Miles Teller Says 2015 Esquire Profile Led Him to Avoid Print Interviews

Actor Miles Teller says a magazine profile published nearly a decade ago led him to largely avoid in-depth print interviews, a stance he reaffirmed while promoting a new film at the Cannes Film Festival. The actor, now 39, described a 2015 Esquire cover story as a violation that misrepresented his character.

The profile, which centered on whether Teller was, in its words, "kind of a d---," left a lasting impact on the actor. He told IndieWire at Cannes that the experience made him wary of participating in similar editorial features. He said he felt a journalist could misquote him or distort the sequence of events when an interview is not conducted on camera.

"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."

He recalled telling his team afterward that he did not want to participate in that form of press again. "I'm reading this and this doesn't sound like me to me," he said. "This is not life, so why would I ever want to be a part of...