Actor J.K. Simmons has long been a fan favorite since playing the role of white supremacist Vern Shillinger on HBO’s “Oz,” but others might remember him giving a hilarious performance as J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” movies (a role he continued to voice on the most recent cartoon shows).
Few of his fans will see it coming when Simmons explodes off the screen as Terence Fletcher in Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, but he also recently finished filming what’s likely to be one of 2015’s most anticipated (and secretive) films, Terminator Genisys.
While talking to Mr. Simmons recently about the former, ComingSoon.net quickly tossed in a question about the latter, commenting about how he had a “pretty big” movie coming out next summer.
“‘Pretty big?'” he responded before offering a few thoughts on the project. “It’s a gigantic movie and that was such a surprise when they sent that to me and asked me to do it. I thought ‘Well, obviously it’s a gigantic movie and on that level, it’s something most actors would want to be a part of, but is it just going to be the formulaic yadda-yadda-yadda then cut to the stuff blowing up?’ But I found the script to be really much more intelligent and fun and funny and well-rounded and heart-felt. It’s a love story. It’s a really interesting script. They got great actors. I wrapped that in August, so that was another movie that ended up being really satisfying on all levels. I have a much smaller part in that but it was really a fun thing to be a part of.”
When asked whether he had many scenes with Arnold Schwarzenegger, he shared, “Yeah, most of my stuff was with Jai Courtney and Emilia Clarke and Arnold was very involved or rather I was involved in a fair amount of stuff with Arnold. I spent very little time actually with Jason Clarke, but yeah I got to work with all four of the leads of the film and from the table read on, I was just favorably impressed by everybody’s work. Also everybody’s attitude and what they brought to work with them every day and how there was no BS and diva tantrums. It was a good experience overall.”
When we told him that we didn’t know very much about the movie because unlike other upcoming blockbusters, it’s remained fairly well hidden in terms of the plot, to which he admitted, “I felt I could give too much away by saying that I get to work with all those actors but people know the characters that they’re playing, so it was a lot of fun and I look forward to sequels to that one.”
The last remark suggested that maybe his character might survive to appear in those sequels, to which he quickly corrected us.
“No, I didn’t say I look forward to being IN the sequels. Maybe I was just looking forward to WATCHING the sequels.”
Check back next week for our full interview with Simmons talking about his role in Damien Chezelle’s Whiplash (opening in select cities October 10) that could put the actor on the road to his first Oscars. You’ll have to wait until July 1, 2015 to see Terminator Genesys.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
