Zombies in Hong Kong, dreams of Hollywood and acting in a Jackie Chan movie - Japanese action star Rina Takeda on what’s next, and her goals
- A karate black belt who began making movies in her teens, Rina Takeda hopes to take Japanese film worldwide as Jackie Chan did Hong Kong cinema
- The Warriors Within star, who’s equally at home in dramas, dreams of working with Chan, and in Hollywood, but next up is zombie movie Chungking Mansions
Japanese actress Rina Takeda spent many weekends watching movies with her family. Her father, a karate teacher, was a huge fan of films from the 1980s.
Her all-time favourite is the 1985 adventure comedy The Goonies. Not surprisingly, The Karate Kid (1984) is also a favourite.
“My father is a huge movie buff and encouraged me to watch movies from the ’80s even though they were made before I was born,” she says with a laugh. “He also inspired me to take up karate – my brother also did it so I wanted to be part of that.”
It’s hard not to assume that Takeda’s father has had a major influence on her career.
Now 31, Takeda – a 2nd dan black belt in ryukyu shorin-ryu karate – is one of Japan’s biggest female action stars, who first turned heads when, aged 17, she landed the lead role in Fuyuhiko Nishi’s film High Kick Girl!
She’s had some lessons in the school of hard knocks. “When I started out I got badly injured during rehearsals,” she says in an interview with the Post. “I realised then that I had to train harder to stay in peak condition to avoid any future injuries.”
Keeping it real – at times, maybe too real – is what makes Takeda stand out from the action crowd.
But doing her own stunts and martial arts moves is not all that’s getting attention. Her ability to perform roles across a variety of genres is making her a more bankable film star.
In the TV drama series Wakako zake, adapted from a Japanese manga, the sixth season of which aired this year, you won’t see any high kicking, just Takeda portraying a young woman who enjoys visiting restaurants to indulge in her favourite comfort foods.
In 2021, she starred in Sexual Drive, playing a businessman’s lover. In the coming road-trip film Japanese Style, she plays a mysterious woman with a hidden past. Until recently she also hosted her own radio show in Japan.
Last month, Takeda was in Hong Kong shooting for season 2 of ViuTV’s Cantonese karate drama Warriors Within, which co-stars Hong Kong’s Hedwig Tam Sin-yin and Anson Kong Ip-sang, a member of the hugely popular boy band Mirror.
“Everyone knows Jackie Chan. He made films in Hong Kong and then delivered them worldwide and I want to do the same thing: I want to make films in Japan and take them global.”
Next year she starts work on another project with a strong connection to Hong Kong: the zombie action thriller Chungking Mansions.
“The goal is to tell a grand story set against the backdrop of Hong Kong that can stand among the zombie movie greats and depict this region to international viewers in a different light,” says Tong.
The cast includes Hong Kong-Canadian actresses Selena Lee Sze-wa and Jeannie Chan, South Korea’s Choi Si-hun and Singapore’s Desmond Tan and Rebecca Lim. Also included are Hong Kong actor Louis Cheung Kai-chung and Anson Lo Hon-ting, another member of Mirror.
“The casting of Anson Lo was arguably one of our best-kept secrets,” says Tong, and explains that Lo’s involvement was kept quiet for four months.
Representation, he says, is an important part of how the film’s story is told.
“From a creative standpoint, I was excited by the opportunity to have actors from different regions collaborate,” he says. “In a single scene, we have actors from the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan all interacting with each other.”
Tong says Hong Kong, much like London and New York, is a cosmopolitan city and Chungking Mansions the perfect cultural melting pot to reflect that.
“One of the film’s themes is what defines humanity, so to have people from around the world – some who don’t speak each other’s language – work together in pursuit of a common goal to create something fresh is something that I hope viewers globally will enjoy.”
Tong says it was Takeda’s dedication to her craft, and her down-to-earth personality, that convinced him to bring her on board.
“Her career to date showcases her excellent action skills, and since her character engages in a lot of it, I needed someone who could handle the demands of the role while also highlighting the toughness and vulnerability of the character, which Rina is capable of doing.”
“There are several strong female characters in Chungking Mansions and I expect viewers will have differing opinions on who their favourite character will be,” says Tong.
Strong female roles align well with Takeda’s philosophy. The actress is all about empowering women, especially young girls, and says it’s important to have strong role models not just in the film industry but in the male-dominated world of martial arts.
And she’s kicking high when it comes to career goals: Hollywood is on her radar, and she’s determined not to succumb to the industry’s pressure on actresses to stay young.
“I want to age gracefully, to have wrinkles so I can play a mother or a grandmother,” she says.
