‘Fire Country’: Diane Farr on Sharon & Vince Being ‘Uncomfortable’ Without Parenting Bode, Directing, & More
Sharon Leone is in charge of Edgewater’s fire department, and Diane Farr took control behind the camera for the November 1 episode of Fire Country. It’s her directorial debut, and she couldn’t be more excited.
“Everything” excited her about directing, Farr shares with TV Insider. “It was written by Tia Napolitano, our showrunner, along with Barbara Friend, who is, I want to say, our strongest gal, been there from the beginning, the most giving person. They put heart into everything. So I knew it was going to be amazing and it’s so scary to do something new always, right? But maybe a little more scary over 50. I’m supposed to be the old dog who knows how to do everything. So the idea of trying something new really, really had me on edge.”
Below, Farr talks about Sharon and Vince (Billy Burke) trying not to parent Bode (Max Thieriot) this season, being the boss again, and more.
Sharon and Vince are trying something new by not over-parenting Bode this season, and they both came up with new projects: Smokey’s and the Airstream. How are those going to go for them, especially as they’re trying to step back from Bode?
Diane Farr: I think all of TV is two steps forward, one step back, right? That’s how our drama goes. They are uncomfortable. I think Sharon and Vince are uncomfortable with everything because they don’t know who they are anymore. It’s lovely to see a couple not get along all the time. We’ve talked about this before. I really love it when they fight and they break down and they come back together. So the outside projects affect everybody else even more than Sharon and Vince, but it’s bumpy.
It feels like now they can actually really concentrate on themselves and them as a couple, but maybe for the first time ever really for them, right?
Yeah. I feel like they lived in grief before Bode came back and then when they got here it was sort of panic, must save the child, and on paper, they should lean into each other, but they have both picked up another project instead. [Laughs] So I think it’s going to be a minute till they figure out what you just did, that this is the time for the couple.
I think they’re one of the best couples on TV right now because they seem so real because of what we’ve talked about.
Yeah, I do, too. I’m really glad to have them in the ether. You know that I love that they’re both the same age. I also love that they both have jobs. I love that Sharon is his boss again. [Laughs] And they have the same status, which we rarely see in a couple. Somebody’s always got more of a father figure or a mother figure going on. I just love that they’re equals.
Speaking of Sharon being the boss again, I love that she goes after what she wants when it comes to her career and she doesn’t back down. She’s like, I want this. I’m going to get this. And she does.
Yes. Yes, she does! My mother’s rolling over in her grave because she might say the same thing about Diane, but I don’t know. There’s also time for niceness and sweetness. She’s a good mom and surrogate mom, too, to all the kids in the firehouse.
And that plays into why she wants to be boss—she knows that she can watch out for them like they need to be watched out for.
Yes, which we’re going to actually see in the coming episodes. When that maternal thing gets displaced off of Bode, it does end up landing in some other spots.
But speaking of Bode, the scene early on in this episode felt almost like they were sending him off to the first day of school when he was going for the drills.
Yes, that was absolutely what I was doing down to, I think I had asked the props department, I was like, “Can Vince make lunch and hand him a sandwich bag? Can we really lean into, here we go off to kindergarten?” And they did, and it was fun and we were all leaning into it, and Max is such a sweet human being. He smiled at dad, mom, and grandpa [Jeff Fahey] and turned around and walked away, and as a director, I said, “When you turn around you could really be like, ‘Ugh, this is a lot. I’m 31 years old’?” and he did, and I think that’s the cut that stuck.
But it really feels like she is taking a step back, unlike say Vince and Walter because they go to the drills. With Vince’s father back, what can you prove about the tensions that are going to arise? They always do with him.
Right? Walter is all tension all the time. He has a very big part this season and everyone loves having him there. He’s such a grand patriarch for us. He’s the nicest human being. He travels the whole world doing service work and then he gets on set and he plays the loudest, most in-your-face, tone-deaf character. He’s not going anywhere. He interacts with every single member of the cast this season and he’s just a light to have there.
