CONNOR JESSUP
stars in
Netflix series
Locke & Key
Interview by Tessa Swantek
Photography: Jake Jones
Stylist: Rachel Gilman
Connor Jessup, Canadian actor, gravitates towards ghostly themes of loss and desire in both his own directorial projects and acting work. Along with Ashley Shields-Muir, Jessup founded Big & Quiet Pictures to create films. Many of his short films seem to be the key to his personal inspirations, feelings of loneliness, visions of dreams and nightmares, and out of body reflections. While Jessup tells us that he personally tries to talk his way out of feeling, his emotions seem to peak their way through his work. Jessup’s role as Tyler Locke in Netflix’s Locke & Key is a role filled with emotional depth against a children’s fantasy backdrop of ghosts and magic. Locke & Key premiered its second Netflix season on October 22, 2021 and the series’ third season has already been filmed. It is based on the comic-book series of the same title by Joe Jill and Gabriel Rodriguez and follows the Locke’s experience in their family home, Keyhouse, which holds a number of magical keys that are also being sought after by demonic beings. While Jessup seems to hold a lot of depth and passion, he also comes across as lighthearted and funny as he humorously tells us about his experience as a guest judge on Canada’s Drag Race and partying with the cast of Locke & Key. He also details his role as Tyler, tells us his favorite part of the Keyhouse, and reflects on his directing projects and childhood!
Shirt: Fried Rice NYC, Pants: Teddy Vonranson, Ear Cuffs: Reggie, Necklace: Kate Cusack, Choker: Amanda Pearl
First, I just wanted to start by asking about your experience guest judging on Canada’s Drag Race, that’s so exciting!
God, it was so scary! That was so cosmically far outside my comfort zone, I was basically breathing methane instead of air. But it was so, so fun. The second it was over, and my heart quieted down, and I could breathe, I was dying to do it again.
Coat & Sneakers: Salvatore Ferragamo, Shirt: Teddy Vonranson, Pants: Fried Rice NYC, Necklace: Kate Cusack
Shirt: Fried Rice NYC,Ear Cuffs: Reggie, Choker: Amanda Pearl
Starting with your directorial work, I noticed that a lot of imagery is a bit ghostly and dream-like. Many of the short films are also centered around one person’s point of view whether it’s in loneliness, reflectiveness, or something else. Do you feel you gravitate toward particular imagery or themes?
Yeah, I’ve always been into ghosts and spirits and strange lights and all that. But it’s only recently that I’ve recognized how those images connect to deeper obsessions. No matter what I set out to do, it always becomes about loss and desire, eventually. That sounds depressing, but I guess I mean it in a more ordinary way. There’s a sort of low foggy heartache that’s always there, right? Even when we’re happy, because we know we can’t hold onto anything. Sometimes it feels like that’s the only worthwhile theme.
Jeans: A.Avaati, Blazer: Teddy Vonranson, Biker Jacket: Dirty Pineapple, Necklace: Kate Cusack
Vest + Pants: Issey Miyake, Trench: KYLE’LYK, Necklace: Hour Objects, Ear Cuffs: Reggie
One of your more recent directorial works, “Night Flight” was shot entirely on an iPhone. I find this to be absolutely insane because it came out so beautifully! Do you think it’s becoming more possible for people with limited resources to break into the industry?
It definitely is. One of the most liberating and horrifying realizations is that movies can actually be anything. There are still lots of institutional roadblocks around distribution and casting and all that, of course, but yes, if you want to express yourself visually, you have a lot of options.
You’ve said in a previous interview that you most intuitively understand characters who are in pain internally and don’t really know how to articulate how they feel. Out of all of the roles you’ve been in, what character did you most easily understand?
Yeah, I think it’s because personally I always try to talk my way out of feeling. Like, if I pile enough words on top of whatever the feeling is, maybe it’ll suffocate. So, I appreciate characters who don’t do that, or can’t do that, who just feel. I played a character in American Crime who was very much that. He was all fucked up with feeling and he was bad at talking. I liked that.
Vest + Pants: Issey Miyake, Trench: KYLE’LYK, Sneakers: Salvatore Ferragamo, Necklace: Hour Objects, Ear Cuffs: Reggie
Moving into Locke & Key, it’s clear that you are very close with your co-stars. Any fun memory that pops into your head from filming season 2 or 3 that you can share?
When we finished season two, there was no wrap party. It was a bit anticlimactic. So, Emilia [Jones], Griffin [Gluck] and I met up and got proper drunk and danced and howled our lungs out and spilled secrets. There was so much warmth and love in the air.
Is there a particular detail of Keyhouse that is your favorite?
There’s a stained-glass window on the main stairs––a boat on a stormy ocean. Our art department added a tiny little sailor falling off the ship, as a joke. I love that. It always makes me laugh.
Jeans: A.Avaati, Blazer: Teddy Vonranson, Biker Jacket: Dirty Pineapple, Necklace: Kate Cusack, Sneakers: Salvatore Ferragamo
T-shirt & Vest: KYLE’LYK, Overalls: Fried Rice NYC, Belt: Artemas Quibble, Necklace: Kate Cusack, Sneakers: Gola, Sunglasses: Natasha Morgan
In Season 1, apart from the magic, Tyler is navigating his way through grief and in Season 2 he’s navigating his way through growing up and what implications that will have on him and his family. Some of this exploration is done through dialogue, but many times it’s clear that Tyler is struggling a lot internally. How would you describe his inner monologue throughout Season 2?
He remembers how it felt to be alone and powerless, and he doesn’t want to go back. Mostly, he’s afraid.
Season 2 of Locke & Key focuses a lot on forging keys. If you could create any key, what would it be?
A discipline key. My focus has been awful recently.
Shirt: Fried Rice NYC, Ear Cuffs: Reggie, Necklace: Kate Cusack, Choker: Amanda Pearl
The season also centers around the fact that memories of magic are lost as soon as characters turn 18. In your own life, what is a memory from your childhood that you would consider “magical” and would be most sad to lose?
Honestly, I don’t think of childhood as very magical- not that I had a bad childhood, not at all. But in my memory, it seems like a place of great seriousness, like Maurice Sendak said, seriousness and bewilderment. I remember some nightmares better than some whole years. They seemed so big, so vivid. I would be sad to lose those.
In Season 1 you’ve expressed that you were touched by Tyler’s release of the guilt he’d been internally holding onto when he realized his father’s death wasn’t his fault, do you think there was a catharsis for Tyler in Season 2?
Season two is sort of the inverse of season one for Tyler. At the end of season one there was some emotional resolution, yeah. It was a build up to that. In season two, he starts at that high place, and then falls down. By the end he’s all twisted by grief and confusion again. So no, no catharsis yet.
Coat: Dsquared, Shirt: Christian Wijnants, Pants: Fried Rice NYC, Ear Cuffs: Reggie
T-shirt & Vest: KYLE’LYK, Overalls: Fried Rice NYC, Belt: Artemas Quibble, Necklace: Kate Cusack, Sunglasses: Natasha Morgan
You’re a huge fan of books and films, what are some of your recent favorites?
I recently loved Bryan Washington’s Memorial and Mieko Kawakami’s Breasts and Eggs. Oh, and I’ve been obsessed with Alice Oseman’s queer comic Heartstopper, which is just a big warm hug. I watched Leos Carax’s first two films this week, Boy Meets Girl and Mauvais Sang, and was really shaken by both.
What can we look forward to next from you?
I want to make my first feature in the next few years. That’s my focus now. So hopefully that!
“The qualities that make for excellence in children’s literature can be summed up in a single word: imagination. And imagination as it relates to the child is, to my mind, synonymous with fantasy. Contrary to most of the propaganda in books for the young, childhood is only partly a time of innocence. It is, in my opinion, a time of seriousness, bewilderment, and a good deal of suffering. It’s also possibly the best of all times. Imagination for the child is the miraculous, freewheeling device he uses to course his way through the problems of every day….It’s through fantasy that children achieve catharsis.”
― Maurice Sendak
Vest + Pants: Issey Miyake, Trench: KYLE’LYK, Necklace: Hour Objects, Ear Cuffs: Reggie
Photography
Jake Jones
Interview
Tessa Swantek
Casting
Deborah Ferguson
Stylist
Rachel Gilman @Altered Agency
Grooming
Andrew Colvin @Saintlukesartists
Web Layout
Tori Smith
Thank you
Initiative PR & Netflix
