NEW YORK, July 5 (UPI) -- Underground, True Blood and Lovecraft Country actress Jurnee Smollett says that sage advice from a screen icon helped her find the look and voice of her character in the new drama, Smoke.
Based on the true-crime podcast Firebug, and created by best-selling novelist Dennis Lehane, new episodes of the limited series air on Apple TV+ Fridays.
The show follows Taron Egerton's Dave Gudsen, a Pacific Northwest arson investigator, aspiring writer and serial fire-starter.
Smollett plays Michell, the brilliant, but troubled police detective assigned to help Dave bring blaze-setters to justice.
"One of my mentors, Alfre Woodard, said to me a long time ago that, when building a character, you just have to find their eyes, [meaning], how do they see the world?" Smollett, 38, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
"So, in order to do that, I really just researched her world. I spoke to a bunch of experts in the field, asked a lot of questions, did my same process of writing a backstory and a biography of her."
She also worked closely with a personal trainer to prepare for the physical aspects of her role.
"I tend to, in my personal life, be a little more lean, but Michell is a former Marine. I researched those Marine workouts and they are intense," Smollett said.
"So, I put on 15 pounds of muscle with my trainer and then you take all this research, you do all this work, all this prep work leading up to set and then, once you get on set, you've got to let it all go and just behave."
Smollett said she also picked the brain of a real-life firefighter friend in an effort to understand the world in which Michell suddenly finds herself immersed.
"I've had an interesting perspective and knowledge of how tough that job is just from watching him," the actress explained.
"It really is about accessing a different part of your brain, because, for me, when I see danger, I am running," she laughed. "So, you definitely have to approach it with a level of reverence and humility when taking on a character like this."
Smollett said Lehane, Egerton and Rafe Spall, who plays Michell's married former lover and colleague, were all great collaborators.
"I just was so blessed to be in a tribe of folks who were generous," she added.
"Taron? That's like my brother, even though we're in this cat-and-mouse game. On camera, off camera, I felt safe and felt like he had my back and I had his and, really, we were about servicing the story and it wasn't about ego or competition," she said.
"It was really about, 'How do we make this the best story?' And Dennis? Oh, my gosh, I've always been such a fan of his. His writing is brilliant and he empowers you to really take it and run with it and make the character your own. So, I loved working with him."
