miles teller
Yes, his brash reputation precedes him, but when Gill Pringle sits down for brunch with the star, the truth comes out: he’s not only a damn good actor, he’s a nice, normal guy, too
We get acquainted with the ultimate Hollywood wingman.
When I ask Miles Teller how much real pain he experienced during a scene in his latest film War Dogs, where he’s beaten to a bloody pulp and unceremoniously shoved into the trunk of a car, he smirks, “Not as much as my stunt double. They weren’t stuffing me in a trunk, you know what I mean? It’s definitely not in my contract.”
He has the right to be a little smug. Teller is, after all, the guy whose poignant and painful performance as an abused music student drummed his
Whiplash co-star JK Simmons all the way to an Oscar. It’s a testament to his talent that his understated performances often go unnoticed while co-stars soak up the kudos: Brie Larson and Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now, Zac Efron in Are We
Officially Dating? and Ansel Elgort and Woodley (again) in the Divergent franchise. He’s the ultimate acting wingman. And it’s again the case in War
Dogs, where he plays one half of a real-life arms-dealing duo alongside Jonah Hill. Inspired by a story Rolling Stone ran in 2011, the film portrays Teller’s
meek new father David Packouz as a fitting contrast to Hill’s larger-than-life Efraim Diveroli. The pair find themselves negotiating a $US300 million contract with the Pentagon to supply weapons to America’s allies in Afghanistan.
It’s the kind of story you wouldn’t believe was true, except that it is. In reality, the pair eventually found themselves in trouble after breaking a US embargo – Diveroli was recently released after four years in prison while Packouz served a seven-month house arrest, and happily collaborated with Teller for the character. “It’s crazy what these guys were doing in their twenties, when I think about what I was doing in my early twenties…” says the 29-year-old, who was in fact studying method acting at New York’s legendary Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, where Scarlett Johansson and Angelina Jolie are alumni. “It could not have been more different.”
If he has the ability to call the shots now, then he remembers how he’d have done just about anything for a job (or to earn a buck) when he was starting out, taking odd jobs during summer breaks while studying for his degree. “I waited tables when I went home to Florida over summer and I painted some houses, working at my buddy’s painting company. It didn’t make too much of a dent in my student loans but it made me value hard work.”
These days, Teller’s established career comes with all the trappings of success, including a model girlfriend of three years, Keleigh Sperry. Teller credits her with his nowexistent sense of style. “I love it. I got a little sense of that world when I did a campaign with Prada – [that was] my first introduction to fashion. Obviously we’re in a world of expression so it gives you an opportunity to [express yourself] without saying anything.” Another welcome celebrity perk? The couple have become a red-carpet fixture, scoring tickets to A-list events like the Met Gala and White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
If his latest role convinced him of anything though, it was the fact he’s not yet prepared for fatherhood. Having filmed scenes with his on-screen infant, he concludes, “Man, it’s tough. Sometimes it’s hard to get fully functioning adults to do what’s on the page, let alone a baby whose life consists of eating, sleeping and crying. But you want to show that aspect of [my character]; he’s a man with a baby who’s really doing it for his family. I don’t have that instinct yet, to nurture and care for a child, so I’m glad I had that lesson.” Next, he stars in drama Bleed
For This as champion boxer Vinny Pazienza, who survives a car crash only to learn he may never walk again. It’s a plot not unfamiliar to the actor – he was involved in a near-fatal car crash in 2007, leaving him with multiple scars on his face and neck. “I got ejected out of the window of a car that flipped and rolled, going at 80 miles per hour [130kph]. We flipped eight times. When the car stopped rolling, I was 30 feet [nine metres] from it, unconscious, covered in blood.” Is there anyone more equipped to tell that kind of comeback story? Probably not.
But we’re getting off track. After all, we’re here to talk about War Dogs (which is, by the way, really very good). “I think it’s fun to watch other people go through [these unbelievable things] because you get to see it, but it’s not you who has to deal with the police coming to your door,” muses Teller, who hesitates at making any kind of mockery, however subtle, of the military. His own best friend, who he went to school with, is now a navy SEAL. “Some of my closest friends are in the military and I have the utmost respect for them. But at that point in my life, it wasn’t a route I took.”
Instead, he was developing his acting muscle, going on to be hand-picked by Nicole Kidman to star in 2010’s
Rabbit Hole, his breakout role. “She’s great, I love her,” he says, adding he’s never visited Down Under. “But I have a lot of friends from Australia and I’ve never met an Australian I didn’t like.”
War Dogs is in cinemas now
“HIS UNDERSTATED PERFORMANCES OFTEN GO UNNOTICED WHILE CO-STARS SOAK UP THE KUDOS. HE’S THE ULTIMATE ACTING WINGMAN”