Wildfires have been consuming the news more and more each year, more recently with the fires in Hawaii. It is only going to get worse with the lack of attention paid to climate change and how the news frames wildfires as a whole but with movies like On Fire, hopefully that conversation will change. Co-directed by Peter Facinelli and Nick Lyon, the movie focuses on a family trying to get out of a wildfire alive. Facinelli also stars as a man separated from his family after going into town for supplies and he is forced to try his hardest to get back to them.
Talking to Facinelli (because the film has an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA), it is clear that the film was a project he wanted to tell that came from his own history with natural disasters and trying to get the conversation going in a way that is also frightful and yet entertaining for film going audiences in the way that old disaster movies from the 90s used to be. When I asked what inspired him about a movie like On Fire in particular, Facinelli gave an answer that showed how much the movie meant to him.
“The script came to me and I just really connected with it,” he said. “I love popcorn movies, but I also love movies that have some substance and some messaging in there and also can help share stories. So for me, it really hit home with all the fires that were in the news as of late. But even back then, there were so many fires in the news. So I thought this is a prevalent story that just keeps happening and this movie kind of drops you in to experience what the victims are going through so you better understand, have compassion so that maybe we can come together, take a pause and figure out a way to solve the bigger issue. I don’t know what that solve is, but as a human race, we’ve come together to solve bigger ones.”
You can see our full conversation here:
On Fire is in theaters now.
(featured image: CINEVERSE)
