NEED TO KNOW
- Cody Simpson makes his first appearance in an Australian scripted series.
- He tells New Idea the show – which has a focus on gender politics – is timely.
- The series has made him reflect on his own masculinity and how it has changed over the years.
Cody Simpson is a man of many talents.
With an acting, singing and swimming career under his belt at only 28 years old, Cody has made a cameo appearance and landed a role in his first Australian scripted series.
Playing Scott in the new whodunnit Stan series He Had It Coming, Cody exclusively tells New Idea he enjoyed playing the role even though he is nothing like the character.
“I got to play a character that’s in contrast to who I am as a person. And as an actor, it’s always fun to be able to step into such polarizing shoes,” he says.
This is his first screen acting gig post his athletic career and tells us it’s the perfect segue for him to get “back into that space.”
Also starring Lydia West, Natasha Liu Bordizzo and Liv Hewison, the comedic series follows a couple of mismatched friends who become embroiled in on-campus gender politics – and murder.
Cody says the show is timely and has themes that need to be spoken about.
“It’s almost a nice commentary on the state of the world – masculinity and misogyny, feminism, all these important and timely things that are changing so rapidly in our world,” he says, adding that “art is often the perfect way to comment on these kind of issues if not in indirectly or, somewhat satirically or ironically, like this show does.”
“I think it still really hits the nail on the head in a lot of ways, and in a way that I think speaks to young people.
“I think it’s wrapped up in a fantastic dressing that will resonate with the younger generation, because I think they’re naturally socially conscious and want entertainment that also has an element of something real underneath, almost like medicine in the candy kind of kind of analogy,” he continues.
In terms of how the show has impacted him, Cody says the show has made him reflect on his own masculinity “if not consciously, then subconsciously, perhaps.”
He tells us his relationship with masculinity has “changed over the years”.
“There have been times in which I have looked at it differently as I’ve gotten older and I think I have a much healthier relationship with it now in terms of comfortability in who I am and how I treat and accept others.
“I’ve certainly always prided myself on being masculine in the right ways and not in the wrong ways, in how I live my life and how I treat others and how I treat the women and the other men in my life,” he says, adding “We always relate it to men and how they relate to or act towards women. And I think just as equally important is how we act and relate towards other men and creating a healthy space for communication, friendship and unity within the community of males because that can so often be the worst environment.”
You can catch Cody in He Had It Coming on Stan now.
