On a mission
JOEL JACKSON IS INSPIRED BY SEAN CONNERY’S 007 FOR HIS NEW ROLE
Looking very James Bond-esque in his suit, Joel Jackson jokes he could very well be in the running to become the latest iteration of the suave spy. There’s just one problem … they’ve neglected to get in touch with him.
While he may not replace the rumoured frontrunner Idris Elba any time soon, he’s drawn on inaugural 007 Sean Connery for his second time around as Detective James Steed in Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries.
Or stolen from him. Jackson famously once saying he has no qualms in “stealing” in order to bring a character to life.
“Yes – Pablo Picasso said ‘Good artists copy. but great artists steal’,” Jackson says.
“This a ’60s drama so the sensibility of the man is very different to the sensibilities of a man now. So you steal from guys like Cary Grant and Steve McQueen. But I think James is a bit more Sean Connery this time. He’s matured – I’ve really enjoyed playing him becoming a man.
“As soon as I put that suit on, I feel like James Stewart or Cary Grant.
“I just hope the audience keep wanting an intelligent, layered man – not that I’m saying I’m all of those things,” Jackson adds with a laugh. “My girlfriend would probably say ‘he’s thick as s---’.
“But that’s what made 007 appealing again – Daniel Craig made him fallible. It would probably be annoying if James Steed was all ‘go away’ (to Geraldine Hakewill’s Peregrine Fisher).
“It’s much more satisfying for them to be all ‘I want you to be part of my life and I love you because you are so much more exciting than anyone I know, but you can’t be here. But do you want to kiss me?’.”
And that is very much the storyline – along with some murders to solve – in this second season of Ms Fisher. A spin-off of the wildly popular Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, the swinging 1960s’ crime series follows the fearless and spirited Peregrine, the niece of world-class adventuress and private detective Phryne Fisher, as she inherits a windfall from her famous aunt and sets out to become an exceptional sleuth in her own right.
As murders continue to plague the streets of 1964 Melbourne, the daring detective Peregrine Fisher tackles her trickiest assignment yet: juggling her career, the busy life of an Adventuress and her romance with Steed.
Jackson reckons he’d frustrate people if he was a detective off screen.
“I’d totally do everything by the book,” he explains. “I’d be that over-keen boy scout.”
He’s always alert and on the lookout for danger in real life too.
“Look it takes a lot to calm Joel Jackson down. I even sleep with one eye open, which is a bit disturbing. I had no idea. I love details so perhaps I keep my eye out for them when I’m asleep.”
So how do you calm Joel Jackson down then? Guitar and music it turns out. The talented singer writes music incessantly and has a new single – Currents – out soon. He worked with Eskimo Joe’s Joel Quartermain and will release a three-song EP later this year.
“People go ‘isn’t that stressful?’,” Jackson shares. “And I’m like ‘no, that’s my joy’. It’s a joy to go back home and play guitar or listen to a beautiful album. I calm down with that.”
He loves music so much that he keeps advocating it be played on the Ms Fisher set between takes.
“Russell Crowe did on the set of The Water Diviner,” Jackson says. “In between takes, he’d blast music and it’s great for energy.”
Jackson’s own star has been hitting the high notes for some years now, appearing in Foxtel’s Deadline: Gallipoli miniseries, then Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door, Safe Harbour and alongside Daniel Radcliffe in Jungle.
Thanks to Covid delays, he had to choose between Ms Fisher and a “beautiful, big project”. Ms Fisher was his choice obviously. Not just for his great mates in the cast and crew – “we know far too much about each other’s dogs and stuff” – but also for the escapism.
“Like I said, I’m a sucker for details,” Jackson says. “Anything to do with Geri’s gorgeous costumes, or the cars. I know all these makes and models.
“Just knowing when you walk on set and they call action, we have this lovely budget to play with and the world just revolves around this moment.
“It’s beautiful – just like with Peter Allen and Deadline Gallipoli, where you just fall in love with the space and you shut your eyes and turn that way and you can’t see any film crew. You’re just in that moment and space.
“That is the pinch-me stuff.”
“I just hope the audience keep wanting an intelligent, layered man