Interview with Izuka Hoyle (Corinne)

The third and final series of Big Boys is almost here. How are you feeling about bidding farewell to Corinne?

Ah, man, I’m sad. Really sad. There’s so much that comes with Big Boys other than the joy of playing Corinne. There’s the joy of being on set with this cast and crew, and there’s the joy of getting to do Jack’s writing and live in that Big Boys world. It’s just different from a lot of the jobs I’ve done. I think I’ve been quite aware of it, so I’ve had time to mourn that since we’ve wrapped, and during it. Whenever I felt emotional, I was letting it out, including the read through. Jack and the cast were like, ‘It’s time to get a grip now, babe.’ I’d be like, ‘I can’t believe it’s almost over.’ It’s such a special piece of work, and I am so grateful that I got to be a small part of it.

Actors often say they take parts of a character away with them. What have you learnt from playing Corinne?

I’m not really somebody that takes part of a character away with them. Sometimes you learn new skills to play people, and you walk away from a job with a newfound love for something. I took more away from the experience of working with this cast. 

I mean, Corinne’s so smart. Jack writes her in such a specific way that I’ll be reading the script, and she’s off on a ramble and she’s got a four-syllable word, or quoting something. I’ll go in with high expectations for myself. I’ll be like, ‘I’m going to retain this, this is going to become part of my personality.’ I’ll try and use it in real life, and butcher it. I’ll get all the words wrong; my dyspraxia will kick in and move words, and everybody will be like, ‘What did you just say?’ So, I’ve tried to take away her academic genius, but I’ve been humbled by trying to do that! 

How do you think Corinne has changed and evolved over the course of the show?

Evolved is the perfect word. One of the many amazing things about Jack is that he takes what you offer up, and he puts it down on the page. He was able to see which direction I naturally took her once I joined the cast. With each series, I would read the scripts and see a little bit more of the flavour that I’d been adding to her. Also, she went from being a supporting character in the first one, to one of the gang. I was lucky that Jack felt like she had a place there, because the show existed without her, I think, before. If you watch the pilot, the character isn’t in it. 

So, she has evolved, and I’ve learnt more about her. Corinne is the sort of person who keeps her cards close to her chest. She’s very stiff upper lip, carry on, dealing with stuff quietly. And she’s also there to help other people. What’s nice is, throughout the series, Jack was able to shine a light on what is going on with Corinne, what makes Corinne; why does she love the way that she is? Why does she study so hard? Why is she so hard on herself? We got to understand her more. 

It went from, perhaps, playing an archetype, to playing a real, complex woman… exploring love, and love with Danny, and love with her chosen family, and letting her hair down, you know, she was a very specific type of person when you met her, and she’s put through a lot of ‘firsts.’

Let’s dive into Corinne’s relationship with Danny. What can we expect in series three?

The audience is going to witness Corinne and Danny just figure out what their relationship looks like. They’re very different people. I mean, you want to talk about opposites attract. It’s the final year of uni… graduating into adulthood, and that can be a slap in the face. Juggling those things, and also a relationship, which neither person expected to be getting into, especially Corinne, her to be leaving and then being like, ‘Right, I have this English boyfriend, I’m desperately in love, let’s figure this out.’ The way in which she goes through life is sometimes slightly – whatever the opposite of Danny is. Danny’s carefree; he goes with the wind and juggles a lot. I think the two of them are trying to work out how to love each other, and what their future looks like together.

You and Jon have great chemistry. Was that just there from the get-go? Or did you have to work on it?

Sometimes you have chemistry with someone, sometimes you don’t. At the end of the day, you are actors, so you can fake it till you make it. But with Jon, it is the first time I’ve done a chemistry read and been like, ‘Oh, this is great.’ I started improvising, which I don’t always do. I’d been given the confidence from the safe space that was created through what Jon was doing, and how I felt with Jon. We got into a flow very quickly, and that doesn’t necessarily happen. 

What’s funny is that when it comes to the romantic stuff with Jon and I, that’s when we become like brothers, and our hands do not meet… we’re counting each other down before we have to kiss, like, ‘Three, two, one, finish, please don’t touch me again.’ It’s that. But chemistry doesn’t necessarily just mean romantic chemistry. It’s a chemistry, and I had chemistry with Jon from the get-go. I felt it anyway, God knows how he felt [laughs]. I remember leaving that audition and thinking, if I get this role, one of the main reasons I will take it is to work with Jon.

Can you share a particularly memorable behind-the-scenes moment? Getting to go to Malta was on a lot of the other cast members’ lists.

I was waiting for it to be pulled. I was like, there’s no way we are going to be allowed to go to Malta together. It was the most heavenly experience. We’d wake up, go to the gym, swim in the pool… Jon and I would wrap and then go get a couple of cocktails. There was one day where Jon and I got the giggles so bad that I questioned the future of my career. It was healing giggles. If I’d had anything wrong in my gut during that time in my life it was certainly healed through laughter. I cried all my makeup off. I’ve never laughed so much on a job. Jack, every single time I’d go back to time my trailer, he’d either be in it and waiting to scare me, or I’d get a knock on the door, and I’d have a three-act play ready to be performed to me by him.

Did you pinch any props from set as a memento?

I took the Scottish flag that hangs up in the blue shed. Also, there’s a scene in series three where I’m drinking Irn Bru, and I think I managed to take a crate. All the Scottish paraphernalia came home with me, apparently, Jesus Christ [laughs].

What sort of interactions have you had with fans of the show?

I was having lunch and was approached by a couple of sisters from America. They spoke about the fact they’d lost their father that year. It was his birthday that day, and they’d just come from a tattoo parlour of getting his name on both of their arms. They had finished watching the show and spoke about the magnitude of how that healed them. Special moments like that happen more often than not.