Development
While attending Princeton High School, writer-director Damien Chazelle was in the "very competitive" Studio Band and drew on the dread he felt in those years.[11] He based the conductor, Terence Fletcher, on his former band instructor (who died in 2003) but "pushed it further", adding elements of Buddy Rich and other band leaders known for their harsh treatment.[11] Chazelle wrote the film "initially in frustration" while trying to get his musical La La Land off the ground.[12]
Right of Way Films and Blumhouse Productions helped Chazelle turn fifteen pages of his original screenplay into a short film starring Johnny Simmons as Neiman and J. K. Simmons (no relation)[13] as Fletcher.[14] The eighteen-minute short film received acclaim after debuting at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, winning the short film Jury Award for fiction,[15] which attracted investors to produce the complete version of the script.[16] The feature-length film was financed for $3.3 million by Bold Films.[3]
In August 2013, Miles Teller signed on to star in the role originated by Johnny Simmons; J. K. Simmons remained attached to his original role.[17] Early on, Chazelle gave J. K. Simmons direction that "I want you to take it past what you think the normal limit would be," telling him: "I don't want to see a human being on-screen any more. I want to see a monster, a gargoyle, an animal." Many of the band members were real musicians or music students, and Chazelle tried to capture their expressions of fear and anxiety when Simmons pressed them. Chazelle said that, in between takes, Simmons was "as sweet as can be", which he credits for keeping "the shoot from being nightmarish".[11]
Filming
Principal photography began in September 2013, with filming taking place throughout Los Angeles, including the Hotel Barclay, Palace Theater, and the Orpheum Theatre.[18][19] The film was shot in nineteen days, with a schedule of fourteen hours of filming per day.[20] Chazelle was involved in a serious car accident in the third week of filming and was hospitalized with possible concussion, but he returned to set the following day to wrap the shoot on time.[20]
Having taught himself to play drums at age fifteen, Teller performed much of the drumming seen in the film. Supporting actor and jazz drummer Nate Lang, who plays Teller's rival Carl in the film, trained Teller in the specifics of jazz drumming; this included changing his grip from "matched" to "traditional". For certain scenes, professional drummer Kyle Crane served as Teller's drum double.[21][22]
