“When I saw Miles’ pre-screen taped audition for Rabbit Hole I thought he was some kid who had wandered in off the street. His eyes burned into me. He was so vulnerable, fascinating, real. It was only later I realized that he was actually an incredibly skilled actor. Nicole Kidman instantly agreed. This was the guy we were looking for to play opposite her for some of the most affecting scenes of the film. Plus he’s a sweetheart, a cut-up and he can dance like Michael Jackson. I feel so proud to have brought him to the world’s attention. It’s going to be seeing a lot of him.” John Cameron Mitchell, director of Rabbit Hole.
“In a sense, Miles and I both started working together at the beginning of our respective careers. I met Miles while teaching a workshop at NYU where he was a student at the time. I myself was 24 and newly promoted at my company as a talent manager…feeling unsure of how exactly I had ended up being asked to teach at NYU. I’m still not sure. But, when Miles finished the scene he had prepared, I knew right then and there that I had discovered a star. It’s a feeling I’ll never forget. All I could think to myself was this guy is hands down one of the most insanely talented people I’ve ever seen… What’s wrong with him?!?! I just couldn’t believe he didn’t have a manager or agent. Turned out there were several that had met him already. But, lucky for me, they were all pretty stupid because they all passed on signing him. I am proud to call myself Miles Teller’s manager. He’s a great actor, a great person, and a great friend, which makes doing my job pretty f*n awesome.” Michael Kaleda, manager @ Bold MP.
“Miles radiates joy on screen and there is a light that surrounds him. He is comfortable in his own skin, which makes people gravitate towards him. Of course, one immediately picks up on his comedic skills, but with a flip of a switch, he can go to the dramatic side and blow you away.” Tracy Brennan, agent @ CAA
Exclusive interview with Miles Teller
HF: What does art and commerce mean to you ?
MT: I think that great film can be both commercial and artistic. One should not refute the other. A commercial film means that it is treated towards a broader audience, but that doesn’t mean the subject matter and focus of the film is innately general and uninspiring. In the same way an Artistic film shouldn’t feel exclusive and alien to those who watch it. Great films can be watched over and over for their universal themes and engaging human relationships. I hope to achieve both commercial success and be proud of my work.
HF: What and who inspires you?
MT: I find myself inspired by the smaller moments in life. When I catch those subtle moments which are completely organic and unperformed. I am inspired by those who face great obstacles and face them with faith and the desire of the human will to overcome. My Uncle is in his 50′s and has been a quadriplegic since the time he was 17, and he is one of the most positive people I have in my life. He has been an incredible inspiration to me.
HF: What are your favorite moments in your career or life?
MT: When I was cast in a guest star spot on ‘The Unusuals’ that was a special moment for me. It was my first professional gig and at the time, I was a Senior at NYU and was constantly being reminded about the cold harsh post-academic world of an aspiring actor. All of my friends came over and we watched it when it came on television and it was a proudly uncomfortable viewing experience. As far as in my own life goes, I’m proud of the person that I am. I have a very close relationship with my family and friends which keeps me grounded. They are my foundation and I would be very unfortunate not to have them in my life.
HF: Any future projects you can update us on?
MT: I am currently in the middle of filming “21 and Over” so that is the next project for me at the moment. There are a few movies we are trying to get at the moment but for now it’s all up in the air. I have received a few direct offers but my next gig will probably end up in the hands of the audition gods, and that’s fine with me.
HF: Can you name a person that you would love to work with? Who in life do you have the utmost respect for?
MT: I love to work with passionate people. I’d love to be directed by the likes of the Cohen Brothers, Spielberg, Scorcese, Eastwood but also, it could be an unknown independent director who has that same fiery passion for filmmaking. On “21 and Over” I’m working with Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, two first-time directors and it has been an extremely rewarding experience. When you love what you’re doing and want to collaborate with others to make the scene better, that’s when the mind gets to really work.
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PHOTOGRAPHER: MITCHELL MCCORMACK
FASHION DIRECTOR: ASHLEY PHAN-WESTON
GROOMER: ELLE LEARY AT EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS
SPECIAL THANKS TO: JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL, MICHAEL KALEDA
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Exclusive interview with John Singleton
HF: Have you always wanted to be a filmmaker?
JS: Since I was nine years old.
HF: What inspired you?
JS: I grew up next to a drive-in theater.
HF: What did you watch?
JS: Kung Fu movies, blaxsploitation movies, horror movies; but, really, I think it was Pam Grier’s breasts that shocked me into cinema. Just looking out my mother’s apartment window at the drive-in… did something for me. Movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris; those kinds of pictures were showing.
HF: There seems to be a renaissance in filmmaking right now: great HD technology at a low cost. Is this kind of universal equalizer a good thing for the industry?
JS: I think it’s the best of times and the worst of times. People have access to shoot things in any digital measure: their cell phones, and video and HD cameras are really so cheap; you can cut a whole movie on a computer, and you actually can do low-cost special effects on your laptop. So that’s why I say it’s the best of times, in the sense that all these things are available.
But it’s also the worst of times in the sense that there was a time when every image that you put up on the screen had to have thought right behind it. When it cost money to shoot a frame of film or shoot film, people really did a lot more work on the meaning of a shot before shouting “action!” Even if they did low-budget movies, filmmakers were like, “Okay, we have two or three rolls of film,” like in the Corman days, so films always had some interesting ideas in them, but now people just shoot. So it’s really—It’s gonna be interesting to see what happens in the next few years.
And in major filmmaking—there’s a whole other level of filmmaking—in movies like Avatar, where everything is rendered. Avatar is a great example of what I’m saying because every thought has to be behind every image? Avatar did that. It’s taking it to a whole other level in terms of, visually, what can be done on the big screen for a film and I think that on the low end, the people with access to this technology who are not excelling at making good films aren’t thinking so much about what makes a film special: character, and traditional storytelling, or even visual storytelling. They can shoot, and so they just do.
HF: Every art form has its pioneers. Are there any pioneers in the filmmaking industry at the moment?
JS: Once again, I think what Cameron’s doing with Avatar and his 3D cameras are great, but the experimentation of people like Steven Soderbergh is just awesome. I love what he’s doing. He’s doing it with his commercial pictures, too, with his storytelling. I really love filmmakers that take the basic tenants of cinematic storytelling—editing, camera, sound, nothing having to do with special effects—and seeing what they do with those basic elements.
This guy right now, named Steve McQueen; he did a movie called Hunger many years back. What he does is phenomenal. He just totally has his own form in how he shoots his pictures.
Sometimes I feel like I know how to shoot a commercial picture. I know American storytelling. But sometimes it takes away from experimentation, trying different things, because we have to make movies that everyone’s going to want to watch. European filmmakers, they just make movies. It can be emotional, it can be passionate, it can be something that they know will disgust everybody, but they’re just making the movie. So there’s a yin and yang to it, to being a commercial director. You know you can make a movie that’s gonna make a hundred million dollars, but you know it’s not the same as making a picture that feels more special, that has so much heart in it, that—that may touch only a few people, but who cares. But with those movies, you never know, and you can’t roll the dice on a million dollars of money. You just can’t. And why should you? You can make that kind of picture on no money. You can make a movie like that that doesn’t cost anything.
HF: How much control do you feel you have over the movies you make?
JS: I have all the control in making the movies I wanna make, but in the United States, it’s about making movies that people want to see, so pretty much all the movies I make are more commercial movies. And what I’m saying is that there are many filmmakers who don’t necessarily agree with that, who are being experimental, like Soderbergh, who makes both movies that are commercial and movies that are experimental. He has a great career in being able to do that. He just goes and plays around.
HF: What do you think it was that made you special as a filmmaker when you first started out?
JS: I think that my saving grace was that I was a writing major at USC, so it was drilled in us to concentrate on traditional forms of storytelling with pictures: not using words as much as using visuals with thematics behind them. So that’s what I teach now when I talk to people. I tell people: you tell the story using pictures, using themes, instead of just having people talk. Because some of the most memorable moments in movies aren’t necessarily when people are saying anything at all: it’s the image.
HF: Nowadays, you typically helm projects with quite a bit of money behind them. Still, there’s no such thing as a blank check. Does this ever bother you? Or do you think budgetary restrictions yield a better product?
JS: I think its good to have restrictions. You’re more innovative in thinking about your choices during the brief time you have to shoot a film. Restrictions create spontaneity. A lot of people who have all the time and money in the world to make whatever film they’re doing make the shittiest movies because they’re not forced to think on their toes and be innovative with their options, which is exactly what you need to be when directing a film. Once again, I stick to film when I’m shooting. Film costs money and makes me a lot more creative with the images I shoot, because no, I don’t have a blank check.
HF: How was it working with Taylor Lautner on Abduction?
JS: It was hot, man. He’s one of the most talented cats I’ve worked with. And it’s interesting because when we started shooting, he was at the point where he really wanted to do something different, like he had something to prove, and wanted to step up his game as an actor and an action star. He was like, “I wanna do it all; I wanna do everything different.” He was all about improvisation, just like I am; being spontaneous. He showed his colors as an actor, and that’s why I enjoyed working with him; because it’s nice seeing someone develop who I know is going to be around for the next 20 or 30 years, and see how he’s formulating. So it was a joy for me, as a director, to watch him blossom.
HF: What was different about this movie, for you, as a director?
JS: It was a chance to work with Taylor and a young cast on something that’s wall-to-wall action. There are some intimate parts, but it’s an action picture. ‘A man on the run,’ like Hitchcock used to make.
HF: How has your attitude toward the filmmaking process changed from your younger days to now?
JS: I’m more diplomatic now. I was more of a rabble-rouser when I was younger. Everything came to me really quickly, and it wasn’t easy, but I was making movies a month out of college, at 22, and I was like, “Fuck everybody, because everybody told me I wasn’t going to make it as a filmmaker.” So when I did it, I was like, “Everyone who told me I wasn’t going to make it?” I told them to go fuck themselves. I had an enormous chip on my shoulder, and that carried me through my earlier years.
HF: And now?
JS: Now? I’ve got nothing to prove.
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PHOTOGRAPHER: MITCHELL MCCORMACK
FASHION DIRECTOR: ASHLEY PHAN-WESTON
INTERVIEW: OLIVER SINGER
GROOMER: AUTUMN MOULTRIE FOR EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS/ KERSTIN FLORIAN
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