Every actor and actress is looking for their big break. For Jade Eshete, it came in the form of the hit BBC show Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.
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As it turns out, full acting is required from the New York native playing tough-girl Farah Black. While Eshete began to break out in the show’s first season, the new batch of episodes promises to fully introduce her abilities to the world as Eshete’s Farah Black goes on a journey to Montana alongside Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood‘s Todd Brotzman.
The entire experience has been a bit surreal for Eshete, who gleefully shared her experiences and a few teases of what to expect in the coming episodes while speaking to ComicBook.com.
ComicBook.com: For you, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, in so many ways, is what any actor would call the big break, so it had to be really exciting for you. Tell me a little bit about your journey to this role as Farah Black and then the opportunities and what you have learned since joining the show.
Jade Eshete: Wow. The journey to Farah Black… I remember when I first auditioned for this role, and when I read it, I was not … I did not think that this necessarily fit who Jade was. She’s this bad-ass bodyguard and she hurts people… Yeah. No. I don’t do that! That is the farthest thing from who Jade is. I mean, I’m born and raised in Brooklyn, I know how to handle myself, but not the level where…
Farah is like an aficionado and, so yeah, I didn’t think that it was going to be the right fit for me. And fortunately, there was some great people around me that reminded me to not be dissuaded by… Sometimes you’ve got to open up your horizons and see yourself sometimes as other people do. And I gave it a shot. I tried, and it worked out! What I would say in terms of the process, what I’ve learned from Farah… It’s so crazy because now I look at Farah and yeah, I’m very much like her. And I think that just is a testament to Max’s writing, at the core of all of these characters. However heightened the circumstances might be, at their core these are regular people who have flaws, who are dealing with the same things that you and I deal with on an everyday basis.
Farah, as neurotic as she can be at times, at her core Farah is just a girl, who made a mistake, who failed at protecting a loved one, and she’s just trying to make up for it, she’s trying to make it better. Look at Bart, yeah she’s a holistic assassin, but at the end of the day Bart is really just a girl who is very lonely and who wants friends. She finds a friend in Ken. It’s about figuring out what a friendship is, all of that, maintaining that, friends. And that’s something that I think everyone can kind of relate to. These characters are real people. That’s what I think attracted me to it in the first place.
CB: And now you’re going to Comic-Con and doing all these amazing things.
JE: Oh yeah! It’s really fun, and this time was really cool because we really got to see the fans for the first time here in New York. That was the best part. They showed up in droves. It was so exciting to see full-on cosplay lining up for questions. It was really heartwarming. I loved that. That was I think the best thing about this Comic-Con for sure.
CB: Amazing. So, Farah and Todd, very very different types of characters I guess you could say. So for you, from reading the script, to acting this out with Elijah Wood… How much fun is the entire process? How well do you guys work together?
JE: It is so much fun. I don’t think it’s possible to communicate the amount of fun that we have behind the scenes. And this season in particular was so cool because we got some new characters in the mix, we’ve got Tyler Labine and Izzie Steele and John Hannah, Amanda Walsh, we’ve got some really great people with us this season and it only made it that much more fun. Backstage … I say backstage, but you know, behind the scenes. The party that we have on set every day.
Tyler is hilarious. He’s absolutely hilarious. The stories that come out of this man are just priceless. So, everyone was really… It was a great cast. And great chemistry this year for sure. Lots of fun.
CB: The women on the show… They really seem to be on the rise, yourself included. So, heading into the new episodes, what kind of bolster roles or story lines can we expect from some of these bad-ass ladies?
JE: Yeah. It’s really exciting. I was just saying this at Comic-Con. This was a Farah season. And it’s true, you learn a lot more about Farah, why she is the way she is, what about her family, and where she comes from. She has an opportunity for growth this season. And I think that was really exciting for me to see. And also as far as the other women too, for Fiona who plays Bart, Bart is kind of on this new thing where she’s like, “Screw the universe!”
It’s awesome because she’s actively working against the universe because she doesn’t want to be controlled by anyone she wants to live her life and that is the way that she wants, she wants to live her life the way that she wants. And that is awesome to me, to see that play out and how her being on the hunt for Ken, it’s definitely a new way of operating for Bart. And I think the breakout bad-ass of this season is definitely Amanda. She was a shut-in for most of Season One, and now she is leader of the Rowdy 3, completely out of the house. She used to live her life in fear and now she’s kicking butt and taking names. She’s doing it. I think that’s really exciting to see the women of this season kind of break out and do things that are not necessarily expected of them, it’s really exciting to see.
CB: Now we know Farah heads to Montana in search of Dirk. What kind of dynamic can we expect from her and Todd on this journey?
JE: I think for one, I think they were both kind of on the same page when it came to Dirk, they were both using him I think and when it came to Dirk and listening to how he allows the universe to guide him. And now, Season Two, I think Todd is more gung-ho about everything is connected, and he’s looking at any and everything to have a meaning or be a clue. Where as Farah, she’s definitely developed more of a respect for Dirk and the way that he solves his cases. That intuition, using his intuition, his universe to guide him. But you’ll see, in the first episode which they debuted at Comic-Con, Farah kind of has to hold the reins for Todd because he’s gone off the deep end a little bit.
It’s kind of frustrating for Farah because Dirk is kidnapped, and Todd is searching for rabbits for five hours.
It was the first time I think I really felt bad for Farah. I remember we were shooting that scene in the field at night and, just before this, she had found out that her father had died. She met her brother who she hadn’t really spoken to in a while and he again is bringing up these insecurities that she’s battled for her entire life, didn’t know her father passed. Her family situation is kind of rough, to say the least. And Farah finds a family with Todd and Dirk. She finds people who are like her who can offer that kind of unconditional support and love and that I think is great for her but at this particular moment while Todd is running around looking for a rabbit it’s kind of rough. Because she wants to be able to talk to someone about all of these things that are crashing down on her and Todd is searching for a rabbit.
So, it’s this weird situation that she finds herself in and she’s got to hold it together because she’s Farah Black.
CB: You touched on this, but in what ways would you say that Max Landis’ style of writing kind of lends itself to the really compelling and fun story you guys are telling here?
JE: Yeah. I did. It goes right back to that… Max has a way of really… of creating this world that Douglas Adams… The world of Dirk that Douglas Adams coined. And he has a way of putting his characters in these extreme circumstances but boiling it down to the essence of who they are as a human being. Farah is just… I mean, the way I look at Farah, it’s just Jade at her most neurotic. Or in the most extreme circumstance that you can imagine. How does one behave in these types of circumstances? And when you boil it down to the essence of what it is, these are just people who are, like I said earlier with Farah, she’s trying to make up for a failing.
Bart’s trying to make up… trying to find a friend. These are all things that I think people can kind of relate to. Max has a beautiful way of showing that. But still keeping people enthralled and interested in the story.
CB: You’re also keeping busy outside of this series. So, what else can you share that you have on the horizon that fans can look forward to?
JE: Yeah. Well, Hannah Marks who plays Amanda is not just a fantastic actress but she is also a filmmaker. She directed and co-wrote… co-directed I think and co-wrote a film called Shotgun and I had the privilege of being in that. It’s gonna be coming out I think sometime later this year, I’m not 100% sure. But that was such a fun experience and really great to see her in that element. So, I’m looking forward to seeing that soon. And I did recently a film festival, with the Urbanworld Film Festival for a film that a friend of mine wrote and directed as well called Bruce! Which is really, really fun. It was film made by friends. We had a great time making it. So yeah, that’s what’s going on for now.
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Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency airs Saturdays at 9 pm ET on BBC. The Season 2 premiere is available now on BBC’s official site.
