Miles Teller Rewatches 'Top Gun: Maverick,' 'Whiplash,' 'Eternity' & More

I remember I show up on set

and just the boys are getting like lubed up

and they're all getting their pre-pump

and there was a couple guys

that literally almost started crying

when they were gonna have to wear a shirt

because they had just been dieting and working out so much.

This was a very big deal for them.

I am Miles Teller and today,

we're going to be watching some scenes

from throughout my career.

Let's see how this goes.

[upbeat music]

[upbeat new wave music]

All right, gang, whiplash.

Little under tempo, okay?

Neiman, just do your best.

[laughs] Obviously, we know where this scene is going.

And he's just, don't worry about it.

Just, you know, no stress.

Just do your thing, man.

Then he turns into a fucking psycho.

[upbeat music]

I got Buddy Rich here.

[upbeat music]

I got Buddy Rich over here.

JK went to college for conducting.

Damien didn't know then.

Damien didn't know that I drummed

in like high school rock bands and stuff.

I only had about two and a half weeks, I think,

to take drum lessons for this.

I guess I emailed Damien.

He sent me like caravan and some of the music pieces

and I said, Wow, this is incredible.

Who's gonna play this?

And he's like, You are.

And he said I responded just like, Holy fuck.

It's my exact words.

[upbeat music]

There you go.

Oh, fucking man. Little drop in.

Let's pick it up at 17.

[upbeat music]

Not quite my tempo.

[laughs] The amount of times people now yell

that shit to me.

I play in this kind of charity celebrity golf tournament,

And tempo is a big thing in your golf swing,

and I'm an okay golfer.

And so they tend to yell that out

right after I hit a very poor shot,

which they think is very funny,

and I can laugh at it too.

But yeah, I hear, Not my tempo all the damn time,

so thank you, Damien and JK.

[upbeat jazz music]

Every single person in this is a real musician.

Every single musician is playing live.

There's never a backtrack or anything,

which from what I understand maybe is the first time

that that was kind of done.

That's what Damien was telling me.

And for me, it was such a thrill

'cause I played in like jazz band, but I played sax.

I drummed in some rock bands,

but for me, just part of my work every day

was like playing with these beautiful concert musicians.

So I loved it.

It's like most people, the time when you're drumming,

they're telling you to like turn it down.

And this was, now we have multiple takes

of me doing some fills.

Start counting.

Five, six, seven-

In four, damn it, look at me!

One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four,

one, two, three, four- Now,

was I rushing or was I dragging?

No.

I spent so much time looking at JK's face.

I told him, like, his face was just always right here.

So I felt like every wrinkle, every line,

in his every feature of his face

is just kind of burned into my brain.

You are upset. Yeah.

Say it. I'm upset.

Say it to the whole band can hear you.

I'm upset. Louder!

The script is written with such punctuation,

like vile, just acidity.

The scene work was so intense

that if you were to keep that all day,

it would combust.

I just don't think, you just can't live,

you can't have that much tension at work for that long.

At least not for JK and I.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

Rushing or dragging. Rushing.

So you do know the difference.

If you deliberately sabotage my band,

I will fuck you like a pig.

When JK says, I'm gonna fuck you like a pig,

the line was, I'm gonna gut you like a pig.

And he always said it that way.

When he saw the movie and he hears, Fuck you like a pig,

he's like, Damien, what are you, I never said that.

He said it one time when they shot the short film

and Damien took that audio from the short film

and put it into this.

But also for my wife and I, her favorite thing to say to me

if she feels like I'm not listening,

she's like, For the last father-fucking-time, Miles.

And we always smile.

So for the final father-fucking-time, say it louder!

I'm upset!

It's like there's some... [chuckles]

Damien had a lot of trauma

from his high school band experience, I guess.

[upbeat new wave music]

♪ Dancing on the clouds below ♪

♪ I ain't worried 'bout it ♪

All right, yeah, just a little freeze frame on,

well, that's like, that was this dance

that me and my buddies would do.

It's kind of like the Weekend at Bernie's thing.

I don't really know, but I had no idea

it would turn into such a, you know, shared clip.

I didn't know, yeah.

But it's almost, yeah, it's like if Carlton

as Alfonso's got the Carlton dance,

people are always asking,

give us the wiggle or something.

But it worked, yeah, I mean, it worked.

♪ I don't know what you've been told ♪

♪ But time is running out ♪

Dude, the boys were jacked up.

Every other scene we had done,

we're all wearing flight suits and stuff,

and you assume people are getting in good shape,

but you don't really know,

and then I remember I show up on set,

and just the boys are getting like lubed up

and they're all getting their pre-pump going on.

But honestly it was so fun because you know

if you do this scene right,

it's like it's one of those classic scenes.

In the original, it's a classic scene

and then this is our version of it.

But originally this was,

it was supposed to be shirts versus skins.

So half the guys were gonna be wearing shirts

and Joe basically picked,

not based on physique or anything,

but he's just like, Okay, you did that.

And there was a couple guys

that literally almost started crying

because they had just been dieting and working out so much.

This was their month.

Some of the guys maybe didn't have as many lines

or something.

This was a very big deal.

I think we probably had a little team meeting

and we're like, This is bullshit.

We're going to tell them.

We're all going skins.

Yeah, and Tom and TC out there running around with us.

Yeah, it was just a lot of fun.

♪ 1999, heroes ♪

♪ I ain't worried 'bout it right now ♪

The draft that I had first read,

you know, is still a work in progress in a lot of ways.

And I vocalized that to Tom.

And I probably also said, I think, you know,

my character maybe is a little underwritten here,

this and that.

And Tom said, Miles, I really respect you for saying that.

And trust me, we're gonna get it there.

And honestly, for me, at the time,

I don't think I was necessarily looking

to do something on that scale,

which, looking back on it, was very stupid.

And my wife, when I first told her, I was like,

I don't know, she goes, Miles, what are you talking about?

This is gonna be a massive movie, and it's great.

And look, I mean, I'm so proud of it.

I hope that, you know, we'll see.

I would love to, I think everybody would love to continue,

You know, kind of on that train.

The jean shorts was my choice as well.

Just a personal preference? Yeah, jorts, yeah.

I said, I know what I'm wearing.

[upbeat new wave music]

Go for it.

It's pretty strong.

Oh my God. Yeah.

Ew. Yeah, I know.

Whoa. I know.

I told you. How do you drink that?

I don't know,

I guess I've just been doing it for a while.

Shailene's a baby too.

And this movie's really interesting for me

because originally there was a different director

attached before James Ponsoldt.

It kind of bounced around a lot as a kid,

but like middle school and high school,

I grew up in this pretty small town in Florida

and it was very similar to this world

and kids started drinking young.

There was not much to do.

We would often hang out in places

that look a lot like this.

But I felt like I really could play this character,

I knew him really well, so I auditioned for it.

I kind of bombed the audition, and I begged my agent,

you gotta get me another audition for this thing.

Like, I am, I can play Sutter.

And so I got another audition.

It went slightly better, but not good enough.

And then they changed directors.

James Ponsoldt came on, and James said,

I'm not gonna make you audition.

I said, good.

And he's like, but let's just meet,

you know, where do you wanna meet?

Let's meet at a bar.

And so I just met him at a bar,

we just had some apps and a couple drinks

and I was lucky that he gave me this opportunity.

You know who gave me my first beer?

Who? My dad.

Really? Yeah.

I was probably six years old.

He used to take me to baseball games every Saturday

and then let me have little sips of it.

Did you get drunk? No, I didn't get drunk,

but I mean, it tasted really nice, it felt warm.

I think we went shopping for a lot of our wardrobe,

just kind of thrift stores in towns in Athens

and obviously there's little to no makeup.

James wanted it as natural as possible.

Shailene is always an advocate for that.

I got into college today,

but there's no way that my mom will let me go, so.

You got into college today?

That's awesome.

Yeah, thank you.

This scene, because we shot it on film,

the camera is going to be a little heavier.

It's a one-er, and at the end of the scene,

the camera tilts up,

and people thought that was kind of a choice,

but it wasn't.

It was because he was walking backwards

for many minutes this is.

It had poured down rain, it was wet,

and he just kind of fell over,

but it gives itself a nice button.

Amy, you're absolutely beautiful.

Oh my God, no. [laughs]

[gentle music]

I just really loved the community

that you get from not just the film festivals,

but when you make kind of a more independent film,

'cause you feel like this kind of theater troop,

and you get to, you just get to spend more time

with each other and people tend to gravitate

towards independent films

because they're not as conventional

and I think for the actors, you can get handed some material

that's a little riskier.

But yeah, I loved it.

[upbeat new wave music]

I'm not gonna tell anyone. I'm serious, Randy.

I'm serious.

I promise, just follow the girls.

They know what they're doing and you don't.

Those little girls are so cute.

The first play that I ever did was Footloose in high school.

And I was like 16, I played Willard,

and honestly, I was so small,

I'm pretty sure I wore my high school drama teacher's,

like jeans, and she was not a very big woman herself,

but I will always love Footloose.

Really, that's kind of where it all started for me.

So to kind of relive a lot of these scenes in the film,

but also we're so young, this was like

pretty much all of our first studio film.

You know, in his Paramount pictures,

it just felt like such a classic.

♪ I just wanna cheer ♪

♪ Let's hear for the boys ♪ And we're jumping,

and we're jumping.

♪ Let's give the boy a hand ♪

Yeah!

♪ Let's hear it for my baby ♪

I love this whole soundtrack, man.

I love Footloose.

I think me just pretty much winging it

for some of the stuff that Kenny and I do later,

that was a little more choreographed,

But honestly, a lot of that was pretty loose.

I think I let everybody know right off the bat,

hey, I'm very confident in my dancing.

It's gonna be hard for me to act like I can't dance.

Hey, watch where you're going, little guy.

Sorry, man, I didn't see you.

Hey, well, you know it's like jobs

where you just stick with the flow trap and I'm nuts.

Maybe if you weren't wearing all that camouflage

I could see you.

You should get one of them orange vests

so runners don't shoot you.

An orange vest?

I don't wear orange, man, 'cause I'm not a Tennessee fan,

I'm a George Bulldog.

Where are you from? You talk funny.

I talk funny.

I certainly didn't use an accent dialect coach,

which I imagine people can probably hear.

But like I said, I probably was just busting out

the same Willard accent I did when I was 16,

just like some generic Southern accent.

But honestly, yeah, this movie just makes me smile so much,

just 'cause that cast, for all of us,

that was our like real jumping off point.

And Craig Brewer too, Craig Brewer is the man,

before he starts every film,

he invites the whole cast to his house.

And then he makes you watch Purple Rain.

He's the man.

He's the coolest dude on every set.

Yeah, he's great.

I loved everything about this.

[upbeat new wave music]

[eerie music]

Mm, Brutal.

Well, for this particular scene,

there's been, I think, two times in my career

where I had the available resource

of the person I was playing that was alive.

And so with Brendan, I said,

What were you feeling in this particular moment,

and what was that experience like?

And he said, Miles, I just found out

all my guys had died too.

So I wanted to go to the gym to grieve with everybody.

And he said, when he walked in that gym,

because people didn't know who the one survivor was.

Instead of what he thought he would come in and be accepted,

he said everybody was just looking,

some were pissed off that it wasn't their husband,

their son, they're sad, they're angry,

and all of these emotions,

and he just said he instantly felt just so ashamed

and embarrassed and really upset at himself

and them for being the one survivor,

and the survivor's guilt and all these things

just kind of flooding over him.

And for this particular scene,

like when you see, when I come through,

the camera's just right there

and I have to walk into this closeup

and the focus was very specific.

I had to, you know, walk into this closeup.

The camera's like right here.

I couldn't even see the other people in the room.

And so I was getting very pissed off at Joe Kaczynski,

who obviously we've done many movies now.

That's my guy, but I was getting so pissed off

because for this scene, I was like,

Joe, I need to be able to feel,

I need to be able to look around

and really take this in.

And all I'm seeing is a camera lens.

Yeah, I think I would finish each take just like pissed,

not feeling like I was able to give the performance feel

all of the emotions I felt were right for the scene

because I couldn't play off anybody.

And then one take, Joe, I think, told Jeff Bridges

to kind of put me in this like almost dream state,

like what is going on?

And Bridges is behind the camera the one take

and he's going, They're all dead, donut.

You killed 'em all, man...

And this shit and I was like, that pissed me off even more

'cause I just, in general, I don't like gimmicks.

Yeah, no, this was tough.

Brandon!

Should've been me. No.

Yeah, he was better than me.

They were all better than me. No, shh.

Don't say that.

From the moment you step on that set,

step into training camp,

you know, these are very real men that we're eulogizing.

That's how I always think it.

I say, You know, we're eulogizing

and memorializing these people on screen.

[upbeat new wave music]

Listen, so I was sitting with my family,

and then I- Died.

No, Anna, whatever you're trying to...

It's not sore.

Look, Larry.

[people chattering]

How is this happening?

When you get here,

your form reverts to its happiest self.

It can be any age.

That's where lots of 10-year-old boys,

but not a lot of teenagers, though.

Shit, Joan, Joan, my wife, I need to go back.

Honestly, I thought it was just one of the funniest,

not just funny, but really highly original.

I felt for everybody involved.

Obviously, the part that Callum plays,

who passed away before he, you know,

soon as they got married and he goes off to war

and he never got to have that life.

I have also such an affinity for kind of elderly couples

still in love who like hold hands and stuff.

It's very heartfelt, very funny.

I love Devine.

She cracks me up, dude.

We had so much fun.

Oh, Larry, look on the bright side.

At least your penis works again.

Hi, Anna.

My penis always worked.

There's no need to feel shame here.

We've seen it all.

There was a good amount of riffing.

Yeah, it was one of the most fun times I've had

making a movie.

Everything just kind of flowed.

And David, our director, he just had a very clear idea

of what he wanted to do.

And we kind of were off and running,

because for smaller films,

you don't have a ton of time, usually.

And I also just love a good ensemble.

I like firing off other people.

Larry, what is a soul?

[people chattering]

I don't know, I suppose it's the perfect version

of yourself. No, it's just you.

No, that can't be right.

I mean, it's a thought-provoking piece.

I think you want audiences

to kind of maybe go back and forth a little bit.

From Larry's point of view, he's like, What do you mean?

We've been married for 65 years, honey.

But yeah, it is a unique concept

that you then have to kind of audition for your wife

and kind of go on competing first dates

to try and win her back, even though it's like,

we've been together this whole time.

When did that stop?

My grandparents were staying with me out in California,

and then I pretty much went off to do this film,

so I was talking with them a lot about it

while they were there.

My grandma has never carried her own bag once,

she's never opened her own door once,

and Kelly and I, my wife, we have a saying,

what would Poppy do?

And really that just means just be a gentleman.

He just passed away in December.

We'll screen this for my grandmother in a few months.

And so this movie's just always,

it was kind of the last one I really got to talk

to both of them about.

So it would always be special to me.

And I used a lot of their interactions and some behavior

to just embody it a little bit,

to wonder what it would be like to be 80 something years old

with somebody for 65 years.

and yeah, I use them a lot.

[upbeat new wave music]

All right, well, thanks for watching.

We'll see you at the movies.

Hopefully, you guys were able to check out Eternity

in theaters.