I'm reminded of the story of William Davis getting hooked on cigarettes because he insisted on smoking real cigarettes instead of props in the first episodes of X Files
Yeah and it’s noticeable that in movies that take place in modern times have less and less smoking all the time, which accurately reflects the real world drop in smoking.
Most smoking in movies you see today are either
A) Historical, when smoking was practically ubiquitous
B) Part of the character they’re playing. If you’re playing someone who is generally super unhealthy, or makes bad decisions, or is otherwise in a bad mental place, smoking can help present those negative characteristics to the viewer
SAG-AFTRA has strict guidelines about the use of cigarettes on set. Auditions must state whether smoking is required, and every employment contract includes a section that indicates whether an actor will be working in any kind of environment with smoke, including the artificial kind. Union contracts guarantee actors additional daily compensation for working with smoke. Producers must also provide every performer working around prop cigarettes with a Material Safety Data Sheet. Because of these regulations, many productions use prop cigarettes and prop smoke to create the illusion of real smoking.
There’s certainly a history of big tobacco getting actors to smoke on screen, so that’s certainly part of it. But another reason an actor might want to smoke is it gives them a way to utilize body language in a way that’s plausible within the scene. Cigarettes, cigars, pipes, pens, eye glasses… these sorts of props are often almost invisible (as the audience just sort of takes them for granted), but can be used by an actor with intent to convey some unsaid context.
Giving somebody something to do with their hands also helps them play the part better.
Having something to fidgit with helps an actor think and get into the character more. It also helps keep things from feeling uncomfortably stiff and unnatural because many people naturally play with things with their hands when they have conversations.
legacy of big tobacco. smoking transcends time as well - like, you arent going to see a character from pre-10 years ago “movie time” vaping, but smoking various plants has been a thing for quite a few centuries now.
Here’s my theory that is based on no research whatsoever:
Cigarette companies used to pay to have characters smoke in movies and TV shows. This would cultivate a social acceptance and “cool factor” around smoking. During the 80s and 90s, this practice came under fire and smoking in movies and TV dramatically dropped to the point of almost being non-existent.
Then time passed, vaping became popular, and people stopped caring about the impact of normalizing or even glorifying smoking. So the practice of paying studios to have characters smoke started to return. Nobody said anything, so it is becoming common place again.
It doesn’t matter if it is unhealthy, it is profitable.
People indulge constantly in things that are unhealthy for us. It’s basically our favorite shit.
Within reason and as long as they’re not hurting anybody, try not to judge too much. Everyone has different lived experiences and find their own ways to cope.
As for movies… if you’re shooting a historical film of any kind, it would be silly to pretend people weren’t smoking then. There are also characters in every genre that are just written as smokers. We’re human and imperfect, and stories include imperfect people.
As for the actors themselves… they use some kind of herb cigarette that doesn’t include nicotine. Actors can usually hold the smoke in their mouths and not inhale, which makes them much less harmful.
And even if none of that were true and they’re just lighting up real cigarettes, money. Actors get paid, and unless the actor is smoking in every scene for months on end, it’s unlikely to amount to any long term damage.
I mean, many of them are getting paid enough not to care and some of them would be smokers. Also, for the majority that don’t personally smoke I’m sure smoking infrequently for the occasional role wouldn’t have anywhere as near a detrimental impact to health compared to even smoking only a few times a week.
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