When good men go bad:
Surprise turn for Home And Away actor.
“It’s just about making it as truthful and as realistic as possible so I’m not doing a disservice to the material.” – Jackson Heywood
Actor Jackson Heywood was as surprised as everyone else when Summer Bay straight arrow Brody Morgan suddenly spiralled into drug addiction.
“I was so excited when they told me about it,” the 28-year-old actor says of his character’s fall from grace. “I was like, ‘Great’ because it’s such a switch but also really realistic because it does happen to people like that.”
However, he realises with big storylines comes big responsibility.
“I think you can’t deny the scope and the size of the audience (Home And Away)
reaches and it comes with a huge responsibility. When a role like this comes up, obviously the producers and the writers have an idea about what they want it to show.
“For me, it’s just about making it as truthful and as realistic as possible so I’m not doing a disservice to the material,” Jackson explains.
To that end, he did his research.
“I worked in hospitality a lot and you get to meet all walks of life but a lot of it was research,” he says, adding he didn’t have to go far to find expert guidance. “My brother’s a paramedic so he had some great stories about ice addicts, and everything like that, so I was very lucky to have a lot of great information at my fingertips.” As Brody plunges deeper and deeper into drug dependency, he loses the restaurant he has worked so hard to establish, alienates his family and steals from those around him. He also finds himself offside with drug dealers. “I think the most realistic out of all of them is probably how it affects the family – how your actions, which you think are only affecting yourself, have a ripple effect and it makes it flow throughout the family – and the amount of stress it puts on them is something the user actually never really sees very much,” Jackson says, adding even his own family has been caught up in Brody’s woes. “My dad called me up the
other day and said, ‘Man, it’s really hard to watch your son do that’.”
While Brody’s life might be at its lowest ebb, Jackson couldn’t be happier. The actor was living and working in Los Angeles for several years before scoring the Home And
Away role while back in Australia renewing his US visa.
He had found success Stateside, playing Merrick in Teen Wolf, and attracted media attention during a three-year relationship with Zelda Williams, the daughter of the late Robin Williams, who he met while working on the series.
Jackson is no Home And Away novice. He first appeared on the soap in 2009 where he played the character of Lachie Cladwell – a love interest to Claudia Hammond
(The Royals Alexandra Park). “The first time was just wonderful because it was my first-ever professional job so I cut my teeth well and truly,” he says.
“I had about 10 episodes and it was such a whirlwind of an experience and very overwhelming but now it’s kind of – I guess because I came on with three other cast mates playing my family members – a lot less pressure and a lot less overwhelming.”
When the Morgan family – Brody, Tori (Penny McNamee), Justin (James Stewart) and Mason (Orpheus Pledger) – arrived in Summer Bay they were in the witness-protection scheme following the deaths of their parents at the hands of, ironically, drug dealers.
“We all met on audition day where they put us in different combinations with different actors for all the different siblings,” Jackson says, adding he immediately hit it off with the three actors who play his siblings.
“It was really nice to see the ones I had the most connection with were the ones that were given the job.”
He has no regrets about leaving the United States.
“You’re auditioning for everything under the sun and you are constantly going for different characters, different roles and everything, and I found myself thinking, ‘I want something to really knuckle down on and just do one character for a while and really hone my craft and technique’ and then, luckily, this came along,” Jackson says.
“After spending almost three years in America and then getting a job back home when you are literally a 20-minute drive from the front doorstep of where you grew up is incredible. It’s just surreal.”