Scott Speedman: JustJared.com Exclusive Interview!

Scott Speedman sits down with JustJared.com at Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe in L.A. for an exclusive photo shoot and interview.

The 36-year-old actor chatted about playing “the d—-bag” in his new movie, The Vow, working opposite Rachel McAdams, being a “basketball junkie,” and what he’s most proud of in his career so far.

“My ultimate goal would be to direct a movie one day and really take that risk,” Scott also shared about what’s on his bucket list.

Click inside for JustJared.com‘s full interview with Scott Speedman…

Interview with Scott Speedman
JJ: Lets talk about The Vow.
SS: It was really exciting to be a part of this project. I didn’t know how it was going to turn out, but I think it turned out really well. I really haven’t done a movie like this at all, like a big romantic movie. I’ve always wanted to do one and I was really happy to be a part of one … This was the kind of thing that came around for me at the right time. I had been doing a lot more darker, smaller, independent things that I had always gravitated towards. I did Felicity and then Underworld came along after I had been doing the show and it was an opportunity to do something completely different. I was really happy how that franchise worked out [Underworld]. After that I did some interesting work and really concentrated on acting. This movie [The Vow] for me has really been about coming back into the spotlight, a certain kind of way.

JJ: In The Vow, you play the ex who tries to take away Rachel McAdams‘ character from Channing Tatum‘s. What was it like to take on that type of character?
SS: The bad boy … the d—–ba … the a—— [laughs]. It’s funny I was doing a bunch of interviews and the word d——- came up a lot. My character Jeremy is just in love with this girl, and she comes back into his life. The story takes care of the rest of how I’m going to be perceived, I kind of liked that. I wanted to play the character stronger, and a little more of a threat, not the obvious bad guy.

JJ: And how was it like working with Rachel?
SS: She’s a big reason of why I wanted to do this film. I think she’s a very, very good actress. There is always something in a movie that makes you want to be a part of it, the script, the director, the actors, and for me it was to get to work opposite her.

JJ: Had you met her before?
SS: I hadn’t. I met her the day before we started shooting. It’s always surprising when you meet someone for the first time and they are just like you imagined. She is very humble as is Channing.

JJ: You’ve been in the industry for 17 years now. I don’t want to age you but that’s something to be proud of!
SS: [Laughs] That’s fine, people think of me as way older than I am anyway just because I have been around so long. I’m very lucky to be doing this for this long.

JJ: You have seen the industry change, especially with the paparazzi being so common now.
SS: It’s been interesting. I’ve always for better and worse sort of kept an arms distance at even interviews. I’ve always been cautious in a sense. I’m never going to be out there doing social media and all that stuff, it’s just never going to be my thing. Two or three years ago I wouldn’t have even done a sit down interview like this.

JJ: What do you think about how celebrity has changed?
SS: I think we have gotten too far into behind the scenes and where your private life becomes so public. I think that’s a really tricky thing. I just like the mystery of things a little more. When things start focusing on your private life that gets tricky for me, because I feel like we lose some of the art of acting and the mystery of going to see a good movie. You are just watching the personality, it has always been like that to an extent, but to an extent it has changed within the last 10 years.

JJ: What do you watch on tv?
SS: I’m a big basketball fan. I watch some of the true crime documentary style shows like 48 Hours.

JJ: You started out with Goosebumps, which was huge.
SS: You see that? That’s hilarious. I had been doing one of my first big jobs in Toronto, where I played Ned Nickerson on Nancy Drew. I did six episodes of that and I had no idea what I was doing. I was a horrible actor. This director was really nice to me and taught me a lot, and was shooting Goosebumps one day and he asked me to come down and do a day to play a cop. I showed up and put glasses on, of course with Ryan Gosling so that was pretty hilarious.

JJ: That must be funny to look back at now!
SS: I was 20-years-old with big glasses on and a fake mustache. It’s some of my friends’ favorite things to watch and make fun of me about. You gotta have some humility about all that stuff.

JJ: How did you get into acting?
SS: I was really lucky as I went to this high school that was for gifted athletes and artists. I was very entrenched in the athletic world. I was a swimmer. We could come to school at 4:30 in the morning and train and get off early to train again. After I got injured I started hanging out with all the actors and all these really interesting people and that’s where I got the bug. I was very lucky to have that environment to get me into all of this.

JJ: Do you get free things at Dean and Deluca?
SS: [Laughs) No! I used to live right down the street from one and I thought that was just a little too much. There was one moment when I was in one and someone was like, "This is just too weird".

JJ: What do you want to do next?
SS: I'm looking to work with really great directors. I would love to do something with Nicolas Winding Refn, Paul Thomas Anderson, the Coens.

JJ: Are you excited to see Warm Bodies?
SS: That should be a good movie for sure. It's all about zombies and aliens now.

JJ: What movies have you liked recently?
SS: Drive, I thought that was incredible! I would love to do something like that. I'm really looking to lead an action movie.

JJ: Coming out next you have Edwin Boyd.
SS: Edwin Boyd is sort of a very daring role about a guy coming back from World War II who's always wanted to be an actor and he's got no money, and he turns to robbing banks and gets addicted to it. It's a true story. It's the type of role that I've wanted to do.

JJ: What do you do in your free time?
SS: I'm an absolute basketball junkie. That's what I was just doing. I never got to play these things as a kid so I got addicted to getting better at basketball.

JJ: What are you most proud of?
SS: I have some small films here and there that I'm really proud of but in terms of what I am still so happy to be associated with is definitely Felicity. When it hits the public in that certain kind of way that's something that doesn't happen all that much. I loved being a part of J.J. [Abrams] and Matt Reeves first show. I think it’s really hard to put a group of people like that together.

JJ: What’s your greatest memory of the show?
SS: I think it must be that I had just sent down a video tape four, five, six days or something super late before they were starting to shoot the pilot. My biggest memory was just waiting, sitting on the balcony at my mom’s apartment waiting to see if I was going to get on this plane or not. When I heard about the show I didn’t have an agent, and had just dropped out of theater school. I read the script and I thought it was excellent … They were so close to shooting and then they cast me.

JJ: What’s on your bucket list?
SS: My ultimate goal would be to direct a movie one day and really take that risk.

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Catch Scott in The Vow, which is now in theaters!!!