Is 'Whiplash' actor Miles Teller really playing the drums in Damien Chazelle's jazz drama?

Hollywood is littered with instances of botched efforts by actors to fool audiences into thinking they can really play music. On the other hand, there are at least as many actors who learn to play well enough to trick the cameras. They include Forrest Whitaker, who took saxophone lessons to portray Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood's "Bird," and Robert De Niro, who did the same for his sax performance in Martin Scorsese's "New York, New York."
Even Dooley Wilson, who so memorably played Sam in "Casablanca" was faking it -- albeit with a little effort. Wilson was a musician in real life, but he was a drummer, not a pianist. So when he "plays" the iconic "As Time Goes By" on-screen at Humphrey Bogart's request, we're really hearing pianist Elliot Carpenter, who -- as legend has it -- tickled the ivories just off-screen, close enough so that Wilson could see and imitate his fingering.
And then there are those performances that are a mix of the two. That is, those involving actors who have at least a little bit of a musical background but who also put in the sweat equity to sell a particular role. That last group is the one to which Teller ("Divergent," "The Spectacular Now") belongs.
In "Whiplash," he plays a talented young drummer with big dreams and a holy terror of a musical instructor (the great J.K. Simmons) who is determined to help him realize those dreams, no matter what it takes. Chazelle's film, based loosely on his own experiences as a young music student, focuses on the relationship between the two. Necessarily, it also features a whole heck of a lot of hard-driving jazz drumming. Coming in, Teller had a certain amount of musical experience. He played saxophone as a youngster and as a teen he was the drummer in a rock band called The Mutes. But there's a definite difference between rock drumming and jazz drumming, so Chazelle enlisted drummer Nate Lang (who also plays Teller's fellow drummer/antagonist Carl in the film) to help put Teller through his paces. And so, for about two months, the two spent three or four hours a day in a sort of drumming boot camp. They started with the most basic of basics.
By the time they were done, they were throwing down on advanced songs like "Whiplash" and "Caravan," both of which figure prominently in the film. ("Whiplash" is the song that Teller's character is playing when he's almost decapitated by a chair thrown at him. "Caravan" is the song with the extended drum solo in the film's wonderful third act.) That's not to say what you see in the film was Teller playing those songs straight through, though. Chazelle broke the songs into chunks, and shot them piece by piece. Remember that "Caravan" solo? It took two days to shoot.
Then it was editor Tom Cross' job to make it look as if Teller "was playing his little heart out." As you saw, he did a great job. In fact, Cross' editing work in "Whiplash" is already earning awards, including one at last month's New Orleans Film Festival, where the film made its local debut.
So, long answer short, that is, indeed, Teller playing the drums -- but with help from some great editing and no small amount of hard work. The end result, as I'm sure you'll agree, is some beautiful music, indeed.
By Mike Scott