Smoke - Flicks (2025)

Fire isn't just an element. Fire is an organism. Fire watches. Fire waits. Smoke is based on a true-life arsonist named John Orr. This is about the investigation to expose him. Taron Edgerton plays the investigator. And what's interesting is that most of this type of show is about serial killers. This is about an arsonist. I worked with an arson investigator in the very early part of the show. We had firefighters on set because, you know, for the fire sequences, they were done practically on a burn stage. So for safety reasons, we had really great people involved who I was able to talk to and learn from. But really, you know, the thing, whilst I agree with you, that side of it is interesting and possibly, you know, less seen on screen than your typical murder mystery. It's really Dave's psychology that was of the greatest interest to me because he's somebody who has a profound cognitive disconnect. He doesn't really understand who he is. He doesn't really understand how he fits into the world. But what you learn over the course of the show is that the truth of who he is kind of defies that idea of himself. Sometimes it's very clear because you're playing parts that were actually from reality, very closely related to the real people. This is loosely based. To what extent do you owe anything to the way the people involved actually work? I am probably loosely based on a few people, which is very handy when you have a great novelist who's writing your character for you because they infuse them with, you know, a lot of personality, a lot of duality, and the end result is really great characters across the board on this show. He's an incredible actor and has a really difficult role, I think, and does it flawlessly. Why was it difficult? It actually wasn't difficult because the writing is so good and all one can do is serve that. And when it's so rich and the vision from the creator is so clear, it's easy just to sit in that slipstream, really. When the writing is good, the actor in front of you is brilliant. Your role is to be open and alive. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Likewise, I'm sorry I took up all the time with one answer, but I'm glad you at least found it interesting. See you, Patrick.