Dennis Lehane

By Andreas Wiseman, Nellie Andreeva

December 8th, 2022

EXCLUSIVE: Taron Egerton and the creators behind Apple TV+’s lauded drama Black Bird are re-teaming on crime series Firebug, inspired by events surrounding notorious California arsonist John Leonard Orr.

Black Bird creator Dennis Lehane, star and executive producer Taron Egerton, and executive producers Richard Plepler, Kary Antholis, and Imperative Entertainment’s Bradley Thomas and Dan Friedkin will reteam on the Apple Original series.

Written by Lehane and inspired by true events, Firebug will follow a troubled detective and an enigmatic arson investigator (played by Rocketman star Egerton) as they pursue the trails of two serial arsonists. 

Former firefighter Orr was an arson investigator for the Glendale Fire Department in Southern California. Initially hired to understand and track down cases of arson, he became a convicted serial arsonist himself. He was found to be the cause of a spate of high-profile fires across California in the 1980s and ’90s that led to tens of millions of dollars of damage and four deaths. His nicknames included “The Pillow Pyro,” “Frito Bandito” and “The Coin Tosser.”

Orr’s modus operandi was to set fires in stores while they were open and populated, using an incendiary timing device, usually comprising a lit cigarette with three matches wrapped in ruled yellow writing paper and secured by a rubber band. He also would set small fires, often in the grassy hills, in order to draw firefighters, leaving fires set in more congested areas unattended.

Firebug will be produced by Apple Studios and is developed, written and executive-produced by Lehane. In addition to starring, Egerton will serve as 

executive producer alongside former HBO boss Plepler through Eden Productions as well as Bradley Thomas and Dan Friedkin through Imperative.

The fictional series is inspired by some of the events presented in truth.media’s Firebugpodcast, which was hosted by the Oscar and Emmy winner Antholis (One Survivor Remembers), who executive-produces for Crime Story Media; Marc Smerling serves as executive producer for Truth Podcasting Corp.

Lehane’s novels are the source material for movies including Mystic River, Shutter Island and Gone Baby Gone. His TV credits also include The Wire and Boardwalk Empire. Recent hit Black Bird sees Egerton star as Jimmy Keene, who is sentenced to 10 years in a minimum-security prison but cuts a deal with the FBI to befriend a suspected serial killer. Keene has to elicit a confession from another convict to find the bodies of as many as 18 women.

Firebug is the fourth project hailing from Apple Studios and produced by Imperative Entertainment, joining Black Bird, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio’s upcoming film Killers of the Flower Moon, and the recently announced Apple Original Film development The Wager, an adaptation of David Grann’s new book being developed by Sikelia Productions. Egerton has also recently teamed with Apple on their upcoming feature Tetris: The Movie.

Egerton is repped by Range Media Partners, United Agents and Sloane Offer Weber Dern. The Firebug podcast was produced in association with Sony Music Entertainment.

By Denise Petski

May 26th, 2022

Ray Liotta had recently wrapped shooting Apple’s upcoming series Black Bird, his final completed television series, shortly before his death. In a heartfelt remembrance Thursday, series creator Dennis Lehane fondly remembered Liotta as “the most electric American actor of his generation.” Lehane revealed that it “was the culmination of a lifelong dream” to work with Liotta and that he wrote the role of Big Jim Keene specifically for the Emmy-winning actor, describing his performance as a “master class.” Lehane also shares their funny and poignant interactions on set. You can read his entire tribute below.

The upcoming limited series, set for premiere July 8 on Apple TV+, marked Liotta’s return to series television as a lead opposite Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser. An adaptation of James Keene and Hillel Levin’s true-crime memoir, In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption, the six-episode psychological thriller is developed and produced by Lehane.

Liotta’s Big Jim Keene is a popular former ranking officer in the Kankakee police and fire departments who had influential friends in the highest reaches of state and local government.

The logline: Inspired by actual events, when high school football hero, decorated policeman’s son, and convicted drug dealer Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton) is sentenced to 10 years in a minimum security prison, he is given the choice of a lifetime — enter a maximum-security prison for the criminally insane and befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser), or stay where he is and serve his full sentence with no possibility of parole. Keene quickly realizes his only way out is to elicit a confession and find out where the bodies of several young girls are buried before Hall’s appeal goes through. But is this suspected killer telling the truth? Or is it just another tale from a serial liar? This dramatic and captivating story subverts the crime genre by enlisting the help of the very people put behind bars to solve its mysteries.

Sepideh Moafi and Greg Kinnear also star.

Black Bird is developed and executive produced by Lehane. The first three episodes are directed by Michaël R. Roskam, who also serves as executive producer. Lehane, Egerton and Roskam executive produce alongside Richard Plepler through his Eden Productions; Bradley Thomas, Dan Friedkin and Ryan Friedkin executive produce through Imperative Entertainment; Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert executive produce through Emjag Productions; and Kary Antholis also executive produces, along with the book’s author James Keene. Jim McKay and Joe Chappelle also direct. The limited series is produced for Apple TV+ by Apple Studios.

Lehane’s tribute:

“It was, quite literally, the culmination of a lifelong dream to work with Ray Liotta. From the moment I saw him blow out the screen, his co-stars, and the back of the theater in SOMETHING WILD, I found him the most electric American actor of his generation. At the heart of a Ray Liotta performance was a duality that he couldn’t quite control; I suspect it wasn’t conscious. It felt, instead, like something that was locked in his DNA. When his character was threatening and dangerous, he still couldn’t fully hide the sweet little boy inside. When the character was charming, even loving, you could still feel something volatile roiling underneath.

I wrote the part of Big Jim Keene in BLACK BIRD for Ray. I had no other actor in mind and was floored—humbled, honored, fist-pump elated—when he leapt at playing the part less than 24 hours after we sent him the scripts. And the performance he gave? It was a master class. He wholly embodied a man who realizes that his lifetime of cutting corners and flitting along the edges of corruption have hung an albatross of very bleak options around the neck of his own son. But as deeply flawed and compromised as the character is, Ray found the nobility in a man who would run into a burning building for that same son and never break his stride. It was that duality I counted on to carry the emotional heart of our show from beginning to end.

Ray came to set to work. He expected those he worked with to be prepared, professional, and to take their work as seriously as he did. I loved that about him. One day, we’re shooting a diner scene where Big Jim has a stroke. And the scene is taking a while to light and set up and several other conditions are in play that are less than ideal. And Ray’s getting more and more pissed off.

Eventually, I get a call from my assistant: “Ray needs you NOW.”

I get over there and Ray’s standing in the doorway of the diner, agitated. He steps up close to me—the whole crew is holding its breath by this time, everyone on eggshells—and Ray says, “What does ruefully mean?”

I say, “What?”

He says, “In the script. It says I smile ruefully.”

I give it a thought and say, “It means with `ironic or mild regret.’”

And Ray quotes Webster’s to me. “No, no. The definition of ruefully is `pitiable, mournful, regretful.’ There’s nothing MILD about that, Dennis.”

I say, “You’re right.”

And he says, “So why did you write it?”

150 people have stopped working to hear my answer.

So, I say, “I don’t know, Ray, it was like nine months ago. Forget ruefully. How do you feel in the scene?”

He says, “I feel slightly irritated.”

I say, “Okay then. Play that.”

He says, “Thank you.” Starts to walk off.

Everyone’s still staring at me. So, I call after Ray, “I tell you one thing, Ray—I rue the day I wrote that fucking line.” The whole crew looks like they all swallowed a puppy at the same time.

Ray looks back over his shoulder at me with pure menace. And then…

He laughs. Big loud, Ray Liotta guffaw. And everyone breathes again. And laughs with him. And then we all go back to work.

I’ll cherish that memory for the rest of my life. And I will always rue the day he left us.”

August 30th, 2019
By Nick Vivarelli

U.S. author and screenwriter Dennis Lehane (“Mystic River,” “The Wire”) is attached to write the screenplay for “Colt,” the English-language Western based on a Sergio Leone concept, with Italy’s Stefano Sollima directing and Leone’s children producing.

Known in Hollywood for “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” and TV series “Gomorrah,” Sollima will be in Venice for the world premiere of his anticipated cocaine trafficking series “ZeroZeroZero,” launching from the Lido on Sept. 5.

About the previously announced “Colt” project, Sollima says that while the concept was developed by Italians, “obviously, if you want to shoot the film in English, the next step was to find a great American writer who can make the characters talk and live in a reality that is clearly different from our own.”

The director praised Lehane as “one of the great” contemporary American writers, noting his “depth and ability to drill down on characters.” 

“Having him on board is the best I could hope for,” Sollima said, adding that he’s a “huge fan” of everything Lehane has written, from the novels “Mystic River” and “Shutter Island” to his work on “The Wire,” which Sollima called a “seminal” TV show. Lehane more recently worked on skein “Mr. Mercedes.” 

“Colt” is being produced by Leone’s children, Raffaella and Andrea, through their Leone Film Group, with Italy’s RAI Cinema on board. They are shopping the project to prospective U.S. partners.

Originally conceived as a TV series, “Colt” takes its cue from the gun packed by Clint Eastwood in “A Fistful of Dollars,” which becomes a narrative device as it is passed from owner to owner throughout the Old West.

Sollima has described “Colt” as a coming-of-age story of three kids, aged 12 or 13, “who as orphans come into possession of this weapon, and for a whole host of reasons become criminals.” The film will target young audiences.

The director, whose late father, Sergio, was a Spaghetti Western pioneer who directed Lee Van Cleef-starrer “The Big Gundown,” told Variety in May that, with “Colt,” he wants to “take the [Spaghetti] Western genre back home” to Italy. Sollima and the Leones are seeking A-list U.S. talent to play several adult characters, including a lead protagonist and antagonist, besides the three young teens.

The plan is to go into pre-production next summer and start shooting in Canada in the winter of 2020.

January 9th, 2019
By Colette Bancroft

When Dennis Lehane co-founded the Writers in Paradise conference at Eckerd College in 2004, he made a rule about the conference faculty. “It’s the no-a—h—- rule,” he says.

It seems to have worked. The weeklong Writers in Paradise is about to commence its 15th season, with a returning faculty of notable authors and a growing list of published alumni.

The faculty members will offer free public readings during the conference, and for the first time in several years Lehane will be on hand, as the keynote speaker on Jan. 19.

Lehane admits he doesn’t get back to Florida much these days, even though he split his time between St. Petersburg and his native Boston for many years before moving to the Los Angeles area. “It’s so much harder to get there than when I was in Boston, now that I’m in California,” he said during a recent phone interview.

The author of such bestselling novels as Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River,Live by Night and Since We Fell, Lehane has switched career tracks to screenwriting and producing. He has worked in the writers rooms of such TV series as The Wire, Boardwalk Empire and Bloodline; most recently he has been a writer and executive producer for two seasons of Mr. Mercedes, based on Stephen King’s novel. He has also been involved as writer and/or producer on films based on his own novels, including Live by Night, The Drop and Shutter Island.

A graduate of writing programs at Eckerd and Florida International University, Lehane, 53, will deliver the keynote address to kick off a week of evening readings by conference faculty and guests that include Andre Dubus III, Ann Hood, Pam Houston, Laura Lippman, Stewart O’Nan, conference co-director Les Standiford and co-founder Sterling Watson. (See schedule.)

“I can’t wait to get back to Writers in Paradise and back to town,” Lehane says. “It’s where my two children were born, so it’s a special place.”

How do you like living in California?

It’s an excellent place to be exiled.

When you and Sterling Watson, former director of the creative writing program at Eckerd, co-founded Writers in Paradise 15 years ago, did you expect it to be successful for this long?

I hoped it would. I’m not sure; I never know how to value success from the inside. Success, that’s your word. It seems like it’s done well.

Who are some of the program’s standout students?

Well, one would be Lori Roy. I’m pretty sure she’s won an (Edgar Allan Poe Award).

She’s won two Edgars.

Well, damn! Good for her.

It’s a very strange thing. Most of the outstanding writers I’ve taught have shown up in a classroom if not fully formed, then I’d say 85 percent and up. As a teacher you’re just trying to understand what you can do to help them along. People who taught me have said the same thing. When it comes to the best students, I always felt like as a teacher I didn’t do all that much.

Why include the free public readings as part of Writers in Paradise?

They’re always the draw at these things. They pull in the outside world. That was the plan always, from the very beginning. It’s the best way to engage the community at large. You don’t just want to be this weird little group of people meeting in a cellar, talking to each other.

It’s mutually advantageous, for the students, for the teachers, for the community at large. It’s a win-win-win situation.

Writers in Paradise has an impressive core of faculty members who return each year. How does that happen?

We established a rule very early amongst the faculty. It’s the no-a—h—- rule. If we had to choose between hypertalented and a—h——, and not, we’d take not.

The faculty has to be together for a week, all the time. It just takes one to upset that apple cart and the alchemy is gone. So I instituted that rule, with Sterling’s full support.

Also, it’s not just straight up being disagreeable in social situations. It affects their attitude toward their students, their work ethic. It’s all connected. Life’s too short.

What kind of writers have you aimed to have on the faculty?

Our returning faculty, like Laura (Lippman) and Stewart (O’Nan) and the others, they love what they do. It’s not just the summer camp vibe (of the conference). They love to teach. They love their students.

How much involvement do you have with Writers in Paradise now?

It’s very macro at this point. I work with Les (Standiford) at a pretty big remove. I gave him carte blanche when he came in. He says, what about this person or that person, and I say yea or nay.

I’m mainly involved in faculty or speaker hiring. That was always my primary job. What I brought to the party was my Rolodex.

Do you miss teaching?

No, I don’t, to be honest. I ran a TV show last year. I ran the writers room. I thought, this is kind of like teaching, at a different pitch. But I’m taught out.

Will you continue writing for the next season of Mr. Mercedes?

No, I stepped off. I’m very happy with what I did in the first two seasons. But now I’m the best guy for another job.

So what’s next?

Right now I’m working on two other projects that I can’t really talk about yet with David Kelley (the showrunner for Mr. Mercedes, who is known for such series as Ally McBeal and Big Little Lies). We’re delicately shepherding them along.

I’m working on Storming Las Vegas, a film with Sony that’s based on a nonfiction book by John Huddy. That one is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. I’m working directly with the producer.

When we spoke a few years ago, you were working on a screenplay based on Florida writer John D. MacDonald’s The Deep Blue Good-by. What happened to that one?

It’s dead as a doornail. It’s since been rewritten; (screenwriter-director) Scott Frank had it, last I heard. We were all set to go and the star got injured. Christian Bale — he’s way past that now.

Between all these TV series and movies, when might we see another book from you?

I’ve begun working on a book, but I don’t want to speak about it. I’m very scared.

The dirty secret about writing books is that they get harder, for me, not easier. I’m petrified, I have a petrified editor, I have a petrified publisher. I never work from a place of confidence. I always expect it to fail.

So novel writing is different from screenwriting?

Yes, totally different. With a movie you know you’re one of 150 people involved. You’re like a guy with a paintbrush, painting a room. With a book, you’re the project manager, the contractor, the painter and everybody else. So I’m crawling around it.

Contact Colette Bancroft at cbancroft@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8435. Follow @colettemb.

The schedule

All readings are free and will take place in the Miller Auditorium on the campus of Eckerd College, 4200 54th Ave. S, St. Petersburg. Books will be available for purchase on site, and author signings will take place following readings.

8 p.m. Jan. 19: Keynote by novelist and screenwriter Dennis Lehane(Since We Fell), on-stage Q&A with Les Standiford

December 13th, 2018
By Nano Riley

The co-founder of Writers in Paradise sits down with CL.

Dennis Lehane has established a formidable presence as a writer of mysteries, usually dealing with gritty characters — whether cops or criminals. Growing up in Dorchester, the Irish section of South Boston, Lehane was surrounded by both, and allows him an intimacy with their lives that comes naturally. That’s part of his allure: He writes about what he knows, and advises beginning authors to follow that rule.

Lehane’s popular books have been on the New York Times bestseller list, and several have been adapted for movies. Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island and Mystic River have all been box office hits starring major Hollywood actors. He’s also shared writing awards for his TV work on The Wire and Boardwalk Empire, and won several Edgars, the coveted mystery writer’s award named for Edgar Allan Poe. Lehane’s first novel, A Drink Before the War (1994), introduced the recurring detectives  Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, and earned the 1995 Shamus Award for Best First P.I. Novel.

Despite his Boston background, his ties to the Tampa Bay area are strong. He graduated from Eckerd College, where he discovered his writing ability and was awarded an honorary Ph.D. He has also taught writing classes at Eckerd, as well as Harvard, and serves on Eckerd’s board of trustees and as a director of the Writers in Paradise program (which he co-founded with Les Standiford.) We wanted to find out a bit about his influences, and just what makes him tick. Here’s what he told us.

Is there one book that has influenced you more than any other?
The Wanderers, by Richard Price, which I read the summer I turned 14. It was hilarious, tragic, profane, mournfully poetic and concerned with the kinds of people I saw around me every day in my neighborhood. It made me realize, “You don’t have to write about kings or professors or millionaires chasing their lost loves; you can write about working-class people just trying to get through a day.” Game changer on every level.

What writer/writers do you most admire?
Well, Price, for obvious reasons. But otherwise, the list is truly bottomless. But in terms of the Rushmore of writers for me — Raymond Carver, Flannery O’Connor, Elmore Leonard, Edith Wharton, James Crumley, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, William Kennedy and Graham Greene.

What do you like most about teaching?
Seeing the lightbulb go off in a student’s mind.

You don’t like writing screenplays from your novels because you feel it’s like operating on your child, but do you usually approve of the screenwriter’s work?
I’ve “evolved” on that issue. I’m now comfortable adapting my own books. What do you mean by “approve the screenwriter’s work”? Are you asking if I OK a screenwriter before he or she is hired?

You grew up in Dorchester, so do you base any characters on real people you knew? Composites?
Lots of composites. Almost never directly. I did that once, with one of my more infamous characters, and the woman I based her on showed up at a signing and stood in line. I was checking for suspicious bulges in her pocket, waiting for her to whip out a gun, and then when she reached me, she asked if I remembered her, what I’d been up to, and even where I’d come up with “that bitch” in my book. She was genuinely curious. Had zero idea I’d based the woman on her. So there went the idea of getting revenge through writing.

If you’re just reading for fun, what do you like to read?
Nonfiction. I’m reading a book now about 10 maps that explain the entire world and another about how our current idiocracy and the general conspiracy-theory nature of America didn’t start with Comrade Trump but actually came over on the Mayflower and has been metastasizing ever since. Good stuff.

Growing up in Boston’s Irish community, did you ever encounter — or hear about — the Irish underworld? Folks like Whitey Bulger?
Um, yeah. Just a bit.

Editor’s note: In addition to co-founding Writers in Paradise. Lehane’s Florida accolades are strong: He served as a writer/producer on the ended-much-too-soon Netflix series Bloodline, set and filmed in the Florida Keys; he set World Gone By in Ybor City (and Cuba); he also set Live By Night in Ybor City; and — we love this part the most — he wrote a screenplay based on John D. MacDonald’s The Deep Blue Good-By. If there’s anything that says “paradise” more than MacDonald’s Travis McGee and the Busted Flush, we’ve yet to find it.