Miles Teller has revealed that a viral 2015 Esquire profile, which labelled him “kind of a d***”, led him to step away from magazine interviews for over a decade. The 39-year-old actor told IndieWire at the Cannes Film Festival that he felt the article misrepresented him and was “so mishandled”.
“That was so mishandled,” Teller said. “The reason why I have not done profiles is because I said, ‘Wow, if I’m not doing this interview on camera, this person can misquote things or put things out of order or say things that didn’t happen.’ It felt like such a violation of what actually transpired.”
The Esquire piece, published in 2015, began with the journalist “trying to figure out if he’s a d***” and concluded that he was “kind of a d***”. Teller, then rising to fame after Whiplash and Divergent, issued a statement at the time saying: “I don’t think there’s anything cool or entertaining about being a d*** or an asshole.”
Reflecting on the incident, Teller said there was a disconnect between his portrayal and his real-life behaviour. “I told my team, ‘Guys, I don’t think I’m doing this again, because I’m reading this and this doesn’t sound like me to me,’” he recalled. “This is not life, so why would I ever want to be a part of something where they can just put that in?”
He added: “It’s unfortunate that being a good person, that doesn’t sell. People want to click on the negativity. If you go to bed and put your head on your pillow and how you treat people truly, that’s what matters. That interview was like 12 years ago.”
Despite the setback, Teller has since starred in major films including Top Gun: Maverick (2022) and is expected to reprise his role in the upcoming third installment. At Cannes, he is promoting James Gray’s drama Paper Tiger alongside Adam Driver.
