The summer of Scott Speedman is incoming. Fans of the “Felicity” star will get to see a new side of the actor across two indie films that will feel like a distinct change of pace for those familiar with his studio roles in films like the “Underworld” series or “The Vow” – or even recent television roles like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “You.” Speedman makes a brief but scene-stealing appearance as a porn star in Lena Dunham’s upcoming film “Sharp Stick.” There are so many elements to discuss from that film, and the fact that his indelible Vance LeRoy is one of the main talking points serves as a testament to just how effective his characterization is.
But before audiences get to see that, Speedman appears in David Cronenberg’s return to body horror, “Crimes of the Future.” the actor plays Lang Dotrice, the leader of a mysterious underground network looking to contract the two performance artists (Viggo Mortensen’s Saul and Léa Seydoux’s Caprice) at the center of the story for his own purposes. It’s best to let the movie reveal the true nature of his agenda, but it’s safe to say that Speedman provides the connective tissue between the smothering of a plastic-munching child in the film’s prologue and its main storyline where “surgery is the new sex.” Cronenberg tasks his character, who remains grounded in something a little bit more recognizable to the real world, to help explain the contours of the film and convey its stakes. Speedman handles the challenge flawlessly.
Just hours ahead of the film’s premiere in New York, Speedman chatted with us about how he connected to the film, the challenges of making it, and what’s motivating him to take some unexpected roles.
David Cronenberg first wrote the script for “Crimes of the Future” in the late ’90s, which was around the time that you broke out on “Felicity.”
True, I was thinking about that too.
Do you feel like some of the commentary around art, beauty, and performance are giving expression to ideas that you’d felt for years?
Yeah, it’s an aspect of the movie that I really took in the second time I watched it. That was actually at Cannes, which is a high-pressure situation. My goal was to sit back and enjoy the movie and experience. I’ve been there a couple of times, and it’s always crazy. I did see that more. I mean, of course, I was immersed in a whole different part of that movie, in a weird way. So I’m just like addicted and controlled by that whole scenario. So yeah, I did see all that. And I think that’s an aspect of the movie that like he delves into a little bit but then moves off pretty quickly. It’s trying to accomplish a lot.
I have to ask: that screen at Cannes is truly massive. What is it like seeing yourself on it?
I did two Atom Egoyan movies that went there, and it’s daunting, to be honest. It’s a lot! I’m used to watching myself on that [motions to television] more than anything. I’m not a big watcher of myself, period. I really liked the movie, and everybody was so good in it that I was able to relax and enjoy it as much as possible. I mean, I still squirmed in my seat, of course. I looked down when I was on, but that’s par for the course.
You mentioned that you’re off doing something a little bit different in the film. Lang is definitely more grounded in reality and not as intimately involved in some of the crazier elements of surgery like Saul and Caprice. How did you find that tone and wavelength within the film?
I don’t always strive to find a tone. That’s not really my job, to be honest. I’m not gonna be like, “Okay, I gotta fit into what everybody else is doing.” David wouldn’t want that. What’s cool about David, too, is he’s not this exacting auteur or controlling kind of guy at all. He’s like, “I’m hiring you, and we want you to do what you can do.” So I got the instinct early on that he doesn’t like to talk about stuff. And that’s the same way I am, I think. Of course, it’s necessary to sit down the director and intellectualize a little bit, but I didn’t do a lot of that. I just went off on my own and worked for six weeks or whatever I had to get ready. I come there like an athlete and throw it up on screen. And hopefully, it works.
I’ve always found it interesting talking with actors and hearing about different directing styles. There’s something to be said for those who trust their actors to give them what they want in just a take or two, but we tend to mythologize the directors who require a hundred takes.
I would love that experience, too. A lot of the work that I’m known for and have got experience with is television, where you’re running and gunning. You get better at being good quickly. But this was really that. David does not like to do a lot of takes. That’s challenging for people, I think, on the first couple of days. But then when you get in that rhythm, you’re going to come to work and let it go. That’s fun because you know what you’re doing is going to be on screen. But the other side of the fence is David Fincher, and I would love that experience too. I’ve talked to people who’ve worked with him, and you lose where you are after take 30. You don’t even know what you’re saying anymore. And that’d be a wild experience. It’s a very different style, but I would love to have that experience.
I want to talk a bit about “Sharp Stick,” the upcoming Lena Dunham movie where you make a brief appearance as a porn star. You said you wouldn’t have taken that role a few years ago. Is the same true about “Crimes of the Future?”
I’ve been trying to work to get to where I am in my career — not even my career, just personally, for years. It’s taken me, some would say, way too long to do it. But I do feel like I’m there now. I can genuinely say that when scripts come my way, I’m not reading through [them] in a fearful, anxious way. I’m excited about trying stuff going forward. That was a kind of a weird experience but great. I loved working with Lena. The risky part of those things is hard to do, and I just wasn’t at a place where I felt comfortable going for it as much as I am now.
Is that just a function of time?
Yeah, I think so. I hit when I was 22 on “Felicity,” and that’s a good luck/bad luck thing. I loved that experience, and it’s still my favorite job, really. It was the best people…to have J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves on the first TV show! Number one on the call sheet is Keri Russell who’s awesome as a human being and really taught me. I didn’t listen for very long because she had to lead a show. But everything that happens off-camera, too, goes into that. They were amazing. A lot of people that hit are 28, 29, you’re a little older. The attention I was getting, I wasn’t really ready for. I’d never been to L.A. I got the job off a videotape, and I was in L.A. three days later. It was wild.
You think you’re ready for an experience like that at that age, but no one’s serious at 22.
I wasn’t ready. I was going through it at 32. You mature when you mature.
In both “Sharp Stick” and “Crimes of the Future,” you play an accessory to people who are experiencing sexuality in very interesting ways. Is that a connection you’re consciously seeking out, or is it just a weird coincidence of timing on these projects?
The fact that it happened around the same time is awesome, amongst other work on television I was doing around the same time that is completely different. I think that’s just a happy coincidence. Really, all I’m trying to do is bring a character to life. I don’t get too in my head about what they’re saying. It’s really the director’s medium. That’s what they’re trying to do.
You and your partner welcomed a child around the time that you shot “Crimes of the Future,” right?
Yeah, like a month later.
Did that affect the performance at all?
I kept thinking if I played that character now, it’d be different. I was just flying by the seat of my pants on that one. When you have a kid, that’s what comes up. I mean, it just gets in there. It was a funny situation, thinking about it like that.
Kristen Stewart said at the Cannes press conference for the film that the cast would get together after shooting and try to make sense of the film together. What did you all unlock together through that process?
We did do that, but also, we’re coming down from the day, having fun, going out for dinners. Trying to get away from work more than anything. I think she talked about how she didn’t know what she was doing, but I think she did. She knows what she’s doing, man.
You all didn’t have to sequester or anything for COVID restrictions?
Greece was not Los Angeles, New York, or Toronto. Toronto is very, very intense. Greece was more like Florida.
You mentioned working with Atom Egoyan, another great Canadian director like David Cronenberg. Is there something special about working with someone from your native country?
I would have wanted to work with Cronenberg no matter what, he could have been anything. He would probably be on the top of the list for me to get to work with before he stops making movies. If there is a Canadian thing, I don’t know how to articulate it. Of course, it is different up there to a certain degree, having spent so much more of my life now in America and then going up and spending time in Toronto again. I do feel a cultural difference that can’t help be represented in the art form, especially in such a populist art form like movies. I wouldn’t know how to describe it, but they’re their own things. I’m most excited to work with anybody who has their own identity as a filmmaker. I don’t care what it is, seriously. It might not work out, I don’t care. I just want to work with people that have a voice and a perspective. That’s gonna put me totally at ease.
Last question: are we going to hear “surgery is the new sex” next season on “Grey’s Anatomy?”
[laughs] I don’t know! That was really weird because I was doing this movie, and I didn’t have that job. But two days after I got home, I was on the set of “Grey’s Anatomy” doing surgery scenes. It was wild. Two very different things!
Did it make you think about surgery differently?
Not really, because I was so terrified of all of that, too. They’re very serious about those surgery scenes. I was just flying by the seat of my pants on that one.
