Miles Teller played Rooster in the popular movie “Top Gun: Maverick,” but he had already built a successful career before that. He appeared in “Rabbit Hole” and “Footloose,” but his breakthrough came with his role in the 2014 film “Whiplash.” However, Teller made some controversial remarks about his fellow actors in an interview with The New York Times, saying, “I feel like a lot of actors of my generation are not proper actors.” He also mentioned, “I want to break out of that whole group of actors in their early 20s and really start to put stuff down that lets you know I take this seriously.” These comments didn’t go over well in Hollywood, and it wasn’t the first time he had made headlines for the wrong reasons. A year earlier, he had made critical remarks about one of the major movie franchises that had propelled him to stardom, and he had to work hard to repair the damage.
Miles Teller dissed his role in Divergent
With Miles Teller not yet at the level of Leonardo DiCaprio or Morgan Freeman, he should be grateful for any role that rakes in box-office numbers. However, the “Divergent” actor poo-pooed his 2014 film when he seemingly told W Magazine that he wasn’t that into his role. “I didn’t have an interesting part, and I’d taken the film for business reasons: It was the first movie I’d done that was going to have an international audience. I called my agent and said, ‘This sucks,’” he shared.
After Teller showed his shady side, his camp stated via The Hollywood Reporter, “Accustomed to being more involved in the process of filmmaking, Miles regrets those words. He does value his relationship with Lionsgate and his participation in the franchise.” Teller himself wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, “I’ve never done a movie for ‘business’ reasons.’ I’m proud to be a part of [the] ‘Divergent’ franchise and love all of Peter’s Princesses.” A fan pointed out, “Then why did you say you did a film for business reasons?”
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Miles Teller’s 2015 interview did his image no favors
There’s a fine line between being overly confident and cocky, and one terrible interview ruined Miles Teller’s career. While talking to Esquire in 2015 after his career took off with “Divergent” and “Fantastic Four,” he shared a message sent to Kobe Bryant that read, “Kobe, watched your Showtime documentary. Really related to what you’re talking about and striving for greatness and how it can oftentimes be an isolated journey, and how relationships can be a weakness in a way, if you’re really kind of going after it.” Throughout the piece, the author kept describing him as a “d**k” and pointed out how Teller called Joaquin Phoenix, “Joaq.” He explained, “I just said Joaq. Joaquin Phoenix. I don’t know him, but my publicist has repped him since he was, like, seventeen. She repped River, too. So I just hear his name.”
After the interview was published, Teller took to X to complain, “@esquire couldn’t be more wrong. I don’t think there’s anything cool or entertaining about being a d**k or an a**hole. Very misrepresenting.” A fan replied, “I read that article. She was obviously going out of her way to misrepresent you. Just shameful.” Another wrote, “But you DO give off a certain d**kish vibe. But I still keep watching you to figure it out.” After his New York Times interview, the Hollywood star was painted as full of himself, and the reputation has since continued to follow him around for years.
Miles Teller just can’t get away from his bad rap
Since the Esquire article, Miles Teller has been defending himself and trying to convince the public that he’s not as obnoxious as he was portrayed. “Oh, I felt frickin’ helpless, I felt extremely misrepresented, I felt a little angry. For the average person, they are reading this article, they haven’t met you, they’re like, ‘Oh Miles is an a**hole. You didn’t hear it? You didn’t read that Esquire? Yeah, she said he was an a**hole — he must be,’” Teller shared with The Guardian in 2015. On the contrary, he described himself as “relatable” and stated, “I was raised middle-class in a small town. I have all my same friends from high school. I’m close with my family. I’m dating a normal girl. So I want to feel people think I’m a man of the people. Because I feel that way.”
Even years later, Teller’s interview is brought up. In 2017, he told Vulture, “Maybe some people have been turned off of me because I take what I’m doing pretty seriously and I don’t feel the need to charm everybody. So, do I think of acting as a popularity contest? No. Was it tough for me when that Esquire article came out? It was.”
Miles Teller reportedly shut production down due to COVID-19
It seems Miles Teller just can’t shake his bad reputation. As the Daily Mail reported in 2021, Teller was filming “The Offer” when production was reportedly halted due to him contracting COVID-19 after previously refusing to get vaccinated. “Miles Teller is not vaccinated. He wouldn’t even get the test. Now he’s brought the virus to the set and the whole set had to shut down,” a source revealed. The actor’s publicist simply told the publication, “Your facts are incorrect.”
Teller got even more backlash after he appeared in Taylor Swift’s music video for “I Bet You Think About Me,” which was filmed during the pandemic. “Lemme get this straight… Out of every employable actor in the business, Taylor Swift and Blake Lively decided that during the pandemic they’d hire literal anti vaxxer Miles Teller to star in their new video? Miss girls this ain’t it,” an X user posted. In response, Teller told fans in a now-deleted tweet (via People), “Hey guys, I don’t usually feel the need to address rumors on here but I am vaccinated and have been for a while. The only thing I’m anti is hate.”
Miles Teller was allegedly too demanding for La La Land
It’s hard to imagine “La La Land” with anyone other than Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as the leads, but Miles Teller was once cast as the dancing Sebastian Wilder. However, per his Esquire interview, Teller’s agent told him, “Hey, I just got a call from Lionsgate. Damien [Chazelle] told them that he no longer thinks you’re creatively right for the project. He’s moving on without you.” His response was to text the director, “What the f**k, bro?”
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According to a source, Teller was replaced because he wanted at least $2 million more than he was offered, Page Six reported. Additionally, Emma Watson was attached to the film but reportedly demanded that rehearsals take place in London to make things easier for her. “Now both Miles and Emma Watson are raising hell with their agents for not securing the roles for them — even though it was the actors’ fault for being too demanding,” the insider shared.
Teller insisted that he wasn’t bitter at getting the boot. “I’m a pretty strong believer that everything happens for a reason. I’m happy Damien made the film he wanted to make. I don’t get jealous of good reviews,” he stated to Vanity Fair. Teller added, “There’s movies that were reviewed terribly that I cherish. I think once you start getting envious of accolades, it’s never going to be enough.”