IR Interview: Rachel Keller For “Tokyo Vice” [Max-S2] - Part II - video Dailymotion

The Inside Reel

Actress Rachel Keller talks to The Inside Reel about energy, motivation and environment in regards to the 2nd season of her crime thriller series: "Tokyo Vice" on Max.

Transcript

00:00 [dramatic music]

00:03 [dramatic music]

00:06 ♪ ♪

00:11 [dramatic music]

00:14 ♪ ♪

00:21 [speaking Japanese]

00:24 ♪ ♪

00:30 - But the great thing that both you and Anson,

00:33 you play these characters,

00:35 and I mean, it's true of the Japanese actors,

00:37 but they're inherently flawed.

00:39 You know they're inherently human.

00:40 They're going to make mistakes,

00:42 but they keep up--keep going.

00:44 Could you talk about looking at the strengths and weaknesses

00:47 and how they make us a full person?

00:49 Because, you know, she does make mistakes,

00:51 but she keeps going.

00:54 - Sure, I mean, she has a friendship

00:57 with a client at the club,

01:00 and it's inevitable.

01:03 I think when I spoke to a lot of hostesses,

01:05 it's sort of inevitable to not build friendships,

01:09 genuine friendships with people,

01:12 particularly if you're like a really great listener

01:15 and really care about the person who's there.

01:19 The client that she becomes really good friends with

01:22 ends up getting caught up in some of the darker stuff

01:28 that she's involved with,

01:30 which I think is heartbreaking to her.

01:33 And the death of her friend is always with her,

01:39 of the death of Paulina.

01:41 That felt like something that never left me

01:45 when we were filming this season.

01:47 Like, it was almost as if Paulina was always there.

01:52 And when you have a loss

01:56 that is, like, not just a loss

02:01 because someone had cancer and died,

02:03 but a loss because they were murdered,

02:06 and so brutally so,

02:09 I think that there's an inevitable fire

02:14 that builds that you can sort of put your blinders on

02:20 and just keep marching forward.

02:23 So what exactly do you do all day?

02:27 I chase down stories.

02:30 What do you love most about your job?

02:36 I'd say the unpredictability of it.

02:39 Never knowing what's coming next.

02:42 ♪♪

02:44 [Tires screech]

02:46 Jake, you did not come to Tokyo in pursuit of one man.

02:53 There are other stories, other crimes to be exposed.

02:58 That is your job.

03:01 ♪♪

03:03 If you saw anything that can help me, now's my chance.

03:07 I saw a tattoo.

03:09 ♪♪

03:11 You know I'm onto something.

03:13 Chase it. Tell no one.

03:16 Because of that change, that trajectory,

03:19 was there a big change in how you played her

03:21 between season one, season two?

03:23 And on top of that, because of when season one was shot

03:26 and now when you guys shot season two,

03:28 it was probably a much different sort of environment, too.

03:32 Could you talk about it from both of those perspectives?

03:36 Well, Japan was way more open.

03:40 The second season.

03:43 I mean, I had like a pretty transcendent moment

03:51 walking down the Nakamiguro River during COVID.

03:55 So no foreigners are there,

03:57 except for the ones that have visas to work there.

03:59 And it's end of April, and the cherry blossoms

04:02 are blooming along the Nakamiguro River.

04:07 And I'm like, I am the only one walking down the street right now.

04:11 The next year, there were like vendors,

04:14 and it's like the state fair.

04:16 And I didn't realize that.

04:18 I didn't see how lucky we were in the --

04:22 I mean, it was difficult, right?

04:24 There was no karaoke or bars and stuff like that.

04:28 But there was really great things to both.

04:32 I get distracted easily,

04:35 and so I like to kind of stick to myself and do my own thing.

04:40 And I will do that whether there's COVID or not COVID.

04:45 But it was really liberating, this second season,

04:50 to be able to feel Japan open up to us a bit more.

04:58 I'm not sure. I don't know.

05:02 I actually haven't seen them all,

05:04 so I don't know how that changes the performance at all.

05:07 I think the second season to me felt incredibly dramatic,

05:12 like meaning relentless.

05:17 And so it felt a little like, oh, by the end,

05:21 a little exhausting by the end of it.

05:25 But it was like when I left Japan this past time,

05:31 it was like a heartbreak.

05:32 Like I cried for --

05:36 I just cried as if I was losing a friend or something,

05:39 as if I can't go back.

05:41 I can go back.

05:43 But it was a really beautiful time

05:45 that was difficult to leave.

05:47 There's something that lingers in you after.

05:49 I mean, I don't think a day goes by

05:52 that I don't think about Japan.

05:54 [speaking Japanese]

06:00 [shouting]

06:05 Watch yourself. Don't be stupid.

06:14 Don't be stupid.

06:16 I'll have to remember that.

06:18 [speaking Japanese]

06:23 [speaking Japanese]

06:26 [speaking Japanese]

06:29 [speaking Japanese]

06:31 Who knows what he'll do

06:34 if Tozawa thinks we have this information?

06:37 Maybe you should lay low.

06:39 Well, I mean, 'cause the show itself,

06:42 there's a method of sort of people striving

06:44 and wanting to have joy,

06:46 but that inevitable dread that is always beneath,

06:49 there's that tone.

06:50 And I'm not sure if that was written into the script

06:52 or it's something you find in the moment sometimes

06:55 that just these people are about to be dragged under

06:58 and yet they're barely keeping above water.

07:00 It's a really neat sort of balance in the performance.

07:03 And it's with Sho, with Anson, with Ken, with you,

07:07 so many of the actors, you feel that.

07:09 Is that just an inherent tone of the show?

07:12 Or is that something that you guys have sort of found

07:14 as you've gone forward?

07:16 I think that is the design of the show.

07:18 I mean, this is the Tokyo and then Tokyo.

07:23 It's what's underneath everything.

07:26 It's designed that way.

07:27 It's a crimey, pulpy, underworld,

07:32 you know, journalism and the police

07:35 and the yakuza and the hostess club.

07:38 So I think it's designed that way.

07:39 It's quite thrilling, I think.

07:41 But they feel grounded.

07:43 All these characters feel grounded in that way, you know?

07:46 It's heightened, but you feel their sadness

07:51 in many ways, you know?

07:54 Yeah, I mean, I think there is a dial that's turned up.

07:57 It's not like a documentary.

08:01 It's a Michael Mann, J.T. Rogers type, yeah, yeah.

08:05 Yeah, you get to like saturate it a little bit with,

08:09 which is really a gift for an actor

08:11 because all we want to do really is play.

08:14 And, you know, be inside of something

08:18 and explore that world.

08:21 And yeah, I think it was all part of the design of it,

08:24 that it's meant to have a bit of style

08:29 and take the volume up.

08:33 - And a bit of scarface.

08:34 That's what I will say,

08:36 because I saw the fifth episode of that.

08:37 It's always intense to see how things are done.

08:40 - I have to say, I felt that for a lot.

08:43 - Today, a man told me he'd kill me

08:45 if I don't stop writing.

08:46 - I think you gotta keep going.

08:48 - Be careful.

08:49 - Other people are relying on you now.

08:52 You are the way this ends.

08:54 - You are the way this ends.

08:56 (dramatic music)

08:59 (speaking in foreign language)

09:03 (gun cocks)

09:06 (screaming)

09:08 (dramatic music)

09:11 (gunshots)

09:13 (dramatic music)

09:16 (whooshing)

09:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]

IR Interview: Rachel Keller For “Tokyo Vice” [Max-S2] - Part II

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