I don't know if there's an actors' slow-pitch softball league I could join. My agency has a team, but they say it would be a conflict of interest for the people they rep to play because I could hit a pop-up and they'd have to drop it on purpose.
Miles TellerI drummed in some rock bands. I asked for a drum kit when I was 15 and my parents were kind enough to buy me one and I just started playing with my buddies who played guitar.
Miles TellerI enjoy the physicality a little more, with Vinnie Paz [in Bleed for This] that was the most prep I've ever had to do for a film, that was a legit like 7 months of diet and working out. And then I was able to do like an accent, I was able to change myself physically, I was able to do a lot of the things that I'd always looked at actors and admired when they did that. So I was excited to do that.
Miles TellerWhen I was in middle school, I always did well in school, but teachers either loved me or absolutely hated me.
Miles TellerMy mom is very proud of introducing music to all her kids. But I played in some bad rock bands my junior and senior years of high school.
Miles TellerI start a boxing movie and that's kind of something I've been able to get to the gym for. It's great anytime you can parallel a skill that your character has. I just think it makes it even more rewarding.
Miles TellerHonestly, I'm not a big movie buff in general. The only movies I own is probably the 'Indiana Jones' trilogy.
Miles TellerI just love the history of acting. It's such a beautiful craft and you absolutely get out of it what you put into it.
Miles TellerLiving in somebody else's pain for an actor man, it's actually nice when you get to feel that kind of emotion. That's what I like.
Miles TellerI think girls are surprised when you actually really listen and then you call it back at the end of the night.
Miles TellerI think if anybody is making a movie about your life something pretty incredible had to happen.
Miles TellerI think a lot of times it just looks like Hollywood actors in Halloween costumes, you know? And I think what weโre going to do with Fantastic Four is going to be very grounded and it made sense to me. When I read the script, I didnโt feel like I was reading this larger-than-life, incredible superhero tale. These are all very human people that end up having to become I guess what is known as the Fantastic Four. So for me it was just a really good story and gives me an opportunity to play something different from my own skin. Itโs a proper character and thatโs my favorite stuff to do.
Miles TellerI grew up middle class, my best friends to this day are construction workers or military or whatever it is.
Miles TellerFor me, pressure is self-imposed, and it's good for me. The best actors are the most prepared because it's all imaginary and you have to know the character inside out.
Miles TellerI think when you're looking for scripts or for characters around your own age, a lot of the times they don't have the kind of responsibility that is usually seen in parts that are older for you.
Miles TellerI'm proud of everything I've done. If it's comedy, it's 'cause I think it's funny. If it's a drama, it's impactful. I'm leaning towards dramas now because I wrapped a couple comedies in a row. I don't like watching myself, but it's easier on me when I don't have to carry a lot of the comedy. But I enjoy making comedies but dramas come more naturally.
Miles TellerSo I think that in the beginning of your career you're just looking to work. Luckily for me, my first movie was 'Rabbit Hole' and I got to work with incredible people, a Pulitzer prize winning writer, John Cameron Mitchell, and all the actors involved. So it's tough, man, because you want to have credibility.
Miles TellerI always had ambition. I always knew I was going to go to college. I could party and do that stuff, but I always got straight A's and a 4.0 and all that.
Miles TellerMy second grade teacher told me I would never graduate high school. That I was going to be a juvenile delinquent.
Miles TellerI was in good shape from Divergent. Damien Chazelle, the director of Whiplash told me, 'Stop Working Out! Don't go outside!' He wanted me pale and doughy. This is the first movie where I shut myself off from the world. It was, by far, the hardest thing I've ever done.
Miles TellerI got into acting my junior year of high school. We got a new hot drama teacher and I was like 'Alright, I'll try drama.'
Miles TellerWe were doing this close-up of my character on a cell phone, and the director's just like "Cut! Can we get somebody else's hand in there?" I do bite my fingernails, and you don't want to see a fat, bitten thumbnail on a 30-foot movie screen, so I get somebody with really nice, sexy hands and put 'em in there.
Miles TellerI feel like my body doesn't judge the hours, you know? It doesn't care if it's daytime or nighttime.
Miles TellerIf I don't have a schedule in front of me, I do enjoy sleeping. It's important for your body!
Miles TellerFor me, the greatest kind of success that I've had on a particular project or in exploring a role does come through collaboration. I wouldn't want to do a movie where everything I do the director just says, "Good job" and I'm under directed.
Miles TellerFirst play I ever did was 'Footloose.' I played the part of Willard when I was 16. I think I wore my drama teacher's jeans and her belt - that's how small I was. I know a lot of Willard's back story from the musical that's not explored in the film. Like he's got this whole relationship with his mama, and he sings this song "Mama Says".
Miles TellerI just really enjoyed all that kind of responsibility, I loved the fact that many people cared. I was doing 4 hours of boxing, 2 hours of weights, an hours of accent and dialect training, I just enjoyed having to do all that for this character [ Vinnie Paz in Bleed for This].
Miles TellerWhen I first started getting into acting, I was doing improv in acting class, and I had done a serious monologue and everyone was cracking up laughing and I went to the drama teacher and said I don't want to be the class clown anymore, I want to do serious work, too, and they loved that, and so I started mixing in drama.
Miles TellerActing is such a high art, and coming from theater, I know how hard it is and respect the craft. I want to look back when it ends, and say I challenged myself. I wanted to be an actor you always remember, and those who are the great ones. That's just a personal journey. If you're too comfortable you're taking it too easy. The director can direct you for two months but before that it's just you and your internal drive. I want people to go to my movies and know it'll be good, and with great actors. You never know what you'll learn from just staying in the same space with them.
Miles TellerI just got an iPhone, which is cool, but I don't download movies, I don't watch Hulu, I don't have Netflix. I don't do any of that. But I do geek out to music.
Miles TellerAt the end of the day, it's hard to keep relationships with people. I've got my family, my best friends and if a girl's gonna be a part of that then it's got to be good. If not, I'm out.
Miles TellerThe makers of '21 and Over' have been screening it, and I'm getting a lot of comparisons to a young Vince Vaughn.
Miles TellerI like girls who are cute and naturally funny. As long as they are not too high-maintenance, then we're good.
Miles TellerI'm very proud to be part of a cast that's gonna put Hot Shots on screen for the first time, Hot Shots are the first line of defense against wildland fire and these guys are so selfless, they are guys that do what they do without wanting any kind of attention for it.
Miles TellerI've played drums since I was 15. My sisters and I all played instruments. I kind of started with piano and then I actually played saxophone with a jazz band in middle school. So, any knowledge I had of jazz music was from playing alto-sax back then.
Miles TellerI'm the first one out on the dance floor. In college I had to take jazz, ballet and tap dancing, but, before that, it was just social.
Miles TellerUmm... So I just realized Ive been peeling bananas wrong my entire life. Thank you animal planet.
Miles TellerI was not a band geek, per say. But me and my two older sisters played instruments, so I would come home and my sister Dana would be playing the clarinet or playing the piano, and I would play the saxophone, my other sister would be singing, my mom would be singing. I was not afraid to be musical. That was not something that I thought was uncool.
Miles Teller