terence Fletcher who abhors the words 'good job.' Fletcher tells a tale about Charlie Parker and how doing a good job was not enough for him. Good job means mediocrity. Yet Fletcher is a mediocre educator and his college seems not to have noticed this. Instead of being an inspiration his students fear him. He is a nasty tyrant and an incident from his past comes back to haunt him. Miles Teller plays Andrew Neiman the put upon jazz drummer in the Shaffer Conservatory in New York. Neiman is eager to impress Fletcher but nothing he can do is good enough and withstands all the effluent Fletcher throws at him until one day he snaps. Damien Chazelle unleashed an unethical monster in Fletcher with Neiman providing the film's heart but I am not convinced that this is a good film. The rest of the students in the class are silent to the abuse taking place right in front of them. They are young adults, not kids and they do nothing about it.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Bold Films

  US

• 

  Blumhouse Productions

  US

• 

  Right of Way Films

  US

Key crew

• ProducerDavid Lancaster
• ProducerJason Blum
• ProducerMichel Litvak
• ProducerHelen Estabrook
• Costume DesignLisa Norcia
• Executive ProducerCouper Samuelson
• Executive ProducerGary Michael Walters
• Executive ProducerJeanette Volturno
• Executive ProducerJason Reitman
• CastingTerri Taylor
• Production DesignMelanie Jones
• EditorTom Cross
• Music SupervisorAndy Ross
• Co-ProducerNicholas Britell
• Unit Production ManagerMark David Katchur
• First Assistant DirectorNicolas Harvard
• Second Assistant DirectorRachel Jensen
• Line ProducerMark David Katchur
• Co-ProducerGarrick Dion
• Co-ProducerStephanie Wilcox
• Co-ProducerSarah Potts
• Associate ProducerPhillip Dawe
• Stunt CoordinatorMark Riccardi
• Stunt DoubleBrady Romberg

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• new york city
• jazz
• musician
• obsession
• music teacher
• conservatory
• drums
• montage
• perfectionist
• public humiliation
• jazz band
• young adult
• music school
• verbal abuse
• emotional abuse
• based on short film
• psychological drama
• romantic
• bold
• disapproving
• drummer

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere2014-01-16· Sundance Film Festival
• Premiere2014-09-28· New York Film Festival
• Theatrical2014-10-10R
• Theatrical2024-09-20R· 10th Anniversary Re-Issue
• Physical2015-02-24R· Blu-ray / DVD
• Physical2020-09-22R· 4K Ultra HD

Also known as

International titles

• Whiplash, Música y ObsesiónCL
• Whiplash - Zum Erfolg getriebenDE
• Whiplash - Musica y obsesionES
• Ритам лудилаRS
• 위플래쉬KR
• Whiplash. Música y obsesiónAR
• 進擊的鼓手TW
• Whiplash 2014JP
• 爆裂鼓手CN
• ՄոլեգնությունAM
• Whiplash: Em Busca da PerfeiçãoBR