Watch: Original Short Film Version Of 'Whiplash' Starring Oscar Winner J.K. Simmons

Writer/Director Damien Chazelle must be enjoying his well-deserved recent success after his excellent debut feature “Whiplash” was nominated for five Academy Awards and took home the gold for Editing, Sound Mixing and Best Supporting Actor. However, there was a time when Chazelle’s original feature screenplay about the sado-masochistic relationship between an ambitious jazz drummer and his abusive instructor wasn’t necessarily a hot commodity in Hollywood.

Perhaps if Chazelle was willing to add a scene a la "Fifty Shades Of Grey" involving a leather-bound J.K. Simmons whipping a bound and gagged Miles Teller while asking him if he’s rushing or dragging, he could have secured funding for his project. But Chazelle evidently decided to stick to his principles and subsequently failed to get his film off the ground via the strength of his screenplay alone. So he decided to film a section of his screenplay as a short, which won the Jury Award at the...