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Sam Song Li loved Damien Chazelle’s frenetic, music-based nightmare Whiplash so much that it changed his relationship with acting. After watching the film, the actor (The Brothers Son, Never Have I Ever, Better Call Saul) sought out acting classes that mirrored the film’s hard-edged approach to artistic practice — fortunately in less extreme circumstances.
In this episode of The Spark Parade, Song Li recalls his experience falling in love with the film, the impact it’s had on his approach to creating art, and realizing the drawbacks of relentless negative feedback. Ultimately, he contemplates the balance between challenging students without making their lives absolutely miserable. “I do think it’s such a nuanced conversation between what is too much — how much is too much discipline?” he asks.
He goes on to discuss how much the emotional journey of Miles Teller’s character affected him as a viewer, as well as how he identified with the ways internal turmoil can result in seeking out less-than-healthy relationships: “The way that we condone cult-like behavior for the sake of an external family, that was not talked about enough.”
Listen to Sam Song Li talk about Whiplash in this episode of The Spark Parade. Please also take the time to like, review, and subscribe to The Spark Parade wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.
Host Adam Unze (The Opus) explores creativity in all its forms on The Spark Parade by asking musicians, artists, comedians, and other creators to share the single cultural work that has most inspired them. Whether it comes from the world of music, film, comedy, visual art, or literature, we all have something that sparks our own creative desires. On The Spark Parade, guests reveal the single piece of art that ignites within them to fire of creation.
