IZZY STEVENS

from Rival Mag LA Issue 10 June 2021: Laura Marano

tahj mowry

Izzy Stevens Izzy Stevens

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Dress: In Earnest by Byron Lars Top: For Love & Lemons Pants: In Earnest by Bryon Lars Earrings: Stella + Ruby Shoes: Nastygal

Bodysuit: Demode Skirt: Hot & Delicious Shoes: Nastygal Earrings: Kendra Scott

Bodysuit: Demode Skirt: Hot & Delicious Shoes: Nastygal Earrings: Kendra Scott

Izzy Stevens

By: Ashley Vitarelli

If versatility could be personified, it would look like Izzy Stevens. Her artistic prowess and innovative vision spans mediums, trades, and skillsets, making it simply impossible for her talent to be bound to just one category. In truth, she is many things: the star of a film franchise, the writer, director, and editor of many award-winning short films, the lead on a hit Australian TV show, the creator of an online film school — the list goes on and continues to amaze. To summarize, Izzy Stevens is a gifted creator, one who is poised and prepared to dazzle the industry and share her originality and talent with the world.

One part of the world that is already familiar with the powerhouse that is Izzy Stevens is her home of Australia. “I loved growing up in Australia,” Stevens says. “I deeply miss it. My family, my friends, the air, the beach, the food. Now living in LA, I can really appreciate how lucky I was to grow up the way I did.” Indeed, growing up in Australia allowed a young Izzy Stevens to explore artistic pursuits that appeared to be in her very nature. “Making friends and being creative came easily to me, but I also really loved school and learning,” Stevens explains. “I was sort of a conundrum, there was a strong rebelliousness to me when I was a teenager, sneaking out and experimenting really young, but I also deeply cared about having integrity in my education. I was obsessed with math books as a kid, I’d use my pocket money to buy extra math workbooks from the bookstores to do ‘just for fun.’”

Stevens then began an entirely new type of counting. Far from the pages of math books and the aisles of bookstores, she took to the stage, where she began dancing and counting steps. “I started performing in ballet recitals at three and continued until I went to a performing arts high school, where I found my way to acting classes,” Stevens recalls. “I always wanted to be an actor. Like most kids, films and books were how I learned to understand the world greater than my immediate reality.” Indeed, acting was Izzy Stevens’ calling. “I’ve always known I like to act and direct,” Stevens notes. “I used to boss the kids around the playground and make them act out my favorite scenes.”

It was at that very high school that Izzy Stevens’ acting future proved to expand further than the playground. “When I was in high school, my acting teacher and mentor Yure Covich directed me in a truly hilarious rendition of A Flea in Her Ear,” Stevens says. “An agent who’d been in the audience approached me one night and asked to represent me. It was sort of wild, about a month or two after I signed with them I booked a role on Underbelly Razor, and wow that really sobered me out of my experimental teenage rebellion. The first day on set I was like ‘oh shit. This is it.’”

From there, a 19 year old Stevens was off to The Golden State to visit Los Angeles for the first time. “I had been working in TV for almost three years and I’d signed with a U.S. manager who encouraged me to come out for pilot season,” Stevens notes. “It was a whirlwind of a first trip, I got very close to booking some great projects and I knew I would eventually live here. The energy was just different, being surrounded by the entertainment industry, the buzz and hubbub and opportunity, feeling so close to it all, it’s a drug. You can really see how people get sucked up into the intoxicating LA vortex.” Rather than letting herself get caught up in the whirlwind of LA, Stevens instead went back to Australia. The decision to return home was major, something that Stevens herself is the first to admit. “I probably could

have had more of an earlier success if I’d stayed that first time,” she explains. “The way the industry was at that time, and the opportunities that were presented to me, I can look back now and see all that, but I wouldn’t change it. I am so glad I went home, went through film school, had that time to just live and develop and grow, get my heart broken, and find out what I like and what I actually want.”

The decision to attend film school would prove invaluable for Stevens, who was eager to learn about all facets of production. “I was drawn initially to filmmaking and directing because I thought it would make me a better actor,” Stevens says. “When I began working professionally, I found myself waiting back on set, watching things happen. I was curious. I wanted to be the kind of actor that knew the ropes and could collaborate effectively, to know what we were making and why and how it was functioning, so I went to film school. That changed everything though. I realized that beyond acting, I also loved directing and writing and basically all aspects of the filmmaking process that were creative and intuitive.”

While at film school, Stevens wrote, directed, and edited her debut short film Placidyl (Or The Diary Of A Madwoman), a dark, allegorical comedy-style story which later went on to be selected for Cinema Australia’s Sunday Shorts Program in 2017. “At the time I was obsessed with all things David Lynch,” Stevens says of what inspired her to make the movie. “The film is about Jane Triangle, who is the town outcast because her head is shaped like a triangle, and yet the queen bee of the town is identical, sans triangle. I wanted to use Jane’s absurd physical deformity to talk about our polarizing appearance-based culture, make light of how inane it all is, and also comment on societal control and manipulation.” Stevens reflects fondly on her first experience behind the camera. “As flawed as it is, I loved every minute of making it,” she explains. “I learned so much.”

The growth that Stevens experienced at film school helped her evolve even further into the multi-faceted storyteller that she is today, developing a knack for directing, writing, editing, and producing. “I really do love all aspects of filmmaking,” Stevens says. “It’s a language that has come naturally to me. I have always been intuitive when it comes to reading or understanding people, which is what drew me to acting and then directing. What I love about directing is that I am looking at the big picture of the narrative and finding ways to support it so that the audience gets taken for a ride, a journey.” As for editing, “I like to take my time and make sure the thing we’ve created is allowed to be what it is,” Stevens shares. “It’s always going to be different to the original script in some way, so it takes time to relinquish control and let the story show Since Placidyl, Stevens has written many more short films that have performed well and received high accolades, such as Phenomena, which was named a Tropfest Finalist in 2018. “Phenomena is a psychological thriller about a young woman who starts to see another version of herself in the world,” Stevens explains. “At the end of the film, something pretty upsetting happens which tells us why she’s having this experience, and when the final moment played in the outdoor cinema at Tropfest, I heard thousands of people in the audience gasp with discomfort and shock. My whole body was a goosebump. It was thrilling to be so close to the collective experience of an audience when I had spent six months holed up alone editing and unsure if it would even get seen.”

Stevens admits that the darker tone and deep psychological analysis present in Phenomena may come as a surprise to people who know her. “I am such an enthusiastic optimist and I like making people laugh,” Stevens admits. “But I enjoy looking at the darker sides of ourselves. I also enjoy laughing at the absurd pain of being a human.” Indeed, while the tones explored in her films may be ever-changing and unpredictable, Stevens’ goal throughout all of her stories remains the same. “Sometimes an idea nags at me until I write it down, sometimes there is a mood or an energy I am curious about, sometimes I make films to escape an experience I’m having personally,” Stevens explains. “I make films to stir questions, to be evocative and challenge my audience, and hopefully make them feel less alone. All I want is to move my audience, have them question things, take them on a journey. The genre and story will change, but the desire to affect an audience will never go away.”

Looking forward, one of Stevens’ most recent directorial endeavors was in her own short film Sea Foam, which she also starred in and produced. “One evening last December, I’d just finished up on a call with a client who was in preproduction on her film, and I was about to cook dinner, but then I had this urge to open my laptop,” Stevens says of the creative conception of Sea Foam. “I sat down, and 15 minutes later I had written a six page script. I called a buddy of mine and said ‘hey I’ve just written a short, I want to make it in two weeks, hook me up with any producer friends you know,’ because I had just moved to LA and didn’t know anyone yet. By the end of the week, we had a full production plan in place and a team, and it was sort of wild. I suppose I was following my gut, and when I know what I want, I’ll just go ahead and do it.”

Izzy Stevens is just as much of a presence in front of the camera as she is behind it, namely in her portrayal of Bella Bartlett in the hit Australian film franchise Occupation. “I loved playing Bella,” Stevens shares. “We meet her as a teenage girl with the frustrations that come with feeling misunderstood, and through the first film she matures into a tough, strong resistance fighter. In the sequel, Bella has settled fully into her strength as a community leader. She’s fearlessly loyal to her family, and her ability to protect and fight for them has strengthened.”

Indeed, bringing such a strong character to life on screen was empowering for Stevens, who personally learned a lot during production of the Occupation films. Stevens describes Bella as “a total badass, like run-into-the-flamesto-save-people kind of badass,” a trait which Izzy Stevens herself certainly embodies as well. “There were ways that these films really grew me up,” Stevens says. “I had some of my best experiences as an actor on these sets, and I also faced some of the toughest challenges I’ve ever had personally. The good stuff is being on set, with incredible actors, enjoying a collaborative experience, and doing what I love. I’m so grateful to have had these experiences. Through the past few years, I also learned what it means to take care of myself as a young woman in the industry. It’s not easy and I don’t want to sugarcoat it. You’ve got to have some lady-balls and understand how to stand up for yourself when people want to dismiss you or discount you for being exactly that. A young woman.”

Stevens added yet another trade to her repertoire this previous year when she tacked online film coach to her long list of impressive accomplishments. Through her online film school, Creative Luminaries, Stevens inspires and educates future filmmakers to pursue their dreams. “Creative Luminaries is a coaching platform for actors and filmmakers who are sick of waiting for some elusive ‘big break’ and want to see their talent celebrated,” Stevens explains. “I help actors and filmmakers make shorts, pilots, write scripts, features, start production companies, and all the stuff in between by integrating personal creative expression, with a really grounded and intentional action plan.”

The result has been a rewarding and exciting journey for Stevens, who got the idea for Creative Luminaries from a very natural place, at a very natural time. “I began this business after years of being the friend people would come to for creative support or advice,” she says. “I really love to hear others’ ideas, brainstorm with them, and creatively problem solve, so I decided to use those skills in

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a business and it’s been an incredible experience.” Equipped with a keen skillset for such an endeavor, all that was missing for Stevens was the time to actually launch her business. Enter 2020 and quarantine, which brought the entertainment industry to a halt. “The pandemic forced me to slow down, and I’m not entirely mad about that because I needed to,” Stevens shares. “During lockdown I started my business and directed all that energy into coaching and filmmaking. The most rewarding thing has been seeing my clients actually achieve the success they desire. I care a lot about people finding their voice and their platform, it brings me great joy and a sense of purpose in an industry which can breed selfobsession.”

Stevens routinely inspires her students at Creative Luminaries, while she herself cites a variety of people and ideas as her own personal inspirations. “I’m inspired by a more connected, less polarized world,” she says. “Maybe I am naive, but I like to think film can bring us together in a shared experience and that there is significance in that. I’m really inspired by the courage and talent of my friends. I have some amazing ladies in my life that are pushing boundaries and have such interesting brains.” Stevens continues, noting industry professionals who have inspired her in the past and in the present. “When I was younger I was really into Quentin Tarantino and Jane Campion,” Stevens recalls. “Lately, I have really loved works by Ari Aster, Rose Glass, and Carlo Mirabella-Davis. I’m so inspired by Ava DuVernay, and I look at the sprawling careers of Frances McDormand and Jean Smart, or the empire Reese Witherspoon has built, and I feel a lot of gratitude that there are such a brilliant array of creatives showing me what can be done.”

Reflecting on her career thus far, Stevens has a wonderful outlook on her own experiences, as well as useful wisdom for future creatives. “It keeps me guessing,” Stevens says of the industry and her profession. “I think I both love and hate that.” As for future filmmakers, Stevens advises “be curious, ask questions, stay humble.” She continues, instructing “keep working hard even when you feel like no one’s watching or no one cares. At the end of the day, all we’ll have is a lingering memory of what was, so making sure the important stuff stays important: loved ones, sharing great food and wine, and laughing at ourselves.”

In the future, Stevens has big plans and exciting goals. “I have a few things in the mix right now, a few shorts that are finishing up in post-production and will be released later this year in festivals,” she shares. “It’s been a huge few months of filming and editing and acting, so right now I feel like I’m playing catch up.” Beyond that, Stevens may not necessarily have a specific plan in place, but she does have what matters, a vision. “All I know right now is that I’m following my curiosity and I’ve got a strong desire to build things in my life,” Stevens explains. “Things that excite me are the prospect of traveling all over the world with my career, discovering characters, telling interesting stories and raising up the voices of the amazing creatives in my orbit. I look forward to transitioning to directing features, and I’d really love to work with Taika Waititi, and Amy Adams, and about a million more.”

Izzy Stevens embodies the future of what creativity can be, the future of what filmmakers can do, and the future of what stories can become. Simply put, Izzy Stevens is the future of the industry. Her versatility behind camera, expertise on camera, and aptitude to share her wisdom with others proves that she is a powerful creative force. “Great acting and filmmaking can put us in someone else’s shoes more effectively than any other form,” Stevens says. “We can explore consciousness and explore ourselves in a way that we’re all culturally sort of consumed by and obsessed with. We all use film and TV in these ways, to entertain, escape, question. Storytelling can unite us, make us feel less alone, or invite us to consider other ideas. It’s powerful.”