Miles Teller has been in Cannes promoting his star turn in James Gray’s competition title Paper Tiger, but the star continues to be shy about press junkets after a September 2015 Esquire magazine profile.
“That was so mishandled,” Teller tells IndieWire about the fallout from the cover story with an opening line that reads: “You’re sitting across from Miles Teller at the Luminary restaurant in Atlanta and trying to figure out if he’s a dick.” Teller still carries a grudge over the feature.
“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,” Teller recounts.
The Esquire writer carried the “dick” theme to the final closing line: “He gives you a hug and goes off to contribute to the cache or catalog or canon or whatever the fuck you call it and charm the world with his dickishness.”
Teller, who’s gone on to star in such hit movies as Top Gun: Maverick and Michael, recalls telling his handlers he wasn’t up to doing more sit-down press interviews. “Guys, I don’t think I’m doing this again, because I’m reading this and this doesn’t sound like me to me. 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.
