Izzy Bares All - Izzy and Con fun facts :) ❤
- Before playing the role Con wrote a backstory for Izzy – most details are in the Izzy poem (the boy, the ring).
- The little black panties in the toe scene – that decision to do it like that was sprung on him in his trailer before he was about to go on set, no discussion about it so he used what he normally wore under Izzy’s leathers.
- Con originally auditioned for Buttons.
- About Izzy S1 vs S2 and the reception: Right, well, obviously there's no secret there was a lot of hate aimed towards Izzy - and me to be honest - after first season had dropped which I never understood because I knew who he was was and although I didn't know what was going to happen in season two I knew who he was and I've said this before I don't... we have all loved somebody who doesn't love us back and we've all reacted to that in different ways and simplicity of season one is: Izzy is a great first mate and he's in love with his captain and you know he's a bit of an arsehole but he's a bit of an arsehole on season two as well – and they all are - people fell in love with him in season two because more of him was revealed and so I kind of... I always felt that he was iconic because I'm playing a man in love with somebody who doesn't love him back and I think that's universal and I don't think that's often expressed in queer stuff, the rejection of... the rejection that we all feel by being queer from the moment we realise society is rejecting us, the moment we have the epiphany that we are queer we hear society and it’s fucking rejecting us. So to have that and then to be rejected in love is a really big cacophony of pain and it's something we all as queer people have to deal with at one point or another and I think people started to understand that with Izzy and identify with Izzy more in the second season but I strongly say that the beauty and the genius of the writers of this show is they didn't change Izzy, they just revealed Izzy and that is what people latched on to.
- Do you have any fan art on display around your home and does it give you the warm fuzzies knowing that you and Izzy mean so much to people they express that through the gifts they give you: Yeah, it does give me the warm fuzzies and do have some Izzy art in my house… I have an Izzy doll on my mantle piece in my office, I have a Val doll, I have the wonderful puppets of Izzy and Cooper, I have some paintings. Yeah, it means the world to me. I mean I've never had a response to a character like this and kind of more importantly the work I've done in the past which quite often gets... doesn't get the attention that the work not my work necessarily but the the work itself – Uncle, for example, didn't get much attention but for the fans to discover that and then to realize how important Val is... those things mean a lot too, you know, and Cliff in Cucumber and all these… it means the world to me and thank all of you for doing the fan art.
- What's Izzy's idea of a perfect date: Steak and a fuck. Medium rare, on both.
- If Izzy had has survived but Steve and Ed were still off the ship who would Izzy have hooked up with and why: Jim.I mean there was always that sexual tension between Jim and Izzy, they were... that would be a fuck worth watching.
- About scars on Izzy’s back: Originally, because the the toe scene was sprung on me, we never discussed having body tattoos - we didn't have the time, and then when we heard about the topples scene in season two we only had I think three or four weeks when that script came through and I wanted a story on Izzy's body, I wanted some narrative to the journey he'd been on, and we discussed a big rising sun tattoo that would cover his back which I liked because it had an eastern leaning to it and I think he's well travelled and blah blah blah, but we we really didn't have the time to discuss that and the whipping, basically the whipping scars were a testament to when he started on the ships and would probably think he knew better than and could possibly know better than most of the first mates he worked with and so that arrogance would create a legacy of beatings and whippings, and I actually thought that Debs the makeup designer did a beautiful job on that because it was a... I didn't want it steal the scene and I wanted to do it exactly what it did which was tantalise and create a narrative for who he had been in his previous life if you notice at no point does he whip anyone he carries whip but he never whips anyone and I don't think that would be his form of punishment with disobedient crew, and I just thought it was an interesting way of filling that that historical part of his disobedient youth.
- If Izzy got to wear a fancy outfit like Edward's purple suit for the party scene: All black. No colours, not even a hint of colour. There’s no other colour in his wardrobe apart from black and leather.
- Would Izzy have chosen to be Captain Frenchie's first mate: No. Frenchie is not strong enough for Izzy. I think Frenchie would actually be a great captain but he wouldn't be a strong enough captain for Izzy.
- Izzy has survived how long do you think it would have been before he called Stede 'Captain': Never. Edward is his captain. Stede's never gonna be that guy. He's got to be a really dynamic aggressive captain, that's what Izzy responds to. It is like a lover and Stede is not going to replace that.
- What made Izzy realise that Blackbeard had gone too far: Just the cruelty to the crew, that's what it is. You know, he cares about his crew - he might not show it - but he does, and what Ed was doing was risking and being cruel to his crew, so no.
- Izzy during the scene when Ed gives him the gun in S2: He's just seeing this man that he adores breaking and remember he's already been shot. I remember David saying ‘That pretty much ends it’ , the love he feels for Edward once he’s been shot – it’s different. You can be rejected in many ways, being shot in the thigh is quite a strong rejection.
- Was Izzy in S1 really considering leaving the ship or was that just a game that he and Blackbeard play: I think he's left Blackbeard a few times and always got back, so that's probably a game.
- Were Ed and Izzy strictly platonic or not: They fucked like rabbits. It may be platonic towards the end, but they were lovers.
- On David Jenkins calling Izzy both Blackbeard’s father figure and Ed’s jilted wife: I think it's a very complicated relationship. So we're not going to be able to say yes, he's a father figure, or yes, he's a jilted wife. He's all of those things. I think: business-wise, father figure. Relationship-wise, lover / jilted wife / angry boyfriend / jilted boyfriend, whatever way you want to put it. There's no one category of that relationship that's gonna work, because it's deeply, deeply complicated.
- If Izzy had a secret playlist, what's one surprising song you think would be on it: Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
- What's the 'one more song' that he sings at the end of Calypso's birthday and what if it was by David Bowie: If it was David Bowie's song, it'd be Heroes. If it was someone else it might be T.Rex's I Love to Boogie.
- What is Izzy and Ed’s music playlist for having sex: Oh, guys, come on, it could be anything. You know what I will say now, and it's my age, but George Michael's Faith is one of the greatest fuck albums of all time, so let's go with that.
- What was it like working with Joel Fry: Well, Joel and I have worked together before. We did a BBC series together, so he's one of my favourite actors. I think Joel is exquisite. Yeah, he's a grumpy fucker, but I love the bones of him, and I'm a grumpy fucker too, so we're good at that. And I would... if Joel's on the cost list, then I'll do the gig. [about Joel not doing conventions:] He’s a really private guy. He doesn't reveal himself outside of his work, which I think is admirable.
- Out of the crew of The Revenge who would be Izzy’s top four that he’d sleep with: Ed, obviously, Jim, he wouldn’t go for Lucius, I don’t think, he’s too young and too pretty and too new, I think that him and Wee John would hook up at some point and… yeah, Calico Jack, yeah, now that’s that been brought to my attention, yeah, abso-fucking-lutely, those two would be hammering at it like doornails.
- vampires or zombies: vampires
- showers or baths: baths
- mornings or evenings: evenings
- winter or summer: winter
- relaxing holidays or action packed trip: relaxing holiday
- crunchy or smooth peanut butter: crunchy
- museums or amusement parks: amusement parks
- phone calls or text messages: phone calls
- rain or snow: snow... rain… bit of both
- time travel to the past or future: past
- restaurant date night or cooking at home: home
- fantasy or sci-fi: sci-fi.
- star in a film Taika wrote or have Taika star in a film you wrote: star in the one Taika wrote
- high heels and spanx or wooden leg while soaking wet: high heels
- giving or receiving: giving, on every level
- Which role throughout your career has been your favourite to play, and why: Izzy, obviously, I love doing Mickey in Blood Brothers, I love doing Joe Meek, and I love playing Cliff, and I adore playing Val. And many others.
- About Jim in Midsomers Murders: The reason I did that role was because he had the line. ‘I just want to make cheese.' It's such a wonderful personification, and also, the death being trampled by cows is just… When cows get nervous, they shit. And we were lying in that fucking stall for, like, 6 hours with just a hundred cows who were shitting. Constantly.
- When are we getting Con debut album: Never. Never gonna happen because there is no interest.
- What keeps you going when shoots are tough or not going to plan: Coffee.
- Would Con consider doing a part with full frontal nudity if it was relevant to the story: I've done full frontal nudity. I've done it on stage Mother Clap's Molly House. And we were naked in Bedrooms and Hallways in the sauna. To be honest I feel all full frontal nudity is kind of unnecessary. I hate it on stage, I hate the way that it's the women are expected to do it more than men are, I also I feel that if you're doing full frontal nudity and it's a sexual scene and there's no erection then there's absolutely no point in seeing a flaccid penis in that scenario and I to be honest... very quick story I went to see Equus when I was like 15 and I knew the actor playing Alan because he was part of my drama group and so I wasn't that particularly interested in seeing his penis, I'd probably already seen it, and I noticed the audience lent forward when he got naked and it occurred to me and I think it's true that audiences don't look at the characters genitals they look at the actors' or the actresses' genitals so they're stepping out of the play to look at somebody's dick or fanny and so I would much rather not step out of something for a cheap thrill and I think directors and producers are quite often dishonest about why they have nudity in the show. So I would do it if I honestly felt it was absolutely appropriate but if it didn't feel like... if it felt like it was titillation – fuck it, it I'm too old for that nonsense.
- What is the most stressful thing that's ever happened to you on stage: I did Educating Rita with brilliant Leanne Best written by the genius, truly genius, Willy Russell. It's a two-hander, and on my… the very last night, I dried. And I dried – as in Iforgot my lines - but it was a huge chunk that I couldn't remember. And Leanne tried to help me by giving me the lines, but they were the lines I'd just done, so I started to laugh because I wanted to say, I know that bit! But I literally, I was literally about to walk off stage, and as I started to walk off stage to get the book, to read these lines, I remembered the lines, so… but that was traumatic, very traumatic. I thought I'd got away with it and then the sound came up to me afterwards in the bar and said, ‘Oh, that was very embarrassing.’
- Do you have a favourite shark: Jaws. White shark. Yeah. Bruce. Great white, yeah.
- What’s your favourite bad horror movie: Most of them. Most of them are shit, and I'm a big horror movie fan. Most of them, 90% of them, are shit.
- While you've always been a sex symbol, did the huge resurgence in your career and interest in your projects at this point in your life take you by surprise: Yes. Listen, it always takes me by surprise whenever I do anything that lands. Any show that I do that lands is always a surprise. It's lovely, but it's a surprise. Because I don't do… I tend not to do mainstream stuff. So yeah, it's always a surprise when something I do that's kind of out there lands. So, yeah.
- Does Cooper like all the fan art that's been made of him, is he modest about how many of us love him or has the fame gone to his head: The toys that he's given he destroys really quickly. He's used to the adoration though because he gets a lot of love at home.
Has he met the Cooper puppet, is that weird for him: Yes. It’s not weird for him he just wants to destroy that as well.
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