MovieZine talks to “Tokyo Vice” actors Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe about one of our most exciting and well-crafted thriller series ever.
Really well-made thriller series don’t grow on trees. Now we have had the luxury of being able to follow “Criminal Record” on Apple TV+ recently. Although it is without a doubt “Tokyo Vice” at HBO Max that has impressed me the most this year. The first season was really good, but the sequel is absolutely amazing.
The plot follows the partially true-to-life story of the American journalist Jake (Ansel Elgort), who covered organized crime in Tokyo during the 90s. He did this as the first foreign reporter for one of the largest Japanese newspapers in the country.
Visually, the series is absolutely exquisite. The first episode was directed by the thriller master Michael Mann (“Heat”), a fact that should automatically make the series worthy of a chance. But it’s the tension that picks up right where the first season left off, which makes it impossible not to want to watch as the sequel kicks off the new season. I’ve previewed five of the total of ten new episodes and everything that was built up in the first season is now really getting the chance to blossom in really exciting ways.
Ahead of the premiere of the new season, MovieZine has had the chance to talk to the series’ two main actors, Ansel Elgort (“Baby Driver”) and Ken Watanabe (“Inception”) about the impressive work that made “Tokyo Vice” one of our best thriller series:
Ken Watanabe: “Not just an actor trying to do a role.”
Ken Watanabe and Ansel Elgort in the second season of “Tokyo Vice”.
I have to start by saying that I love “Tokyo Vice” and that I’m so impressed that you learned Japanese for this role Ansel. I suspect that helped you quite a bit in settling into the role properly as well, through the language?Ansel: Yes, just like you say, this opportunity has been absolutely amazing for me. And I am very grateful for it. First, just the fact that I got to work with Michael Mann. Then I also had to do a lot of research about how it was and is to work as a journalist.
– When I then came to Japan and started learning a little Japanese, Michael Mann said “let’s try to make you as fluent in this language as we can”. So I started taking Japanese classes four hours a day, every day of the week while I was here. And given that I’ve lived here for long periods since then, I’ve been able to go out and try to use what I learned for real as well.
– Then I also learned to write in Japanese, and there are three alphabets you need to learn. And it has been such an incredibly rewarding experience. Because it has also made me learn so much about the culture here. Honestly, this has been an experience that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
Ken: I just have to say that Ansel is one of the hardest working actors I’ve ever come across. He has also traveled around Japan quite a bit, during his days off. Just because he wanted to learn about our customs and the culture at large here. How the local people feel and think about different things. After all this, he not only became good at Japanese, but he became amazing Japanese MAN. Not just an actor trying to do a role.
– At the end of the recording days, the rest of us say “bye!”, while he says it in the correct and polite way in Japanese. When the rest of us say “oh, thank you”, he does it in Japanese like any other Japanese would. It has been absolutely amazing to see Ansel transform during this time. I am so impressed!
Ansel Elgort: “And then came the panic!”
Ansel Elgort in the first season of “Tokyo Vice”.
I understand that! Wasn’t it scary to accept a role that required you to learn Japanese, considering you didn’t know a single word before? What if it hadn’t worked out?Ansel: I’m American and before I came here and learned to be a little more humble than I was then, a few years ago, I believed a little too much in my own abilities. Then I mostly thought “oh well, I can solve that. I can just learn my lines, right? Learn it as music or something. It’s probably not that difficult”.
– Then it wasn’t until I started learning my lines, that I realized that if I just try to say what’s written here straight out and don’t know what I’m saying… it won’t sound authentic for five cents. I couldn’t act. I said something like “are you having fun” to a girl at a club in the first episode. And my Japanese teacher said that what you are asking is “is the rice field dying?”, haha!
– And I exclaimed in surprise something along the lines of “there isn’t a chance it’s true?”. But I had it explained to me how Japanese is not like English. It’s much more complicated than that. And then came the panic. I felt it was completely impossible that I would make it. Even though I was already spending four hours a day trying to learn the language.
– Now I’m going to say something that sounds strange. Because of course this was horrible. But the fact that covid happened… it gave me all this extra time to prepare and practice Japanese further. Because I continued with my training throughout the pandemic. So I was clearly in over my head… but then got “lucky” with the pandemic. Which sounds so wrong to say, but it was. I have never worked harder at anything in my entire life.
Ken Watanabe in the second season of “Tokyo Vice”.
Ken, you’ve been acting for a long time and have appeared in both American and Japanese productions over the years. Do you personally think that “Tokyo Vice” succeeds better than previous international productions, when it comes to the feeling of “Japanese authenticity”?Ken: In 99 percent of the cases, there are always a lot of mistakes about the Japanese culture in international movies and TV series. Over the past 20 years, however, things have slowly gotten a little better. Our costumes, locations and everything in ‘Tokyo Vice’ are the result of incredibly hard research from everyone behind the scenes. It’s also made it even easier for us actors to really maintain that authentic feel during filming since.
– I also think that it makes it easier for the viewers at home to feel that they are getting an authentic and real insight into Japanese culture through this series. And that’s probably a big reason why the first season of “Tokyo Vice” was so well received.
Ansel Elgort: “The clock is ticking down to your next deadline”
Ansel Elgort as Jake Adelstein in the newsroom where he works in “Tokyo Vice”.
Ansel, you also mentioned that you tried to learn as much as possible about journalism. Was there anything in particular there that changed your way of thinking as well?Ansel: Before I went over to Japan, I shadowed a reporter at the LA Times for a while, who also worked specifically in crime journalism. I hadn’t understood before how hard you need to work with your sources and how deeply involved you need to be as a journalist to really get there.
– Because your sources also become your friends, or at least relationships you need to nurture. And I didn’t realize how much time it actually takes, from what I thought was “the whole job”. You never stop working or digging for the next big news, while the clock ticks down to your next deadline when everything needs to be ready to print.
– I actually had to write a real article for the LA Times, where I received a police report about a robbery that had taken place in a store. So I got to go there and really feel what it was like to interview someone, about what it had been like to be exposed to something like that. And that is perhaps not the first thing you want to do in such a situation, talk to a reporter. But I had to try in slightly different ways to really get that quote that was needed for the article.
– I had never reflected on all that before. How much goes on behind the scenes before anything is printed. And not only that… you can also be sitting on a great piece of news – but then you have to find three sources that can confirm it before you can print anything about it. Or maybe it’s just you who thinks it’s really good news, but your editor doesn’t agree and it never gets printed and all your work is wasted.
Ansel Elgort: “The second season ties the story together.”
In conclusion. What was it that sold you on this project, before you decided to spend several years on ‘Tokyo Vice’? I think it can also convince the few potential viewers who haven’t given the series a chance yet.Ansel: I always wanted to record something in Japan. I first came here in 2015 and was immediately struck by how Tokyo, just visually, was so spectacular that it would lend itself well to a movie or a series. Whatever the story is about, it can definitely look pretty cool.
– When I then read the “Tokyo Vice” book, I thought it was so interesting. How these criminal Yakuza members took their jobs incredibly seriously. When I met the creator of the series, he also told me that it was Ken Watanabe who was going to play the policeman in the series. It made me so incredibly happy, because I’ve loved him in tons of stuff already.
– So then the next thing I thought about was who we would get as a director. It is, of course, one of the most important positions in a project like this. And then Michael Mann steps on board. Then there was no doubt that a real dream team was being put together here. So I really hoped that people would dare to give the series a chance and I’m so glad that many actually chose to do so when the first season came out.
– And I’m so grateful that we got to do this second season as well. Because the first season ended with such a big cliffhanger, that it would have been very funny if we hadn’t been told everything. The second season ties the story together. Everyone will probably be very happy with how the season ends this time.
The first two episodes of the second season of “Tokyo Vice” are now available on HBO Max. The second season will consist of a total of ten new episodes.
Have you had time to give “Tokyo Vice” a chance yet? Feel free to comment below!
