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

The Inside Reel

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

Transcript

00:00 [dramatic music]

00:03 [dramatic music]

00:05 [dramatic music]

00:14 [speaking in foreign language]

00:30 - You know, Samantha as a character,

00:33 between season one and season two,

00:34 it's about choice and sort of path that she has to choose,

00:38 you know, because of certain things,

00:40 certain situations that dictate that.

00:42 Could you talk about her psyche?

00:44 Because she's a survivor, she always has been.

00:47 But did you have to look at her emotionally,

00:48 intellectually, physically in that way?

00:51 - Yeah, I think you do have a responsibility

00:58 to learn about where someone came from,

01:03 which the writers gave to me so beautifully

01:09 in that episode in season one,

01:10 when we get the flashback to this religious cult

01:15 that she comes from.

01:16 I'm really struck, I suppose, by the young women

01:22 who go to Japan to become a hostess for,

01:26 I don't know, four months, eight months, three years,

01:29 however long, and why.

01:30 I met so many and interviewed so many,

01:33 and there's similar threads,

01:35 but also really varying degrees

01:39 of wanting independent, financial independence,

01:44 and autonomy, and adventure,

01:47 and a sense of confidence,

01:52 and all of that comes in for Sam.

01:57 She is particularly ambitious,

02:01 which I think, I'm not sure,

02:03 but maybe is born from being in a birdcage,

02:08 trapped, being so trapped.

02:13 - So what exactly do you do all day?

02:17 - I chase down stories.

02:21 (dramatic music)

02:24 - What do you love most about your job?

02:26 - I'd say the unpredictability of it,

02:29 never knowing what's coming next.

02:33 (tires screeching)

02:37 - Jack, you did not come to Tokyo in pursuit of one man.

02:42 There are other stories, other crimes to be exposed.

02:49 That is your job.

02:50 - If you saw anything that can help me,

02:56 now's my chance.

02:58 - I saw a tattoo.

02:59 - You know I'm onto something.

03:03 - Chase it.

03:04 Tell no one.

03:05 - I mean, because she has her strategy,

03:08 and we see that, at least through the first part

03:11 of season two, I don't wanna give too much away,

03:14 but you see that she's tactiturn.

03:17 She knows what she wants,

03:18 but she knows what she wants to protect.

03:20 She's very clear on that.

03:22 Could you talk about sort of that confidence of her,

03:24 and did you find that talking through

03:27 with some of the hostesses,

03:28 and some of the women over in Japan?

03:31 And while you were there,

03:32 it obviously would imbue you, I would think.

03:34 - Right, being there is everything.

03:37 I mean, it's an exceptional country,

03:40 and the people are just ridiculously kind and welcoming.

03:47 I did speak to many hostesses.

03:50 Lots of that was really helpful,

03:52 and all of that research is such an opportunity

03:56 to learn about all of that.

03:58 That being said, she is an American there,

04:02 and I met primarily Japanese hostesses.

04:07 And so I guess the thinking was,

04:11 when you are protective over something,

04:16 sometimes it's not so conscious.

04:21 It sort of comes out of necessity,

04:23 or a kind of impulse to maintain a sense of dignity,

04:29 particularly in a world, in the Tokyo Vice world,

04:36 where the majority of the characters

04:39 that inhabit this world are men.

04:41 I think it's really brave

04:44 how they've written someone, a woman, a young woman,

04:49 who is relentless in her pursuit of protecting herself

04:54 and protecting the people around her.

05:00 (speaking in foreign language)

05:04 (shouting)

05:11 (dramatic music)

05:14 - Watch yourself.

05:19 Don't be stupid.

05:20 - Don't be stupid.

05:21 - I'll have to remember that.

05:24 (speaking in foreign language)

05:29 - Who knows what they will do

05:40 if Tozawa thinks we have this information?

05:43 - Maybe you should lay low.

05:45 - Which is the irony, considering the Yakuza

05:48 and the world like Sato and Ishida live in,

05:51 and not Jake, 'cause Jake is sort of like,

05:54 he's a gaijin as well.

05:55 But can you sort of talk about that idea of how she,

05:59 it's interesting, 'cause there's a line

06:01 between business and pleasure,

06:03 and she tries not to step over that,

06:06 and yet the relationship she has sort of dictate that,

06:09 especially with Sato in the first season.

06:12 But you have a great sort of face-off scene

06:15 with Ishida in season two, which was beautiful.

06:18 But can you talk about sort of that yin and yang?

06:21 It's about that poise.

06:22 It's about that poker element between everyone.

06:26 - Yeah, I mean, that is embedded into the Japanese culture,

06:32 the Japanese language.

06:36 There's some really gorgeous ways to speak to someone

06:41 who is below you and someone who is above you,

06:45 and the sort of faux pas of crossing the line.

06:51 And I don't know that she's a,

06:56 like, she's not trying to provoke anyone or harm anyone,

07:01 but she isn't,

07:04 I don't think she's willing to accept,

07:09 and this happens a lot in Japan,

07:13 that an American will come in and go,

07:15 "But I want it this way."

07:17 And the Japanese are like, "It doesn't happen that way."

07:20 And the American's like, "Yeah, but I want it that way."

07:25 And that's a really interesting cultural dynamic

07:30 that I think Samantha, she's unwilling to forgo

07:35 what she wants and how she's gonna get it.

07:37 And that's the fun of the character of Sam and Jake,

07:42 because they are up against what they're allowed to do

07:47 in the Japanese culture and what they're gonna do

07:51 because they're American.

07:52 - Today, a man told me he'd kill me

07:55 if I don't stop writing.

07:57 - I think you gotta keep calling.

07:59 - Be careful.

08:00 (dramatic music)

08:01 - Other people are relying on you now.

08:03 You are the way this ends.

08:05 (man screams)

08:07 (dramatic music)

08:10 (gun clicks)

08:16 (man screams)

08:19 (dramatic music)

08:22 (guns fire)

08:25 (upbeat music)

08:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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

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