EP: 659 - Izzy G (Hulu's Under the Bridge) Interview

Jeff G & Jackie caught up with Izzy G to talk about her amazing performance in Hulu's Under the Bridge. We also talked about 90's Hip Hop, how bullying can effect families & much more. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It was good boy. What's good? Everybody? This is Neil, what's
good? This glow really? Andyou're checking out The Cruise Show podcast.
Make sure to subscribe, rate andsure, Liz go go all right,
welcome to It is The Cruise Show. Jeff Garcia, Jackie Ramirez, and
we're so excited to talk to EAZYG. Hands down my favorite favorite favorite series
of the year so far, Underthe Bridge on Hulu. Izzy, thank

(00:24):
you so much for joining us.We appreciate it. Thank you so much
for having me. You know,yeah, go ahead, jack no,
no, because we both have thesame sentiments, Jeff and I want to
see to hear from you first.Okay, Izzy, you did such a
great job on this series, likeso much so that I totally hate you,

(00:45):
you know, Oh my god,thank you you as a person,
but I hate so bad, Like, thank you. I want to get
Jackie to fight Kelly right now.Don't worry. A lot of people feel
that way. You're not the onlyone, do you hear that a lot?
I mean, because you really diddo an amazing, amazing job.

(01:06):
Thank you so much. I mean, yeah, but like they're also they're
also funny, Like they're really funnyand they're really kind and they're like,
ooh, girl, you do notknow how hard I wanted to punch you,
like like, thank you seriously.Yeah, you know, I was
watching the series with my boyfriend andhe was and when I told him,
like, you know, we're actuallygoing to interview Kelly, which is easy,

(01:27):
and then he's just like, yeah, I couldn't do that. Like
I literally he was just like,there's only two people hate in a TV
show. And he was just like, I really don't like a guy from
Thirteen Reasons Why and now Isy andI'm thank you, thank you so much?
Honestly, what I mean, howwas it like trying to I mean,

(01:49):
you're obviously such a sweet person.How was it trying to navigate being
someone who is sorry, okay everytime I'm made an interview they they loved
to do. Now, how wasit, you know, trying to channel
that innerviolent person of you. Imean, obviously, Kelly, the character

(02:17):
that I was playing is so muchdifferent for me, you know, like
I definitely don't partake in those activitiesor those feelings with those emotions. But
when I had first gotten the script, I mean, the writing was beautiful
and it was very intense, andI knew that it was a challenge and
that it was definitely something that Iwanted to do. I knew that it
would be difficult throughout the entire processof filming it. But I think one

(02:42):
of the things that helped is wehad rehearsals at the beginning of shooting,
like a couple a couple of weeksprior to shooting, and they had said,
you're like free, like you canjust just go, like just just
release it, and we give youyou have the permission to be as crazy

(03:02):
as you need to be for thisrole. Like they gave us so much
permission to improv, to just divedeep into it, and I mean it
really helped, you know. Butalso within my research of it, I
really I really did focus into herbackground and what I could find. There's

(03:23):
not a lot that's released right now, but she I was given some information.
I'm not sure that it's true,so don't be like, hey,
like you said this. I don'tknow if it's true. It's just speculated
that she could have dealt with abusefrom her mother, might have suffered abuse,
and she might have We're not sureabout this part, but she might

(03:43):
have suffered it. From her stepbrotheras well, and whether whether or not
that's true, it was still somethingthat I could base her pain off of.
You know, because some people,some people are just like that,
They're just born like that, They'rejust born angry, and they're just born

(04:03):
with these feelings. It's just naturalto them. But for me, I
was never born with those feelings.I've never experienced that, and I honestly
truly don't know how to ground that. So to kind of find something to
base her anger and the mental issuesthat she has off of, something I

(04:24):
could definitely use that for Yeah,it all comes back to our childhood one
way or another, man, itall does. Yeah, it sounds like
Kelly was dealing with it. Youknow, you were very blessed in this
series two to work with some amazingactors. I mean Riley especially Lily especially,
they're on another level. Man.I loved Riley and Daisy Jones.

(04:45):
She was just so good in thatof a many of her roles, and
Lily's Oscar nominated you know one Goldand Glothes. I mean, she's amazing.
How much were you like going toset every day and like, I'm
picking your brain, I'm picking yourbrain. What am I going to am
I off her. What a careerthough? Like what a career? Like
I've worked with such legends I've workedwith like Michael Patrick, King, Ripple,

(05:06):
Charles Wadi, Harrelton, this one, this one, and now Riley
Q and Lily Gladstone, Like whatthe heck? Like I've learned so much,
Like it's crazy. I mean withLily and Riley, I was really
excited to work with them. Iwas really excited to work with them.

(05:27):
And I think Lily had said this, but it's like every time we work
with each other, it's like,oh, I really got to be good
today because I need to match herlevel. You know. That's what it
was like for me too, LikeI'm like, I'm like, oh,
I'm working with a legend right now. I gotta like I gotta really I
gotta be there and I got tobe present, and you should always want
to be that on a workday.But it's like, especially with those ones,

(05:48):
like it's like they are amazing andI love them and I'm going to
do everything that I can to respectthem and to respect their work process.
And I've definitely learned so much fromthem, like their their work ethic and
how they work and what they doand stuff, and they're also just beautiful
people. Yeah, that was inperson. I go on like the internet

(06:14):
after I watch a TV show,especially are or anything like that. I
saw an unpopular opinion on the Internet, and I want to know your take
on it. Kelly wanted to likeun alive Rena's bird because of the way
she looked at the bird. Doyou think that the speculation of the internet
is right on that one? No. One thing that I have like learned

(06:41):
though, is that Kelly loved animals. She loved animals. She she I
don't think she would have the realKelly at least just what I was basing
off of. Obviously the character it'sjust based off of. It's not a
full documentary, but the way thatI had looked at it was she was
disgusted with the fact that they hada bird inside the house and that it

(07:04):
wasn't free. I don't think Kellytried to kill the bird. I think
she just wanted it to be free, and she didn't want to be it
to be kept in a cage andstuff because she felt very My character felt
very kept in a cage because shehad to be this perfect little girl all
the time when inside she actually wasn'tand she couldn't express that emotion to her

(07:30):
family. And she kind of lookedat herself with the bird like that,
and she wanted it to be freebecause she wants to be free. Yeah.
I don't think she wanted to killa bird. That's a interesting take
on it, to be honest.Yeah, no, it yeah, that's
I didn't think of it that way. Hey, how much? Okay?
When I read it, I thoughtshe was going to kill the bird too,

(07:51):
though, I was really I likethat bird was man, No,
no, not the bird. NothingI know I've read that. I was
like, Criance, mir please don'tmake me. You ever heard I couldn't
do that. How much did youknow about nineties hip hop before you got
the show? I'm a nineties hiphop pet. I love it so much

(08:13):
and I grew up with it.How much did you know about that?
And did you do any research?Did you get on you know iTunes are
or Apple Music or Spotify and getyour playlist together before you start the film?
I mean, I was I'm abig nineties girl. I've always been
a big nineties girl, Like sincethe time I was born. I have
a very wide musical taste because whenI was, like when I was in

(08:37):
the brick and mortar school, mydad would drive me and we would have
we'd have different music weeks. Sowe'd have jazz one week, we'd have
Elvis Presley one week, we'd haveNineties this week. Like we'd have a
bunch of different weeks. So Ithink I grew up with nineties and I
knew it and stuff. But Idid have an Apple playlist I had.
I had a full on Kelly playlist. I think a lot of us though

(09:00):
not not a killing playlist, butlike a character, yeah, not al
but we've all had a different playlist. And it is crazy though, like
how much music can really get youinto your character, Like it really is
crazy the connection. I just lovemusic. I could go on. Yeah,
that last scene, that last scenewith the Biggie song. You know
there's a lot of Biggie throughout obviously, but like that last scene where you

(09:22):
know it's just playing a little pieceand it's going through all this stuff.
Man, I was like, bro, it's so beautifully shot and so well
put together, and as a fanof his, it was just great.
By the way, you said youhad an Elvis week. Did your dad
totally freak out that you're working withElvis's granddaughter? I didn't know, I
like to see, I had noclue. I just knew that she was
an actor and that she was abrilliant actor. I had no clue that

(09:45):
she was always friendly grandfather. Andthen Tika told me, and I was
like, oh, what was thepart of that? I'm sorry what?
Oh my gosh. I was like, oh my gosh, not only am
I working with a brilliant actor,but she's all was Presley's granddaughter, Like,
Oh my goodness, what the heck? And I think that was kind

(10:05):
of the reaction for both me andmy dad. I think he was like
he was he was definitely excited forme to work. He was definitely excited.
But yeah, on that last sceneof the Biggie and stuff like that
with you know, Rihena on thedoor, I sawed. I sobbed so
hard. Because when you act,when you act, you know you're acting

(10:26):
in your scenes. You don't getto see there are other people's scenes.
And that's what's exciting about watching yourshow is it's not just watching yourself,
it's washing the amount of work thateverybody else put into it as well,
and just reveling in that proudness.Like I was sobbing. I was literally
hysterical. I called Tica crying,like I called Rutika, who plays a

(10:50):
rena. I was like, Ilove you. It's just so really good.
I'm so proud of you work,you know. But yeah, that
scene, I was pretty powerful whenthe parents go into the room and listen
to, you know, on theboombox as a parent, because I have
two teenagers, you know, andI was just like, damn, they're
finally trying to understand her, youknow, but it's too late, you

(11:13):
know. And now, yeah,that broke my heart too, And you
know, I put out a postJack. I'm sorry. I don't mean
to jump jump talking about kids andparents and stuff, but like, you
know, I think as a parentthat every parent should watch this series,
and I think they should watch itwith their kids, to be very honest
with you, because it's so powerfuland it's so much what not to do,

(11:35):
you know, from the kids side, from the parents side, it
is just an amazing warning to allparents and kids, like, you know,
this stuff happens, man, andyou got to be you know,
see the signs watch out because itcan happen so quickly in one night,
right in one night, and itcan happen so quickly and change so many

(11:56):
lives. Do you do you agreewith that? Yeah? I mean what
you just said means the world tome. It's seriously, like that makes
me I could cry, I'm gonnacry, But it makes me feel so
proud of everything that we've done,because that is the point of this project,

(12:18):
not only to tell Reno rick story, but also to bring awareness and
to hopefully start a conversation to makea change, you know, and and
to know that I had gotten amessage the other day actually from from a
mother who basically said what you hadjust said, and it is it means

(12:39):
the world to me, and Iagree with what you said, like seriously,
thank you, thank you, no, and thank you for doing an
amazing job because it's such a powerfulpiece of art and the story needed to
be told and it's and you guysdid such a great job about it.
Jackie. Yeah, I'm good,Izzie. Thank you so much for your
time. We really appreciate it.Yeah, I mean, what what else

(13:00):
do you have in store that wecould look forward to? And hopefully you're
playing a character that I don't wantto like fight next time. I mean,
I mean, there's there's so muchthat I want to do. I
mean, I've done a lot already, you know, and I've worked with
like Michael Patrick, KINGJ and Queen, Kevin Costner and Twity Harrelson and Riley

(13:24):
Q, Lily Gladstone, John Laurie. I mean just just crazy, crazy,
crazy casts and or crazy people I'veworked with and crazy legends. And
it's like, what is next.I don't know. I don't know.
We'll see what I connect with,I guess, but I think one thing
that I do want to do isDamian Chazel. I want to work with

(13:45):
him at some point in my lifebecause, as I've said, I love
music and it's a big part ofwho I am, especially jazz because I'm
a little I'm a Louisiana girl.I grew up in Louisiana as a little
kid, and then I moved herefor projects and stuff. But I definitely
have the soul of jazz inside ofme, and I connect with this project
so much and it would be anhonor to work with them at some point

(14:07):
in my career. So I'm lookingforred to that I'm manifesting that one as
you should. Hey, by speakingof nineties and jazz and stuff, have
you ever listened to Guru's Jazzmatask.He's a rapper and he's in it.
Sounds familiar. Yeah, he's inthe group Gang Star, but it's a
it's a hip hop jazz fusion andit's so beautifully done. If you like
jazz, google it when we getoff this call. It's called Jazzmatas.

(14:30):
I think you'll dig it. Apromise Jasmatazz, all right, I'll look
it up all research. Listen,easy, we appreciate Hey, listen,
I'm not lying. I'm calling itright now. You're gonna get a Emmy
nomination. I'm calling it now.That's it, period, all right,
remember God, And hopefully you couldcome in to visit us since you're so

(14:54):
close next next project. We loveto continue to I love you, guys,
I'd be down. Let's go.Yeah, it would be fun.
You'd love the rest so much.Well, no, no worries, and
and we'll hold you to it.We'll see you live in the studio next
time. And thank you for youramazing work. And we appreciate your time
today. Thank you so much.Thank you so much for having me.
I love y'all. Bye, thankyou, bye, thank you so much.

(15:18):
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