Background
Chazelle was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on January 19, 1985. He is the son of Celia (Martin), a writer and professor, and Bernard Chazelle, a French-born computer scientist at Princeton University.
Chazelle was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on January 19, 1985. He is the son of Celia (Martin), a writer and professor, and Bernard Chazelle, a French-born computer scientist at Princeton University.
He attended Harvard University where he concentrated in Visual and Environmental Studies. Chazelle studied filmmaking as an undergraduate at Harvard, graduating in 2007.
He made his directorial debut with the musical Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009). In 2014, he wrote and directed his second feature film Whiplash, based on his award-winning short film Whiplash (2013). Chazelle received an individual nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Filmmaking was his earliest ambition, but he subsequently wanted to be a musician, and struggled to make it as a jazz drummer in high school at Princeton High School.
Unlike the film"s protagonist Andrew Neiman, however, Chazelle stated that he knew instinctively he never had the talent to be a great musician, and after high school, pursued filmmaking again, describing it as his first love. Chazelle"s debut as a writer and director was the film Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench.
He shared screenplay cr with director Editor Gass-Donnelly on The Last Exorcism Participant II, 2013. He is also credited as the screenwriter on 2013"s Grand Piano, a thriller that has an anxious pianist dealing with a death threat during a concert.
Chazelle has stated in interviews that he was working as a "writer for hire" but had the ambition to direct his own script.
Chazelle described Whiplash as a writing reaction to being stuck on another script. "I just thought, that"s not working, let me put it away and write this thing about being a jazz drummer in high school." He stated he initially did not want to show the script around, as it felt too personal, and "I put it in a drawer."
Whiplash gained interest from producers, but nobody initially wanted to make the film. A short film, made as proof of concept, was accepted at the Sundance Film Festival 2013.
Financing was raised for the film, and in 2014 it was released to an overwhelmingly positive critical reaction.
The film also took the grand prize and the audience award for favorite film at the 40th Deauville American Film Festival. Chazelle co-wrote 10 Cloverfield Lane, which was released on March 11, 2016.
His upcoming musical, Louisiana Louisiana Land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, will be released on December 16, 2016.
The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival and went on receiving 5 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Whiplash won the Sundance Film Festival Short Prize in 2013 as a short and in 2014 the top audience and grand jury awards in the United States. dramatic competition as a full-length feature film. On January 15, 2015, Whiplash received 5 Academy Award nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay for Chazelle. lieutenant won three of them, Best Supporting Actor for Simmons, Best Achievement in Film Editing and Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, on February 22, 2015.
