David de Lautour: the "outrageous" challenge of playing Ted...

David de Lautour has acted on both Kiwi and American television screens. He debuted with small roles in Xena: Warrior Princess, before moving on to kidult shows Being Eve and The Amazing Extraordinary Friends. While living in the US, he was a regular on sitcom What I Like about You, before returning home to co-star in Outrageous Fortune prequel Westside, as the younger version of family patriarch Ted West. De Lautour has also expanded into directing, including on My Life is Murder and his whodunit Alibi. 

In this ScreenTalk interview, de Lautour talks about: 

• Being sacrificed on an altar for Xena: Warrior Princess
• Feeling excited about getting a role on the kidult sitcom Being Eve 
• Initially being unsure if Power Rangers was right for him 
• Getting comfortable making mistakes on the set of Legend of the Seeker
• Being a cog in the well-oiled machine that is US drama series NCIS
• The thrill of wearing an All Black jersey playing Stephen Donald in The Kick 
• Embracing nerves on set and how they help with performance
• Loving the incredible vibe on the set of Westside
• Initially auditioning for another role, but getting the job of playing Ted West
• The challenge of making the role his own when it is so identified with Frank Whitten
• The reason he loved playing the character
• Acting alongside Outrageous Fortune veteran Antonia Prebble
• Past experiences living and working in Los Angeles

This video was first uploaded on 26 May 2015, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside