Since Miles Teller made his breakthrough performance as an ambitious jazz drummer in the award-winning film Whiplash, he has starred in many notable films and is recognized as a widely acclaimed actor. Some of his most notable projects include The Divergent Series (trilogy), Top Gun: Maverick, and, most recently, Spiderhead, which was released on Netflix.
Many will find it hard to believe that Teller was paid a mere $8000 for his role as Andrew Neiman in the Oscar-winning film Whiplash. It was, however, a sacrifice worth making because his role in the film has led him to be one of the most celebrated actors in Hollywood.
‘The Spectacular Now’ (2013)
The coming-of-age romantic drama film, The Spectacular Now, which stars Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley as the leading roles, is based on Tim Tharp’s 2008 novel of the same name. It follows the story of two high-schoolers, Sutter and Aimee, and an unexpected romance that blossomed between the two. Recognized actors such as Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bob Odenkirk, and Brie Larson also play supporting roles in the film.
Film critic Roger Ebert praised the film’s authenticity by recognizing that the main characters “speak and feel like real 18-year-old middle-American human beings. Do you have any idea how rare that is?” He also compared Teller’s performance in the film to John Cusack’s iconic role in Say Anything. Spin’s Phoebe Reilly also complimented Teller and Woodley for their “absurdly natural performances” and Sutter (Miles Teller) being “uniquely irresistible.”
‘War Dogs’ (2016)
Todd Philips’ black comedy-crime film War Dogs stars Miles Teller as a massage therapist, David Packouz, and Jonah Hill as a US government arms dealer, Efraim Diveroli. David gets offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity from his old friend Efraim to make big bucks by joining him and his company AEY Inc. as an international arms dealer. They live the high life for quite some time, but things quickly take a turn after they land a $300 million deal to supply the Afghan forces.
War Dogs grossed $86.2 million worldwide, with $14.3 million grossed in its opening weekend. Despite an impressive cast, including Ana de Armas and Bradley Cooper starring alongside Teller and Hill, the film received mixed reviews from the viewers and critics. It scored 57 out of 100 on Metacritic, suggesting its “mixed or average reviews.”
‘Whiplash’ (2014)
Miles Teller made his breakthrough performance in Damien Chazelle’s 2014 award-winning psychological drama film, Whiplash. He plays a determined jazz drummer, Andrew Neiman, who goes to extreme lengths and is pushed to his limits by his abusive instructor, Terence Fletcher (J. K. Simmons). Paul Reiser played Teller’s father in the film.
During its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, it won the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize for drama. The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy praised Teller’s performance, writing: “Teller, who greatly impressed in last year’s Sundance entry The Spectacular Now, does so again in a performance that is more often simmering than volatile.” Fortunately, Teller knew how to play the drums and only needed lessons to learn jazz drumming. The film's editor Tom Cross said Teller “did probably 99 percent of the drumming” himself.
‘The Divergent Series’ (2014 - 2016)
Teller posed as the central antagonist, Peter Hayes, across the three films of The Divergent Series. His character is depicted as competitive, cruel, violent, and often a danger to others. Teller shares the screen with his The Spectacular Now co-star Shailene Woodley, and others such as Theo James, Jai Courtney, Ashley Judd, Zoë Kravitz, and Ansel Elgort.
Despite the success of the first and second films, the third film of The Divergent Series performed poorly at the box office, and this caused the cancelation of the fourth film. For this reason, the last film was left on a cliffhanger.
‘Footloose’ (2011)
Footloose (2011) is a remake of the original 1984 musical film of the same name. Miles Teller plays the role of Willard Hewitt, who becomes friends with the protagonist of the film, Ren McCormack (Kenny Wormald), and tells him about the ban on unsupervised dancing in the town of Bomont, Georgia.
The film received mixed reviews, with some favoring it and others not so much. Entertainment Weekly’s Lisa Schwarzbaum praised Wormald’s performance and said he “handily owns the role for a new audience." Others, such as Roger Ebert, described the film as “a film without wit, humor or purpose” and criticized it as being too close to the 1984 original.
‘Only the Brave’
Only the Brave is a biographical drama film based on Sean Flynn’s GQ article, “No Exit” The film follows the story of a firefighter crew from Prescott, Arizona, known as the Granite Mountain Hotshots, who lost 19 to 20 members in the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire. The ensemble cast includes Josh Brolin, James Badge Dale, Jeff Bridges, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, and many more.
Despite an impressive ensemble cast, the film was a box-office flop, having just grossed $26.3 million against a budget of $38 million. And although it wasn’t highly successful at the box office, the film has a fairly high rating of 7.6/10 on IMDb and 87% on Rotten Tomatoes.
‘Top Gun: Maverick’
Top Gun: Maverick is the sequel to the 1986 Top Gun. It was released just before Netflix’s Spiderhead, with the film still showing on many screens worldwide. Miles Teller plays the role of Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, a pilot in the mission training group, and he stars alongside Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, and more.
In an interview with Men’s Journal, Teller mentioned all the hard work that he and the whole team put into the film, “There is no green screen in a Top Gun movie,” He further noted that the production of Top Gun: Maverick was the longest shoot he had ever been a part of, as it took a whole year to shoot the film. Teller also had to undergo three months of flight training before shooting the movie so that he would be familiar and get “comfortable with the crafts.”
‘Too Old to Die Young’
Miles Teller jumped on the television wagon for his first significant leading role in a crime drama miniseries, Too Old to Die Young. He plays a grieving corrupt police officer, Martin Jones, who had just lost his partner, Larry (Lance Gross). Martin later learns that the man who shot his partner is Jesus Rojas (Augusto Aguilera), whose mother Martin killed.
Too Old to Die Young was rated 7.3/10 on IMDb and 70% on Rotten Tomatoes. Collider’s Gregory Ellwood described the series as “dated and tired and Refn should have known better,” while others, such as The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, gave it 4 out of 5 stars and said, “Too Old to Die Young is macabre, and nauseating in many ways, but very well made and very watchable.” Teller’s performance and Nicolas Winding Refn’s directing style received praise, but the series was criticized for its depiction of sexual violence and treatment of female characters. And in 2019, Amazon released a statement that there wouldn’t be a second season for the miniseries.
‘Bleed for This’
In this biographical film, Teller takes on the role of champion boxer Vincenzo “Vinny The Pazmanian Devil” Pazienza alongside Aaron Eckhart, Katey Segal, Ciarán Hinds, and Ted Levine. He struggled with his reputation after losing to Roger Mayweather for the WBC World Light Welterweight Title due to his lack of diligence. After a few matches, he fights Panamanian boxer Robert Duran but suffers a critical neck injury, and the doctor later tells him that he may not be able to walk again.
The film has a rating of 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the website’s consensus reads, “Bleed for This rises on the strength of Miles Teller’s starring performance to deliver a sold fact-based boxing drama that takes a few genre clichés on the chin but keeps on coming.” Variety’s Peter Debruge also described Teller’s performance as “terrific.”
‘The Offer’
After Too Old to Die Young, Teller decided to star in yet another television miniseries called The Offer. The biographical drama miniseries tells the story of the development and production of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972). Miles Teller plays the role of Albert S. Ruddy, the producer of The Godfather (1972) and other award-winning projects such as Million Dollar Baby.
Ruddy is also one of the executive producers of The Offer. Despite a rating of 8.7/10 on IMDb, its counterpart, Rotten Tomatoes ranked The Offer at a mere 50%, with the website consensus summarising the series as “Overstuffed with unnecessary subplots and cloying links at showbiz history, this is an Offer you can refuse.”
‘Rabbit Hole’
Miles Teller made his feature film debut in Rabbit Hole. The film stars Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as the leading roles of a grieving couple who had just lost their four-year-old son, Danny. Teller plays the character of Jason, the teenage driver of the car that accidentally hit Danny.
Rabbit Hole received a standing ovation at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. Variety’s Peter Debruge described the film as “a refreshingly positive-minded take on cinema’s ultimate downer: overcoming the death of a child.” In an interview with Digital Spy, Teller opened up about his experience working on his first film. He recalled Kidman’s refusal to talk to him on set because she wanted to display their broken relationship on and off-screen. There was never any bad blood between the two, but Teller remembered the process as a “horrible” experience.