Steve Terada – The Art of Self-Defense

By starrymag | July 19, 2019

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) Currently, nothing I can really speak on. I’m just continuing my training and working with Mindy [Kelly] developing things. She’s the stunt coordinator for the film.

Q) Please tell us the premise for the film The Art of Self-Defense.

A) A lot of people say it’s a “toxic masculinity” thing. When I first read the script, I thought it was more based around a cult because the main character is kind of weak and doesn’t really have any friends. He keeps to himself and nobody likes him, but then he gets attacked by a street gang and he wants to find a way to protect himself. So, he looks into various different things and comes across a karate studio, which brings him in and gives him a sense of purpose almost. He finds strength through this studio and sensei (Alessandro Nivola) and it just kind of goes on from there from showing how your insecurities as a male can manifest themselves positively and negatively.

Q) Talk about your character Thomas.

A) Thomas is one of the sensei’s highest-ranking students. Throughout the film, I push forward in the ranks. I’m kind of the sensei’s righthand man in the sense that if he needs something to happen, I do what he says. I’m like one of his soldiers, basically, in the studio.

Q) Was there anything you added to him that wasn’t in his initial breakdown?

A) I originally auditioned for Kenneth, but I got handed the role of Thomas partially because I do have a really well-rounded martial arts background. I’ve been doing martial arts for 20+ years, ever since I was a kid and competed on the national circuit with Paul Mitchell. I have a lot of martial arts background and he’s supposed to be one of the best in the school. I think just my movement and my background in that definitely helped, especially with certain scenes. They wanted to have the actors be doing the martial arts as much as possible. That’s something that Mindy told me. So, I did all of my own stunts with the fights and the movement and the little gags that we did. I think that was probably one of the main things that I could bring to the character, just the reality of the movement.

Q) You are obviously well versed in marital arts, but was there any specific training you had to do for the role?

A) I was very much in my comfort zone. [laughs] It’s kind of surreal being on the karate circuit and being around martial arts studios and actually knowing the small strip-mall martial arts school and sometimes meeting the teachers and senseis (obviously not as dark) that kind of have these small nuances to their roles. I could really relate to it. [laughs] I think that it was just very much in my comfort zone just to be around the whole environment.

Q) Did the cast spend much time together off screen?

A) Not a whole bunch. It was a really quick shoot. I think Alessandro was put on maybe a week before or less before we started shooting. So, he had so much dialogue and lines to learn even during the shoot. So, he was working on those a lot. And in between then Mindy had me work with Alessandro just as a partner sometimes to learn the little fight scenes as well. I was just readily available and down to do any of the work for movement, too, just to help out. I ended up being an assistant for some of the choreography and working with the actors with Mindy.

Q) What was it like working with Jesse Eisenberg?

A) That was so much fun! He’s honestly one of the nicest guys. Sometimes when you are on set with an A-list actor you kind of stay away, but he is so friendly. He would come up and talk to everybody on set. He asked their names and asked my names. He’d ask questions about who I am. How he remembers everybody is kind of crazy! I had a few scenes and moments with Jesse too and just being around that caliber of an actor I learned a lot, just with how he operates and watching him during takes. Somethings are just technical and where his choices are coming from. I think it was just a great experience being around someone like that and showing me that when you’re working on set you can work really hard and fast, but on top of that make it a great experience for everyone around you.

Q) You touched on it a bit, but how much of a hand did you have in the stunt and fight choreography with Mindy Kelly.

A) I had some, but whenever you are working with stunts it’s almost like a collaborative thing in the sense that whatever the actors can do you work around that a little bit. You get skeleton choreography and everything is going to change on the day or when you start working with actors. There are just little things here and there and then it’s more of an energy bouncing ideas back and forth. So, I helped some, but the cool thing that happened was she had a clear idea of the intentions of the actors in the story. We just kind of fed off of that energy.

Q) What advice did director Riley Stearns offer during filming that you took to heart?

A) It was a different experience just because of the tone of the movie. Everyone says what they feel and it’s kind of odd. So, it was different. A lot of times it would be a technical thing like, “Say that faster” or sometimes I would pause a little bit between the lines. Then he would be like, “Just speed it up.” Then, I would ask him where I’m coming from and he would say, “Yeah, that’s perfect. Do that.” It was very efficient. It is pretty crazy to me that the actual script that I read is like 99% of how the movie came out, which is insane when I think about it. He was willing to work with it with the actors and have a clear visual of the movie that he wanted to make, which was an incredible experience.

Q) What were some of your favorite moments from filming?

A) One of my favorite moments was the last few days of shooting. The night shoots. It was just fun because some people were there and the cast. We would ride around on motorcycles all day long. It was pretty fun! Even though there were some hiccups in the sense that we had to get the bikes working, but that eventually was worked out. We just got to kind of play all day long. We got to run around. [laughs] I really liked the physical part of the action that we did. It was pretty fun.

Q) What message hope viewers take away from watching The Art of Self-Defense?

A) I think the audience can take away…some of the absurdity of the toxic masculinity that is in this film. Even though I know that wasn’t Riley’s initial intention, but he brought forth things he was feeling and the insecurities he felt through his life in the locker room and things like that. When it’s brought forth in this literal way in this movie, it really gives you some self-reflection into, “That’s really stupid when you explain it like this.” And, of course, when you are watching the movie it is funny from start to end with twists and turns. The first time I saw it I was laughing through it, but I really liked the realism of the violence, too. It kind of shocks you out of thinking too much about what we’re saying.

Q) What did you personally take away from working on the movie?

A) The whole entire experience of an indie film. It was such a community feel. Everyone was talking to everybody – from craft services all the way up until the director. Having that small feeling of projects that people care…Riley really cares about it. Michael Ragen, our cinematographer, really cares about it. Mindy cares about this film. And all of the producers care about everything. It was just having that experience, going through something and having a great product to show people. I’m really excited for it and for my family and friends to see it. Sometimes when you work on a project it’s going to okay, but you don’t want to show that. But this is something I can be very proud of. I think that was the best experience for me.

Q) You are a part of social media. Are you looking forward to the fan feedback you’ll receive to the movie?

A) Yeah! Definitely! I’ve been in a lot of different avenues of entertainment, but mostly from dance and marital arts. I’ve had a few people who have seen screenings and said, “I was so surprised I saw you acting in this!” I’m just trying to broaden my skillset and work on different parts of entertainment and focus more on acting. Hopefully, my fans and following will get to see that in this.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and the work you do?

A) I’d like to tell them thank you so much for following me through my journey all of these years and for your support. I appreciate all of the messages. I get a lot of messages saying, “Oh! I watched you in this and you inspired me to dance,” or “You’re the first person I saw tricking.” Things like that. It’s coming around that time where I feel so much more fulfilled when people are saying that because I can see everyone growing around me so much. So, thank you guys and hopefully I’ll get to meet all of you some day soon!