‘Smoke’: John Leguizamo On Dennis Lehane Writing A Part For Him, Missing Out On ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ & Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ [Bingeworthy Podcast]

On this episode of Bingeworthy, host Mike DeAngelo heads back into the burning world of Apple TV+’s ‘Smoke’, a gripping slow-burn crime drama based on the true story of a serial arsonist and the investigator determined to stop him. The series follows arson investigator Dave Gudsen (Taron Egerton), a small-town arson investigator who appears to be a dependable family man. But as the series progresses, a darker truth is revealed – SPOILER ALERT for Episode 2: Dave is secretly setting fires and unraveling psychologically at a dangerous pace. Investigators team up to take Dave down once and for all. The series also stars Greg Kinnear, Jurnee Smollett, Rafe Spall, John Leguizamo, Anna Chlumsky, and more.

John Leguizamo joins the podcast to discuss his role on the show. Showrunner Dennis Lehane actually wrote the role of Ezra Esposito, Dave’s disgraced former partner, for Leguizamo, which was both flattering and a little eyebrow-raising.

“Dennis Lehane Zoomed me and he said he wrote this character for me,” Leguizamo recalled. “I was like, you know, insulted. ‘What do you mean? I’m a decrepit old drug addict?!’ He said, ‘No, no.’ But he spoke to my abilities and that I could bring this character to life. What an opportunity to play this role at my age – this sort of dark, funny, complex, bitter, passionate man. He’s trying to pick himself up by the boots when he tried to speak truth to power and got his career destroyed. So he hits rock bottom and he’s still fighting for the truth.”

‘Smoke’: Taron Egerton On Playing A Firebug With A Fractured Moral Code, ‘Kingsman 3,’ Marvel Roles & More [Bingeworthy Podcast]

That fight is just getting started. While Apple has not confirmed a renewal for season two, Leguizamo insists there’s definitely a plan in place. “He’s going to keep fighting in the next few seasons. If you binge watch it, then we will have season twos and threes,” Leguizamo teased..

Despite his reputation for improvising on set, Leguizamo says Lehane’s script was unusually tight. “I didn’t have to do much. I usually have to do a lot of heavy lifting in the writing and improvising, but not here. This was an incredible custom-made suit for me.” Even Ezra’s outlandish introduction – directing amateur porn – was baked in from the start. “That’s what I love about this character – the natural place for a fire investigator to go is end up doing porn directing,” he laughed. “Such a crazy twist. Only out of the mind of Dennis Lehane.”

The actor also had high praise for his scene partners, calling Jurnee Smollett “one of the new great actors of our time” and describing Greg Kinnear as “so effortless to work with… so present, so up for anything.”

From there, the conversation spun into a treasure trove of Hollywood stories. On the chaotic set of ‘Super Mario Bros.’ (1993), Leguizamo remembered the chaos of rewrites, illnesses, and dubbing every single line of dialogue.“I’m a fan of the movie now,” Leguizamo said. “It took a little while. I had high expectations for the movie and it underperformed at the time, but I didn’t know it influenced a whole generation. I had no idea, but now I know. Now it’s got mad respect. We were shooting in a cement factory. We all got white lung. Everybody got sick. I had to dub every single line. Three weeks of dubbing. I think I’m the king of dubbing because of that.” He also revealed Disney toned down the small amount of sexuality the directors wanted, even cutting back risque costumes worn by local extras.

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On ‘Executive Decision’, the chaos came in the form of co-star Steven Seagal. “He hit me on the first day of rehearsal because I was goofing on him and he had no sense of humor. And then he didn’t want to die on the day he was supposed to die. He wouldn’t come out of his trailer because it was a virtual death. Maybe he didn’t understand the difference between reality and fiction,” Leguizamo laughed.

Some roles, however, slipped through his fingers. When the subject of “what might have been” roles came up, Leguizamo had a few that he wished went his way. “’Happy Feet’ was one of them, and ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’ I was supposed to be the Stanley Tucci character,” he revealed. “Meryl Streep asked for me, but I drank too much at the meeting. I was saying crazy things like, ‘I hate fashion. I don’t even know why people care about fashion.’ They were about to cast me and I talked them out of it. That’s why I’m sober now!”

Looking ahead, Leguizamo just finished shooting Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’, which he describes as “incredible” and “really accessible.” Working with Nolan reminded him of old-school filmmaking. “Nolan is a pure visionary. He runs the set like an independent film. I know it costs hundreds of millions of dollars, but he stands behind the camera,” Leguizamo said. “And I’ve asked so many directors when I’m working on movies and they’re going, ‘you’re not doing enough.’ I go, ‘it’s because you’re looking at a tiny monitor. You can’t really see my eyes. Stand behind the camera and you’ll see what I’m doing.’ He does that. He stands behind the camera like old school directors and is watching and can see. You can’t really see actors’ faces in a monitor that’s this big. I know they got bigger ones, but it’s still not the same as being behind the camera and seeing what actors are doing. Nolan’s looking right at you.”

You can stream ‘Smoke’ in it’s entirety on Apple TV+ when the finale airs on Friday, August 15th. Listen to the entire conversation below:

The Playlist Presents: John Leguizamo’s TV & Movie Recommendation Playlist

“Adolescence“
“Jason and the Argonauts“
“Annie Hall“
“The Passion of Joan of Arc“

Bingeworthy is part of The Playlist Podcast Network, which includes Deep Focus, The Discourse, and more. We can be heard on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and most places where podcasts are found. You can stream the podcast via the embed within the article.. Be sure to subscribe and drop us a comment or a rating, as we greatly appreciate it. Thank you for listening.

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