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Boston Globe
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Dennis Lehane says his goal with ‘Smoke' was to ‘look at chaos chaotically'
(Lehane also says audiences are 'way too smart now' for late episode reveals. He originally showed Dave starting a fire in the pilot, but that was too soon. Then he tried the third episode, but that was too long. 'It was like Goldilocks — the second episode was just right.') Advertisement The 59-year-old Boston native is best known for his literary crime novels like 'Mystic River,' 'Shutter Island,' and 'Gone Baby Gone,' and for depicting his hometown in all its complexities in 'The Given Day' and ' But Lehane, who broke into TV when he was recruited to write for 'The Wire,' has been returning to the screen more frequently of late, writing for 'Mr. Mercedes' and 'The Outsider' before developing ' Advertisement Still, Lehane isn't jumping into any old story, saying he turned down producer Kary Antholis four times for 'Blackbird.' When Antholis pitched a podcast about a serial arsonist that he'd hosted called 'Firebug,' Lehane wasn't that interested, in part because there'd previously been a poorly received HBO movie about the same man called 'Point of Origin.' 'But I loved the pathology of the real guy, John Orr, and the absolute insanity of being an arsonist who's also an arson investigator who's writing a book about an arson investigator chasing an arsonist with facts that only the real arsonist would know,' Lehane says. 'There was something so beautifully American about that.' (Note that Lehane speaks almost as profanely as his characters, so, for realism, you can periodically insert your own enthusiastic expletives.) Lehane kept one more detail from Orr's story: As a firefighter he'd once been trapped in a fire and he ran toward his own reflection, thinking it was another firefighter. 'I said, 'That's our opening, man.' That's the whole story, metaphorically speaking,' he recalls. 'Almost everything else I threw out. I just wanted to tell this story about emotional and psychological chaos, because that's the time we're living in right now.' The story is one of a white man with a grievance lifestyle, who loses himself to his own petty frustrations, something Lehane says he saw in friends growing up in Boston. 'I have friends who were angry about their life after being passed over for becoming a police officer and I'd think, 'Have you looked at your psych eval' and I'd want to say, 'You always ask everybody else to take ownership, so take ownership of who you are.'' Advertisement Lehane fleshed out the story with wholly fictional characters. Dave's unwelcome new partner, Michelle Calderone (Jurnee Smollett), is a dogged police detective with scars and ghosts of her own, who follows her instincts but also her own rules. Greg Kinnear in "Smoke." Apple TV+ Dave's boss Harvey (Greg Kinnear), who can be a charmer or a bully, is pressuring them for results, but he has blind spots of his own. Esposito (John Leguizamo) is Dave's former partner who now makes 'tasteful porn for discerning customers,' Lehane says wryly. And, most significantly, Freddy (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine) is the second arsonist Dave and Michelle are chasing. While Dave's fires are typically set in supermarkets (Orr was dubbed the Frito Bandito arsonist) in a way that allowed people to escape, Freddy's rage propels him to attack individuals who seem happy, aiming to harm. 'There's this weird part of me that creates sympathetic monsters,' Lehane says. 'Freddy commits acts of pure evil and needs to be in jail. But he's a tragic guy, the loneliest man on earth. Dave is running around with his white victimization narration that I can't stand, where he's the victim. But Freddy truly is the victim of our society. He was vomited out into the world and never had a chance.' Freddy is loosely inspired by a Washington D.C., arsonist who said that working in fast food as an adult is akin to slavery, Lehane says. 'I kept that and the fact that he's African-American, so he's a perfect counterpoint to Dave.' Advertisement Amid the show's life-and-death stakes and explorations of racism, misogyny, and injustice is plenty of humor, especially in the banter between Egerton's, Smollett's, and Kinnear's characters. 'We need humor right now,' Lehane says. 'How else are we supposed to deal with the madness we're living in, with politicians being arrested for speaking out. We're watching the death of the Republic, literally. So you laugh because you don't want to cry. That's the best you can do.' Lehane, who emphasizes his collaborative approach to creating, says Kinnear kept encouraging him during the writing to deepen Harvey. 'He'd say, 'I don't feel Harvey yet,'' Lehane recalls. 'When I came up with his character's daughter, that's when we found him.' He views Egerton, who also starred in 'Black Bird,' as a 'creative partner. We push each other. We're a dangerous combination.' He points to a sex scene that might evoke (nervous) laughter if it didn't quickly become so shocking. Lehane says Egerton called one weekend and said the kinky scene 'needs a bit more. I said, 'More? Dave lights somebody's belly on fire. What the…'' Inspired, they went 'so far beyond the pale that we had to dial it back,' but the final result, with Dave dancing self-indulgently above his bound partner, captures something essential about the character. 'When we were trying to pick the song, Taron said, 'Since I was a little boy, my dream was to dance to David Bowie on screen.'' The song choice, 'Heroes,' further enhances Dave's delusions. Lehane says that his team really dove into how 'whacked out this story was.' 'People rarely embrace tonally wild shows, but we just decided to go for broke,' he adds. 'We're looking at chaos chaotically.' Advertisement It all started with that sex scene, when his producing partner's research uncovered the idea of 'streaking' or setting someone (safely) on fire. 'I said, 'No way,' but that's when the show really came into its own,' Lehane says. ''Seinfeld' became 'Seinfeld' with 'The Pony Remark' episode [where Jerry mentions hating anyone who had a pony and his cousin, who proudly had one, gets angry and soon dies]. We feel like 'Smoke' really becomes 'Smoke' with the streaking scene.'
CBS News
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Boston-born hip-hop artist and actor Slaine finds purpose in helping others access mental health care
Sitting in the communal space at Grand Rising Behavioral Health in Norwood, George Carroll shares the story of his journey from addiction to recovery that he describes as one of fear and love. "I think anybody who recovers from addiction at the level I had needs a big dose of both," he explains. "I was afraid I was going to lose my son. I love him more than I love myself. So that gave me the willingness to do the work." It wasn't easy after decades of dependence on alcohol and drugs. But George was motivated. He now celebrates 11 years sober. "I'm a person in long-term recovery now," he said. Music and film career Hip-hop and film audiences know him as Slaine. He began rapping in the 90's and established a music career years before Ben Affleck tapped him to play Bubba Rogowski in "Gone Baby Gone" (2007). A few years later, he was back on screen as Albert "Gloansy" Magloan in "The Town" (2010). George Carroll, known as Slaine, is a Boston born rapper and actor. CBS Boston He released his first solo album in 2011. He says that his music always reflected his experiences. In 2014, newly sober, those experiences-and his lyrics-began to change. George was on the "pink cloud" of recovery and eager to help as many other people as possible. When peers saw that he was sober, they began reaching out to him to ask how he did it. "I started to go and look for options for people to get help," he said. "And over time I realized it's so nuanced and there are so many variables. It's not a one-size-fits-all thing." George also began to confront the personal issues at the heart of his dependence on alcohol and drugs. Substances, he learned, were just the tip of the iceberg. "For anybody who stays sober long-term, over time you'll eventually have to get to what's underneath the surface," he said. Opening recovery centers in Massachusetts For him, there were traumas that he never dealt with, occasional depression, and anxiety. Attending to his own mental health led to a realization that what people needed in recovery was not always easily available. He and a group of investor-friends set out to change that. In 2022, they opened Charles River Recovery in Weston, an in-patient facility that offers what George felt was missing. He describes it as elite, inclusive clinical care. For insurance purposes, the facility is in-network and accepts Medicaid. "One of the things I'm really passionate about is building teams and brands," he says. "I'm not a doctor. I'm not a therapist. I'm not a clinician. But finding the best people for these roles and kind of putting them together and bringing that to what makes me wake up every day." He and the same team of investors have now opened Grand Rising in Norwood, an out-patient center with an emphasis on creative, expressive arts therapy. George often leads group sessions in a room designed for comfort. Artwork, soft colors, natural light and cushy chairs create an atmosphere of calm. There is enough seating to accommodate half and full-day sessions for up to 16 clients. Connection and compassion George points to that time together as especially valuable. "I think we find connection and compassion and empathy when we're together in a setting like this," he said. A client named Robbie agrees. Robbie, who chose not to give his last name, describes a transformation he could not have imagined seven months earlier. Diagnosed with ADHD at 40, he also lived with persistent anxiety. He describes brushing it off with an "old-school mentality" that he did not need therapy. Despite his wife's suggestion that he consider it, he says that he was determined to handle his mental health challenges himself. A few years later, the weight was crushing. "Hundreds of pounds of pressure on your shoulders. It's just uncomfortable-an uncomfortable feeling holding it all in," Robbie said. His sister, who knows George, encouraged him to call Grand Rising. He reluctantly agreed and, hoping that no one would answer, he called the center on a Saturday. The conversation he had that day set in motion, what he now describes, as a life-changing step toward better health. "It was an awesome conversation," he said. Since then, he has learned skills to cope with his anxiety and he openly talks about issues in individual and group therapy sessions. An unexpected benefit are his new friendships--people of different ages and backgrounds whose life experiences now enhance his own. "We all try to help each other out," he explains. "Now I have, you know, a friend from a different country that I never would have met." He says that, for the first time in years, he feels that he can breathe. Someday soon he hopes that mental health care will be as common and routine as an annual checkup. As George leads a tour of the center, pointing out the family room and the clinical spaces, he says that what brings him joy now is seeing people get better. A naturally shy person, he says that connecting with people gives him purpose. His sense of personal satisfaction coincides his professional success. What's next Less than a year after his role in "Joker: Folie a Deux," George is in two films set for release in late 2025, "King Ivory" (about the fentanyl trade) and "The Running Man" (a remake of the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film) with Glen Powell. His next record, "A New state of Grace" comes out in the fall. Right now, he is living his dream and life is good. "All that stuff I told myself-that I need a drug or a drink to be this alternate version? It's a lie. I have creativity in me, and I have a lot of focus doing things I love to do," he said. "Now I'm able to wake up every day and be a good father, a good friend, and hopefully a good member of this community."
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ben Affleck Reveals His Personal Hip-Hop Mount Rushmore
Ben Affleck has given fans insight into his musical taste, as he recently revealed some of his favorite rappers of all-time. The award-winning actor recently sat down with Complex and was asked to weigh in on a classic Hip-Hop debate: who would make the cut on his personal rap Mount Rushmore? While Affleck confessed that narrowing down his list of all-time favorites was no easy feat, he delivered a surprising and eclectic lineup that reflects both his respect for rap history and his pulse on the current climate of the culture. Beginning with Lil Wayne, he included names he felt were significant at various points throughout his own life and the genre's history, rounding out his Mount Rushmore by adding Eazy-E, Slick Rick, and Kendrick Lamar alongside Weezy. Affleck's choices span generations and styles, from the gritty storytelling of Slick Rick and the pioneering West Coast swagger of Eazy-E, to the prolific lyricism of Lil Wayne and the Pulitzer Prize-winning artistry of Kendrick Lamar. Each selection represents a distinct era and regional influence, showcasing Affleck's broad appreciation for the genre's evolution. Though he may be best known for his film roles and directing chops, Affleck has long had a connection to Hip-Hop culture. A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Affleck is good friends with actor Mark Wahlberg, who rose to fame during the early '90s as part of the Boston-based group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. He recently costarred alongside Ice Spice in a Dunkin Donuts Super Bowl ad and previously casted Boston rapper George 'Slaine' Carroll Jr. in his 2007 film Gone Baby Gone. Affleck is also the former husband of music star Jennifer Lopez, who has worked with numerous rappers, including Ja Rule, The Lox, and 50 Cent. See Ben Affleck reveal his Hip-Hop Mount Rushmore below. More from Ice Spice And NFL Boo, Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner Maybe Go Instagram-Official Ice Spice, Sauce Gardner Use Social Media To Gas Up Those Dating Rumors Ben Affleck Reveals What Led To Jennifer Lopez Divorce
The Independent
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Ben Affleck opens up about ‘excruciating experience' playing Batman in Justice League
Ben Affleck has opened up about the 'excruciating experience' of filming 2017's Justice League and why he has no interest in being in another superhero film. In a new cover story, the Gone Baby Gone actor looked back at his time playing Batman in Zack Snyder 's DC Universe and how his personal 'failings' carried over to his role. 'There are a number of reasons why that was a really excruciating experience. And they don't all have to do with the simple dynamic of, say, being in a superhero movie or whatever. I am not interested in going down that particular genre again, not because of that bad experience, but just: I've lost interest in what was of interest about it to me,' he told British GQ. 'But I certainly wouldn't want to replicate an experience like that. A lot of it was misalignment of agendas, understandings, expectations. And also by the way, I wasn't bringing anything particularly wonderful to that equation at the time, either. I had my own failings, significant failings, in that process and at that time.' Affleck was first seen as Bruce Wayne/Batman in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and reprised the role in Justice League and 2023's The Flash. The Oscar winner has called his time filming Justice League 'the nadir for me' in 2022, and chalked it up to a 'confluence of things' including his 'own life, my divorce [from Jennifer Garner ], being away too much, the competing agendas and then Zack's personal tragedy [Snyder's daughter Autumn died by suicide in 2017] and the reshooting'. In 2023, the actor called it the 'worst experience' in film, and said it almost made him quit Hollywood. 'It was either that or jump out the window,' he said, adding: 'And I just thought, 'This isn't the life I want. My kids aren't here. I'm miserable.'' Affleck said the disastrous production left a 'monstrous taste' in his mouth, and made him go: 'I'm out. I never want to do any of this again. I'm not suited.' Justice League was plagued with controversies, especially after Gal Gadot made damning claims about the on-set behaviour of Joss Whedon, who stepped in to direct after Snyder's exit. In the GQ interview, Affleck spoke about his negative feelings around Justice League more extensively, explaining how he allowed his personal life to affect the energy he brought to the set of Justice League, which also starred Henry Cavill as Superman, Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, and Ray Fisher as Cyborg. 'I mean, my failings as an actor, you can watch the various movies and judge,' he continued. 'But more of my failings of, in terms of why I had a bad experience, part of it is that what I was bringing to work every day was a lot of unhappiness. So I wasn't bringing a lot of positive energy to the equation. I didn't cause problems, but I came in and I did my job and I went home. But you've got to do a little bit better than that.' At the time, Affleck was set to direct and star in The Batman, which would have been his first time playing the character in a solo film. However, in early 2017, he stepped back as director and sought treatment for alcoholism, and then officially exited the project two years later. Affleck, who founded production company Artists Equity with filmmaker and longtime collaborator Matt Damon in 2022, said that part of why he started the company was 'actually a way of trying to avoid that situation'. 'I want to put together partnerships and filmmakers and cast and a studio apparatus that's aligned, where precisely that kind of misalignment doesn't happen and you have a much better work experience.' While it may sound like Affleck was miserable the entire time he played Batman, the actor said he enjoyed his time on the other films in the DC Universe, but the direction they took with his rendition of Batman didn't work for a large section of their audience. 'I loved Batman v Superman. And I liked my brief stints on The Flash that I did and when I got to work with Viola Davis on Suicide Squad for a day or two,' Affleck told GQ. 'In terms of creatively, I really think that I like the idea and the ambition that I had for it, which was of the sort of older, broken, damaged Bruce Wayne. And it was something we really went for in the first movie.' 'What happened was it started to skew too old for a big part of the audience,' Affleck continued. 'Like even my own son at the time was too scared to watch the movie. And so when I saw that I was like, 'Oh s***, we have a problem.' Then I think that's when you had a filmmaker that wanted to continue down that road and a studio that wanted to recapture all the younger audience at cross purposes. Then you have two entities, two people really wanting to do something different and that is a really bad recipe.' In the same interview, Affleck also revealed the tactic he and ex-wife Garner employed to help their children avoid tabloids and gossip. 'We used to have a thing, my ex-wife and I, when they would see something on a supermarket stand, we would say, well, 'You know this isn't always true because if it were, you would have 15 brothers or sisters or whatever the number of stories is where they said that your mom was pregnant.'' The 2017 DC comics team-up film was dud of rare proportions, a movie that whiffed so badly Warner Bros eventually commissioned a radical, expensive re-edit. If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@ or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a you are in another country, you can go to to find a helpline near you.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Steven Yeun & Kerry Washington Cast in Ben Affleck's Netflix Thriller Movie Animals
Steven Yeun and Kerry Washington have joined the cast of . Animals is a new Netflix thriller movie directed by Ben Affleck. Affleck will also star in the movie alongside Gillian Anderson. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Yeun and Washington have also now joined the cast. Washington will play Affleck's character's wife, while Yeun will play a campaign manager. 'The crime thriller concerns a mayoral candidate and his wife whose son is kidnapped,' a description of the film reads. 'Surrounded by plenty of enemies, political and otherwise, the husband and wife have no choice but to get their hands dirty in order to save their son.' Animals is looking to begin production in Los Angeles this coming April. The script was written by Connor McIntyre, with revisions by Billy Ray. Affleck produces the movie alongside Matt Damon, Dani Bernfeld, Brad Weston, and Collin Creighton. Michael Joe, Kevin Halloran, and Lucy Damon serve as executive producers, with production company Fifth Season also produces and executive produces. Yeun will soon be seen in Bong Joon-ho's Mickey 17, which opens in the United States in March. He also recently starred in Love Me, which is now playing in theaters, and once again voices Mark Grayson in the new season of Amazon Prime Video's Invincible. Washington, meanwhile, played Charity Adams in Tyler Perry's The Six Triple Eight, which is now streaming on Netflix. She'll soon be seen in the third film in the Knives Out franchise, Wake Up Dead Man, which will be released at some point in 2025. Animals will be the sixth feature film directed by Affleck. He previously made 2007's Gone Baby Gone, 2010's The Town, 2012's Argo, 2016's Live By Night, and 2023's Air. He also starred in all of those movies apart from Gone Baby Gone. A release date for Animals has not yet been announced by Netflix. The post Steven Yeun & Kerry Washington Cast in Ben Affleck's Netflix Thriller Movie Animals appeared first on - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
