Smoke’s Taron Egerton, Jurnee Smollett and Dennis Lehane on the new Apple TV+ series
Creator Dennis Lehane and stars Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett talk about the characters and inspiration behind the arson-themed series
American author and screenwriter Dennis Lehane has a healthy respect for the power of fire. He learned that from surviving a house fire in Boston, Massachusetts, in his thirties.
Lehane was living on the top floor of a block of flats when a propane tank on the roof exploded and started a blaze. The landlord was replacing the building’s smoke detectors at the time, so they were not working.
Lehane is lucky to be alive and he credits, in part, the flames.
“If you’re trapped in fire – if you wake up and the building you’re in is on fire – it’s up to the fire at that point. It’s really up to the whims of the fire, whatever’s going to happen to you. And I find that lack of control fascinating.”
Lehane, whose literary canon includes the novels-turned-film-hits Gone, Baby, Gone and Mystic River, has turned to fire for his latest project – Apple TV+’s new nine-episode crime drama Smoke.
It is based on the true story of a former arson investigator who was convicted in 1998 of serial arson. He was captured in part after he wrote a novel about a firefighter who was a serial arsonist. The case – chronicled in the 2021 podcast Firebug – sparked something in Lehane.