François Dagenais: The Cinematography of Smoke
François Dagenais reflected upon the cinematography of Smoke, visually exploring the emotionality of the multifaceted characters and portraying the beauty and danger of fire on set.
The new Apple TV+ crime drama series, Smoke explored the narcissistic mind of a serial arsonist in a captivating way–a relentless manhunt full of deception, mystery, with twists and turns for its multifaceted characters. Through stunning cinematography, the show transported the audience in a playful dance of light and shadow, fire and smoke. Bringing Dennis Lehane’s vision to life is DP François Dagenais, who reflected on his enlightening experience working on Smoke: “It was the best experience that I’ve had as a cinematographer by far. It helped me understand emotion and how to take it to another level.”
Lehane’ general vision for Smoke can be linked to his favorite film, The French Connection. François Dagenais explained that the showrunner wanted “something realistic but at the same time extremely visceral and captivating.” Sam McCurdy, the DP for the pilot, already established some visual rules that defined the mood of the show and brought the crème de la crème in terms of crew, with Dagenais then building upon his foundation and diving into the character’s journeys shoot after shoot. He said, “The clarity of the emotion and the clarity of what’s portrayed was already a strong base to evolve from. A lot of it comes from reacting to the location … you see stuff that will inspire your lighting.”
One of the most challenging parts of the film industry is the beginning of a brand new production, where the need of an instant connection with cast and crew is a daunting task. Dagenais’ playful, trusting professional chemistry with director Joe Chappelle built over the course of filming, the DP recalling their early collaboration on episodes 2-4 helped shape their best work in the final episodes. “There was much more of an intuitive understanding of each other. We kind of got under a good wavelength and we didn’t have to talk so much afterwards,” he explained.
The show is centered around three main character arcs: Dave Gudsen (Taron Egerton) and Detective Michelle Calderon (Jurnee Smollett)’s tainted paths and Freddie Fasano’s tragic journey of rejection, jealousy, and hate. Dagenais confessed that among these three, Freddie was the clearest to define–Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine’s performance literally and figuratively shone when his character had a moment of pure love at the beauty salon: “Maybe this was the first time someone ever took this kind of care of him physically. I remember even telling the final colorist, ‘This has to feel different than before. This is beauty lighting.’ From then on, I made sure that his face was much more visible because he was a new person, and when things didn’t go as well, then I started to go back to the shadows.”
“It was the kind of show where you could do that, the interplay between light and shadows and the movement with the actors.”
In episode four, Gudsen and Calderon begin to open up to each other over an expensive bottle of booze. For this scene, François Dagenais utilized a practical desk lamp as the main source of lighting to allow the actors to play. “Sometimes they would go into darkness, then come back to the light and make the scene more dynamic. It was the kind of show where you could do that, the interplay between light and shadows and the movement with the actors,” he explained. Another key character moment between Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett later in the episode was outside of a bodega where Gudsen’s perverted nature subtly surfaces, which Dagenais masterfully captured: “Taron was a bit menacing, and it’s a bit of an odd scene in the writing, but by using a long lens, it totally expressed that feeling of tension.”
As the story unveils the truth behind the uncatchable serial arsonist, so does Dave Gudsen’s true self–especially when he finally faces off against Freddie in the interrogation room. This moment perfectly encapsulated the duality of Gudsen’s persona through the eyes of the caught arsonist. This interplay between two twisted minds was not just a powerful scene on camera, but also an unforgettable moment on set: “One of the greatest experiences I had in my career was when I watched that scene between Ntare and Taron. They did this for 6 hours. We did a lot of angles, and it was very quiet on set. At the end of it, they stood, approached each other, and shook hands, a bit like a tennis match … it was just incredible to see that. They had accomplished something, and the entire crew could feel it,” Dagenais shared.
In a show where fire becomes its own character, capturing its beauty, danger, and emotional weight all at once is imperative. François Dagenais explained that without a believable fire, the story in Smoke would not have worked. A combination of practical, Volume, and VFX created the right illusion of the powerful element. “We decided to show its characteristics with slow motion and real interaction (or even reflection) from actual fire in conjunction with the actors to show not just its beauty but also its danger,” he revealed.
In the series finale, Gudsen and Calderon have their final confrontation as they drive full speed towards the biggest fire yet. The scene, made possible by ILM’s Volume technology, Dagenais described as surreal, “because what’s going on outside the window is not represented by their argument inside the car. Everybody worked hard to make sure that was well portrayed.” For their final destination, the fire-entranced fight was filmed on a stage to make it feel truly grounded in reality. “It was a mix of practical forest with depth added in post by the VFX team. They built special trees that could burn but still be safe and had one of the biggest vents ever built so the air and all the smoke could dissipate quickly … it’s the only reason we could do it on a stage,” he shared. The ultimate result truly paid off, creating the climactic moment of the series.
