Preparations for the biggest film of 2022 were grueling for the entire cast. With strict training imposed by Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, and his co-stars flew for months before the filming for Top Gun: Maverick eventually kickstarted. But while in the case of Top Gun 2, the difficulties stemmed from the prolonged period of training, the opposite was the case for Whiplash, which shot him to prominence.
Similar to the film itself, the shooting process for Whiplash was pretty intense, as they had a limited filming window, which took some major toll on the cast and crew, especially Teller.
Miles Teller Was Barely Staying Afloat During Whiplash’s Production
After initially securing $3M funding, thanks to the warm reception to the 18-minute short film that debuted at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Damien Chazelle and co. shot the entire feature film within 20 days. This was done to ensure the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014.
In their race against the clock, Chazelle explained that the whole thing was like a “military operation of running and gunning”. Miles Teller, on the other side, felt like he was “treading water the whole time”, because of the unusual pace of filming.
I couldn’t grasp anything other than I was just trying to stay afloat. I feel like I was just treading water the whole time because we were moving so fast.
Even though the process was very antithetical to what Chazelle “imagined that the creative process would be”, this added a “certain adrenaline and energy”, which fit in line with the film they were going for.
Damien Chazelle Wrote Whiplash With Miles Teller in Mind
Following Teller’s initial unavailability for the 18-minute short film, Chazelle went with Johnny Simmons instead, and the actor was all set to reprise the role for the feature-length version. But as the story goes, once the Top Gun 2 star’s schedule opened up, Chazelle jumped back to Teller.
Moreover, the Divergent star didn’t even have to engage in the audition process, as the Babylon filmmaker penned the script with Teller in mind.
I got really lucky that I was handed such a beautiful script without having to audition for it. Damien told me he wrote it with me in mind.
As for his career moving forward, it appears we’ll see the trio of Teller, Cruise, and Glen Powell reunite again, as Top Gun 3 is reportedly in development at Paramount.
Whiplash is available to rent on Apple TV.
Top Gun: Maverick is available to stream on Paramount Plus.
