Author: Nemo New Media Editor: Chen Chen Graph source network
The popular sci-fi Drama "Relative Universe" has brought the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor J.K. Simmons to the attention again. In this drama, he plays two roles: one is a small clerk who is only non-committal; the other is fierce and decisive. "Relative Universe" gave J.K. Simmons a good lead role because as an actor, he has been a supporting role for more than 30 years. It was not until the age of 59 that he won his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor with "Burst Drummer".
J.K. Simmons is not handsome, but it is definitely unforgettable. He was born in 1955 at the age of 63 this year, which is already the age of a grandfather for many people, but he does not show much sign of old age, but there is a kind of youthful momentum.
J.K. Simmons, whose full name is Jonathan Kimber Simmons, was a middle school music teacher in Detroit, and when his son was 18 years old, he jumped to the University of Montana Music School as a conductor and director, so the family moved to Montana. His father was satisfied with his work at the University of Montana, and Simmons Jr. also spent his undergraduate career at this university, successfully obtaining a music degree. At that time, he was very enthusiastic about music, and he was enthusiastic about conducting, composing, and vocal music, and completely gave up the idea that he wanted to take a different life path from his father when he was a child.
△ When he was young, he also had hair
After graduating from university, J.K. Simmons participated in the rehearsal of a number of operas and operettas, and soon entered the Bigfork Summer Theater in Montana as music director. It seems that Simmons will deal with music for the rest of his life like his father, but fate is sometimes so magical. Simmons fell in love with acting again for starring in a musical, and he simply left the Summer Theater to become a full-time actor at Seattle's "Repertoire Theater."
Just as every movie actor wants to go to Hollywood, every theater actor wants to shine on the Broadway stage one day. In 1983, 28-year-old J. K. Simmons came to New York with a dream. Here, his early musical background gave him a unique advantage in musicals and operas.
In 1987 he starred in the non-Broadway musical Bird of Paradise, and in 1990 he starred in his first Broadway play, The Change of Heirs. In addition, he starred in the rearrangement musical "Red Man and Green Woman" in 1992 and 1994 and the spoof of Wagner's opera "Picnic". In "Picnic", he played multiple roles by himself, all of which were sung.
△ Musical "Red Man and Green Woman" (first from the right)
Just when Simmons thought he would never leave the stage for the rest of his life, his fate took another turn for the worse. In 1997, the HBO tv series "Prison Storm" aired, in which he played a neo-Nazi, a role that impressed the audience. Prison Storm isn't Simmons' first TV series, and he's often guest starred in various episodes to make a living, but those are dragon suits, and this is the first time he's received attention. Since then, Simmons has successively starred in TV series such as "Law and Order" and "End of Crime", becoming a "familiar face" on TELEVISION.
△ "Prison Storm"
Imdb has done a series of videos called "No Small Characters", showing the unknown characters of famous movie stars in their early years. Almost every star actor starts with this kind of groping and relying on the accumulation of countless small roles. The same is true of J.K. Simmons' road to the big screen. He once laughed at himself for not being as good looking as Brad Pitt and George Clooney, so he was destined to play a supporting role and never become the protagonist. Of course, Simmons doesn't think that's necessarily a bad thing, because he cares more about whether the characters he creates are recognized by the audience — his ultimate goal is to make the audience forget about him and only remember the roles he plays.
Sam Remy
In 1999, Simmons made the film "Baseball Love", which gave him the acquaintance of Sam Remy, a Mesozoic director who was in the transition from b-grade horror to mainstream cinema at the time. The two saw each other as they were, and a year later, Remy came back to him to work with him when he was filming "Eye of Horror".
Sony bought the film rights to the Marvel comic book Spider-Man at this time, and after some searching they chose Sam Remy to direct. When Remy took over, he thought of Simmons, who gave the role of the owner of the Clarion Daily to his old friend. Although this time it is still a supporting role, after Simmons's exaggerated and interesting interpretation, it has become one of the most beloved and unforgettable characters in "Spider-Man". Later, when Sam Remy filmed Spider-Man 2 and 3, he retained this character.
With the popularity of "Spider-Man", more and more people are looking for J.K. Simmons to make a film. He was also very hard-working, taking on almost 4-10 films a year, including dubbing various documentaries and cartoons.
△ Newspaper owner in the 2002 Spider-Man series
Jason Reitman
In 2005, Simmons had another nobleman in his life, and he was the film director Jason Reitman. The two made "Thank You For Smoking" together, which was Reitman's first award-winning film, and since then Simmons and Reitman have been working together for more than ten years, "Juno", "In the Clouds", "Young People", "Labor Day", "Men, Women, Children"... Simmons has starred in almost every film he has directed since Reitman.
△ The father in "Juno"
In 2012, Right of Way and Blumhouse Productions bought Damien Chazer's film script The Burst Drummer, a script based on Chazel's own experiences that tells the story between a jazz drummer and his conductor teacher.
Jason Reitman was one of the filmmakers of the project at the time, and in order to attract investors, he and the company decided to pull out the 15 pages of the script and make it into a short film alone. Jason Reitman first thought of J. K. Simmons as a "conductor", and he sent both the short film script and the full script to Simmons, who was impressed by Damien Chazer's talent and readily agreed. The 18-minute short film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and won the Jury's Short Film Award. After that, the feature film "Burst Drummer" also successfully financed the start of filming.
△ Short film "Burst Drummer"
But there's a problem with the movie version: Investors want to find more famous actors to star in. Johnny Simmons, the actor who plays the "drummer" in the short film, has been replaced by Miles Taylor, and J.K. Simmons worries every day that the role of "conductor" will also be replaced.
The studios did want to swap him out for a more box-office-guaranteed actor, and they came up with several candidates, including Kevin Klein, Kevin Sbesy, and Jeff Daniels. But Jason Reitman stood firmly on the side of his old friend, and he and several producers insisted that Simmons continue to play the role of "conductor."
△ Movie version of "Burst Drummer"
After the release of "Burst Drummer", the response was very warm, especially the "conductor" played by Simmons, who won the award and got it softly. Many have hailed his performance as one of the classics in film history, and that Oscar was the first time Simmons was nominated and won in his life. At that time, he was still one year old enough to reach the age of "sixty ears shun".
△ Simmons after winning the award
Ordinary people have to take advantage of the situation to take more work after winning the award, but Simmons is not, but he has a calm and calm mentality. He has explained that the Oscar-winning award has made him more confident, that he no longer needs to work non-stop to be remembered, and that he believes that even if he reduces his workload, it will not affect his career.
After all, Simmons can still produce 7-8 films a year, but he is not as desperate as before, leaving enough time to spend with his family. He even started muscle fitness at the age of 61, when many people thought he was preparing for the role in the movie Justice League, but he quickly denied it. Simmons said: "It's just a coincidence of timing. I don't want to gain weight and lose shape anymore, and as long as I stay on this planet for one more day, I'm going to try to take care of myself. ”
△ Elderly iron lifters!