Actor Aaron Pedersen’s favourite Mystery Road moments ahead of season two
From being on the big screen in Mystery Road and its sequel Goldstone, Logie-nominated actor Aaron Pedersen says it is never a chore returning to his famous character Detective Jay Swan.
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Aaron Pedersen says it is never a chore returning to his most famous character, Detective Jay Swan.
The Logie-nominated actor has been playing the tenacious, pugnacious indigenous cop for seven years now.
First on the big screen in Mystery Road and its sequel Goldstone, and then in the 2018 award-winning, six-part ABC drama; with Swan’s well-worn boots, battered shirt and cowboy hat now fitting just right.
“It’s not a really hard transition,” Pedersen told News Corp Australia while taking a break on the sun-drenched Broome set of the second series.
“His demeanour, the way he walks, the way he talks, his attitude to the world, to small country towns and his relationships to other human beings, I like it.
“There is so much there and I love it. I always say Jay’s a good mate of mine – he keeps me out of Centrelink.”
As effortless as Pedersen might find the transformation from his affable, effervescent self into the grim-faced, damaged and driven Swan, to observers such as producer Greer Simpkin, it is a wonder to watch.
“On day one he just walked out, put the boots on and the shirt,” Ms Simpkin said.
“He just does it so well. Aaron himself, he is such a great leader on set. He’s incredibly generous and kind and very upbeat – and then he suddenly turns into Jay. He’s great.”
Even though the two Jay Swan feature films had been warmly received, everyone involved with the first series of Mystery Road was blown away by the outpouring of critical and audience love.
Not only was it a ratings hit in Australia and overseas, it also scored the AACTA Award for Most Outstanding Drama and last year’s audience-voted Most Popular Drama Program Logie. It was the latter win that surprised and gratified Pedersen the most, given it recognised everyone involved in the production “from the runners right to the top producers” and also showed mainstream audiences were more than willing to embrace indigenous stories.
“What I love about the Logie win was we are no longer marginalised,” he says of the growing interest in indigenous storytelling.
“It’s empowering. Audiences are just hungry for different things. I think the thing which really stands evident in the whole journey is somewhere along the way the audience have stopped turning the channel over.
“I think it’s the necessary meal which needs to be served up to the Australian public because it’s substantial and it’s important. People love sitting down and having a good feed of it, so that’s a good thing.”
Given the success of the first season, the stakes are high for the new episodes set a year later, but Pedersen says the team is more than up for the challenge.
After filming in Kununurra in the Kimberley, the action has shifted to Broome – as the fictional coastal town of Gideon – for season two.
Swan finds himself embroiled in a murder mystery involving a headless corpse, drug runners, pearlers and a foreign archaeologist (played by Swedish actor Sofia Helin, of The Bridge fame) digging up Aboriginal artefacts.
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Taking over directing duties from Rachel Perkins is a double dream team of Wayne Blair (The Sapphires, Top End Wedding) and Warwick Thornton (Sweet Country, Samson and Delilah). Pedersen says the pair have injected a rush of testosterone that gives the story an even more heightened sense of menace and suspense.
“They are my brother boys,” he says of his long-time friends and colleagues. “What’s beautiful about it is that it’s more dangerous because there are so many alpha male (characters). There are so many people who won’t take a backwards step.
“I have always loved Warwick’s work – we grew up together in Alice Springs and we knew each other when we were street kids. So, we’re just a couple of street kids from Alice Springs making a great TV show.”
Watching the action come together on set, the high regard in which Pedersen is held on set is obvious, and it’s clear he feels at home with his peers in that environment.
But despite his many successes over three decades in TV – from Water Rats and City Homicide to The Circuit and Jack Irish – he’s only ever considered acting as a hobby.
His main job is as a carer to his younger brother Vinnie, who has cerebral palsy and is also his greatest inspiration.
It’s that nurturing instinct that he tries to take with him into his working life, treating everyone equally and recognising the contribution of all.
“I think it essentially comes down to caring,” he says.
“Caring is in my blood and has been ever since I was a kid. It’s the first thing I ever did when I was a teenager, taking care of Vinnie in my own way; having him in my life and making sure he is going to be there the whole time.
“So, I think that’s essentially an extension of all that – it’s the same, I just care about everybody. I care about whether they are happy.
“I care about whether they do a good job and they feel like they were valuable to the job. But also, that they were a main contributor and a massive part of what we are working on.”