WHIPLASH—“THE NEUROTIC VOICE OF DOUBT PRESENT IN ALL OF US WHEN WE PERFORM.” J.K. Simmons is a master at playing intelligent public officials. Now he is apparently a heavy favorite to win a best supporting actor Oscar for the part of a music teacher who is like a marine drill sergeant. The movie is Whiplash. We saw it as a 25 minute short a couple years ago. Here is the trailer which shows a few seconds of the J.K. Simmons performance.
Henry Barnes in the Guardian interviewed Billy Brown, who has been the touring drummer with Ladytron since 2008, about Whiplash. Barnes says that he has never encountered a teacher like the Simmons character. But, he says: “There is, however, a nagging familiarity to him. He’s the neurotic voice of doubt present in all of us when we perform.”
And after! Which explains why I still can’t bear to look at the video of my Namibia talk that’s on the PBS website.
The talk on Namibia is good. Your audience is pleased even if you are not.
It’s “the neurotic voice of doubt” that keeps me from finding out, not that I was displeased.