Next gen take the lead on Mystery Road: Origin

It was only fitting for Mystery Road: Origin that in addition to the lead role of Jay Swan, originally played by Aaron Pedersen, being handed to Mark Coles Smith that the creative was also given over to the new breed of First Nations storytellers.

Enter 29 year old director Dylan River, son of Warwick Thornton, who had already shown his talent with acclaimed SBS digital series Robbie Hood. In addition to being cinematographer on Thornton’s solo series The Beach, River was also 2nd Unit Camera on Mystery Road and Sweet Country.

He recognises that Bunya Productions took a leap of faith in asking him to direct all of Mystery Road: Origin.

“The fact that they wanted me to do all the eps was the real winner for me,” he tells TV Tonight.

“TV hasn’t been my ambition”

“Because TV hasn’t been my ambition. I haven’t done a block (of episodes) which is the traditional way to do it. I don’t really even know how it works. So when they asked me to do the whole lot, I could kind of own it.

L-R: Mark Coles Smith, Hayley McElhinney & Director Dylan River

“Obviously, there’s lots of amazingly talented directors out there. But I think for a show of this scale, it is really about not being a liability. It’s being able to finish it on time, on budget. The second thing is ‘Can you do it well?’ I think I’ve proved to them in the past that I can shoot and keep on schedule. (Producer) Greer Simpkin, especially, likes what I do.”

“Who do you really want to work with?”

Handing over duties for cinematography, a role River usually helms, was another question, but he knew the equally young Tyson Perkins, nephew to Mystery Road director Rachel Perkins, was right for the job.

“I did ask some of the great industry professionals, people whose work I respect to do it, but it’s been a very busy couple of years, and no one who I wanted to work with, was available. So I was asked by Greer, ‘Who do you really want to work with?’ and I said, ‘I want Tyson to do it… he did Robbie Hood. We’re both coming up together, he’s one of the only cinematographers who I feel pushes my own work.’

“I knew that we could do it so it’s great to be able to do it with him.

“It was quite a blessing to to get ABC’s approval for him, knowing that we’re two ‘risky’ young people in these key positions.”

Set in 1999, the series stars Mark Coles Smith as a freshly minted police detective at his first posting in a mining town, Jardine, pop. 1000. But he is confronted by a series of robberies by a masked gang, and a historic unsolved crime.

“A lot of the mystery is the mystery of Jay”

“There is a bit of the whodunnit and crime in it. But really, a lot of the mystery is the mystery of Jay and the mystery of family. There’s a lot to do with skeletons in the closet and how relationships unfold, how people intertwine and the drama of that. That was really important for me. A lot of my personal touches on the series have to do with those relationships and the history of Jay,” River explains.

“Mark’s really made Jay his own.”

“Mark’s really made Jay his own. He’s just done little things that are the traits that Aaron’s version of Jay has.

“Aaron sort of gave us his blessing, especially giving Mark his blessing, but then he let us do our thing.”

L-R: Script Supervisor Benedict Paxton-Crick DOP Tyson Perkins & Director Dylan River

The series also features Toby Leonard Moore, Daniel Henshall, Lisa Flanagan, Clarence Ryan, Steve Bisley, Caroline Brazier, Hayley McElhinney, Serene Yunupingu, Kelton Pell, Leonie Whyman, Salme Geransar, Nina Young, Jayden Popik, Grace Chow, with Tuuli Narkle as Jay’s great love, Mary.

“There’s big, grand, amazing buildings in this tiny little town”

Fiming took place in Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie doubling as the fictional mining town, Jardine.

“It has this sort of grandeur from the gold rush. It’s like walking down past Town Hall in Sydney, or something like that. There’s big, grand, amazing buildings in this tiny little town. And it’s kind of all decaying. So I saw that as very exciting, as potential to talk about Australia’s past and the colonial history. Set in 1999 we could essentially pull all the modern cars off the street and put our ones in.

“A lot of towns in Australia have sort of been done up, with new gutters and streetlights and things like that. It’s just those little details that really help us to do it cheaply and efficiently on a TV budget.”

River, who is influenced by auteurs such as the Coen Brothers, is winning praise for the finished product of a prized franchise. He doesn’t take for granted the opportunity to helm a six part primetime drama at such a young age and where it may lead.

“It’s a big thing for me. I haven’t worked with an ensemble cast this big before, or with actors who are as experienced as this. But I learned a lot from them.”

Mystery Road: Origin continues 8:30pm Sundays on ABC and iview.