Takeda co-stars opposite Emmy-winning actress Laura Dern and Jason Ritter in the indie feature film The Tale which premiered this year at The Sundance Film Festival, and was subsequently bought by HBO. “That was fun,” he said. “When I joined The Tale wasn’t was it is now. It’s a really terrific story about a woman’s investigation into her memory. She is re-examining her first time having a sexual relationship. Laura was incredibly nice, and she was constantly collaborating with the director. I had a good time. It’s a very powerful film, and I am proud to be a part of it.”
He is also on Amazon’s The Man In The High Castle, and is a guest star on the FX series The Americans. “The Americans was also a lot of fun, and it’s a phenomenal show. It’s about to start its final season. It is always fun to shoot on location. There was this energy about New York, and it was fun to be a part of a period piece,” he said.
Takeda revealed that he will be in another TV show in the near future. “I am looking forward to that,” he hinted. “I am continuing to audition.”
Digital transformation of film and TV
On the impact of technology on the film and TV business, Takeda said, “It’s a weird kind of world. It’s not that long ago that Amazon was just a place where you bought books. If you had told me in the beginning of this decade, that you would be on a series or film on Amazon, I would be like ‘what?’ Netflix is where you get your DVDs, and not that long ago, Netflix was a DVD-only thing. Netflix, Amazon and Hulu has evolved from streaming service, to being up there with Showtime, FX and HBO and they are premium TV. It is nice to be on those projects.”
As an actor,Takeda uses a combination of both digital and hard copy scripts. “When I arrive on set, they give me a hard copy, but prior to that, they send me a PDF. When I am shooting auditions in my hotel room, my script is on my iPad.
Regarding Takeda’s use of technology in his daily routine, he said, “I am online every day. Every other day, we are taping something. The fact that we can be on location and at the same time be auditioning is a game changer.”
Takeda wrote, produced and directed the short film The Outsider, which he has a supporting role in, and was just the recipient of Best Short Film at The Denver Film Festival.
He also played in Dallas Buyers Club opposite Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey. “Matthew and I bonded over international travel. I was on a family vacation at the time in Southeast Asia. I flew to the U.S. to film that with him,” Takeda said. “Matthew did a fabulous job and the director Jean-Marc Vallée was phenomenal.”
He listed Kerry Washington and Jennifer Lawrence as his dream female acting partners. “I have a great deal of admiration for Kerry Washington.
For aspiring actors, he encouraged them to “study with a good coach.” “There tends to be two routes into the industry: this is something you’ve always wanted to do as a kid, and you go to drama school. The majority of the folks I run into have started in a different direction and then went into acting. You still need training, and you need to be studying your craft,” he said.
Takeda defined the word success as “The ability to earn a living doing what you love,” as well as “finding balance in life.”
To learn more about actor Scott Takeda, check out his official homepage, and follow him on Twitter.
