- Malcolm Ingram’s “Bear Nation” premiered at the SXSW 2010 film festival, and Malcolm Ingram had a few words to say about it on the scene. Check out the trailer HERE. Plug In Music also has a nice piece on the band “The Order of Good Cheer”, whose track “Be My Cub” serves as a theme for the film.
- FilmSnobbery Live recently interviewed producer Bob Hawk, who is often credited as the reason “Clerks” got seen by the Weinstein’s and thus the world. Check out the full length video via blip.tv. Bob had a ton to say, and chatted for a full hour and 4 minutes – Lots about Clerks and Kevin, and just overall interesting info. In August, they’ll sit down with director Malcolm Ingram — We’ll let you know when you can catch that, as well.
- Finally today, due to Banky’s classic “Archie” comics rant in “Chasing Amy”, we found this panel particularly amusing. See ya next time…
You are at the archive for the Chasing Amy category &rarr
View Askew NewsBites™
- Don’t forget, the View Askew loyal and true take over Brantford, Ontario this weekend. Seven teams are coming in to participate, and you can now view the awesome logos for all of ‘em. Gonna be a good time.
- Looks like someone bought a pretty darn cool poster for Affleck to sign at a recent Matt Damon tribute.
View Askew NewsBites™
- The Montreal Gazette confirms that Kevin will be featured in a program called “A Late Afternoon With Kevin Smith” as part of its Insider Series at the “Just For Laughs” festival. A Late Afternoon with Kevin Smith takes place July 15 at 3 p.m. in the Grand Salon at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. You can get a pass that covers this event and a TON more for just $99. For information and reservations, go to http://www.hahaha.com/fan.
- Watch for Kevin’s small role in Noel Clarke’s “4321″, which ironically takes place on an airplane of all places (this was pre-Southwest and pre-tour bus, of course). You can briefly spot him about halfway through the trailer located at the official site http://4321movie.com/.
- Marilyn Ghigliotti (“Clerks”) will be a featured guest at Wizard World Philly from June 11-13 this year. She’s very kind and generous with her fans, so it’s totally worth stopping by to see her, say hello, and get an autograph. You can currently hear her on Retro Radio.
- Another attempt to bring Kevin to a popular program as a host appears on Facebook with attempts to get him running an episode of WWE Raw on Facebook this week. Meanwhile, the efforts to get him hosting Saturday Night Live next season are now up over 1,100 already and can easily grow with your tweets and posts of support.
- Mania has an article featuring fan-made poster images of “10 Video Games That Should Never be Made Into Movies”. #5 features Seann William Scott in the View Askew production “Paperboy” directed by Kevin.
- Movies.com cites the great Jason Lee in “Chasing Amy” as one of “8 Great Sarcastic Sidekicks”:
Sometimes, the sidekick can be the devil on the hero’s shoulder, as in Kevin Smith’s game-changing 1997 comedy about comic book artist Holden (played by Ben Affleck), who falls in love with lesbian cartoonist Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams). Lee’s Banky objects to the relationship for many reasons, most of them bigoted and shortsighted—Banky doesn’t just have issues with lesbians; he’s such a misogynist that it’s hard to imagine him approving of a relationship with any woman. But Smith makes this character hilarious even if you wind up hating much of what he has to say. (A few years later, in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the writer-director provided a neat—and hilarious—little coda to Banky’s frothing homophobia.) - Second City Hockey recently named Kevin as “Beard of the Day”. Speaking of hockey, our precious Flyers start their quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup on Saturday. Cheer for them.
- Finally today, a moment of silence for “Law and Order”, who concluded their record broadcast run this week. Kevin, a fan of the program, appeared as a special guest a few years back. Case closed.
View Askew NewsBites™
- See Jason Mewes in person for Q&A at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on Monday, February 15th at 7 PM. Open to the public, but it’ll cost by 10 bucks unless you’re a student there.
- And finally today, as a tribute to “Chasing Amy”, how could we not share this funny photo of a Star Wars “fingercuffs” themed t-shirt . George Lucas gonna sue somebody? Catch ya next time.
View Askew NewsBites
- Kevin talked to Jersey Shore’s Metromix for a quick interview, here’s a peek:
“December right now is wide open, and that’s when I’m going to sit down and start writing and I’ve got pages and pages of notes, I already wrote the last 10 pages of the script which is weird, I went to the end and started, but it’s ready … it’s just fucking poised to go,” Smith told us in September.Smith was upfront with the financial uncertainty that would come with bringing “The Hockey Song” to the big screen.
“I don’t know if anybody’s going to want to do the hockey movie, because name one hockey movie that people made money off of in its theatrical release; it’s tough,” he said. “Look, the sport doesn’t have a massive following, how the fuck is a film about the sport also going to have a massive following? So, you go in with tailored expectations, you know you’re kind of dealing to a very specific audience, dealing with a specific audience, so you know, we’ll probably make it on the inexpensive side, I can’t imagine spending more than $25 million on a movie like that.”
However, Smith is convinced of the power of his project. “When all is said and done, when that movie’s done, I guarantee you it’s gonna impact, it’s gonna hit people, even if you don’t like hockey it’s gonna hit you in a very personal place,” he said. “The movie I see in my head, and more than that the movie I feel in my heart, oh God, it’s gonna be good.”
We’re betting Kevin’s going to be surprised to find cast lining up for “Hit Somebody” — Going out on a limb here to predict the biggest and best ensemble yet.
- We mentioned that photo in the late great George Carlin’s autobiography where his work with Kevin is touched on, now here’s the passage:
“I don’t know if there’ll be any more movies. I did two with Kevin Smith, Dogma in ‘99 and Jersey Girl in ‘04, where he wrote me a great part as Ben Affleck’s dad. I like working with Kevin: there’s alot of great counterpunching and the catholic thing is a strong bond. Acting is fun to do, a worthy fraternity and a great tradition to have had a tiny speck of a part of.”Very brief, but you definitely get the impression that Carlin enjoyed his time in front of the camera while working with Kevin. Great book also, well worth checking out if you’d like some new winter reading material.
- Some mini-retro here: A keen-eyed scooper revealed that we missed archiving this fall article from Den of Geek, which chatted up Kevin on topics such as Willis and “Red State”. Not exacting breaking news, but a worthy read as Kev always gives good interview. Some clips:
“…After Zack & Miri I was like ‘oh my god, Zack & Miri didn’t do well’. And then I thought it was a mid-life crisis. But then a mid-life crisis is generally for people who have not achieved their hopes and dreams.I was so young and my life was in front of me and what am I doing wasting my time. I had goal and I achieved it when I was like 23. And all of a sudden people were like okay, in order to keep yourself entertained, create new fucking goals, dude! And I didn’t create big ones for myself. I know me, I create little challenges! I want to step over things, I don’t want to climb mountains!
So I set myself little challenges, and I accomplished them, and felt very accomplished and whatnot. But then you get to that point, man, where it’s just like I’ve been doing it a bunch, it’s now what I do for a living, so I can’t just walk away from it. Particularly because I enjoy it. I enjoy doing it for a living and the lifestyle it affords. I like that my job is to make pretend, and somebody pays me. And I’m like I can’t give that up, that’s awesome.
But the mid-life thing for me, it was like everything I ever wanted came true. So I feel like it wasn’t mid-life, maybe it is what Stephen Fry is talking about, where it’s like wow, it’s been 15-16 years straight of a really successful run. And I’m not ambitious enough. It’s not like I’ve done it all. I’m not Alexander, and I’ve reached the end of the world and there’s nothing left to conquer. But, I mean, for me, I’m just I can’t retread the same territory anymore, because number one, I can’t do it, and number two, it’s just like leave it alone, it speaks for itself.
So I reach a point now where it’s like well, now I’ve got to find a different thing that fuels me as an artist, or something I want to express without expressing it the way I’ve expressed it through my characters for all these years.
Thing was with Clerks, that was a way in, that was a way to start a conversation with the world at large. It wasn’t so much a film as an ice breaker. It was like ‘hi, I’m Kevin Smith and I would like to talk to you for the next 30 years, 40 years. However long you want to speak to me’ or something like that.
Now with the SModcast, with the Q&As, with Twitter, any number of other things, I could exercise and I can reach out and touch and get instant gratification. I can throw out something funny, ‘hey, that’s funny’, ‘thank you very much’. Everything really kind of on a much quicker basis. Compact. You don’t have to spend a year and a half of your life building it and constructing it.
Because that’s what the movies are. You get an idea and then it takes a year and a half to hear a response when all’s said and done. With SModcast, we put it up that night, we hear from people that’s funny, thumbs up, and there it is. So I can do those things or talk about weird things that I would use to fuse into the flicks in any of those formats, and I’m like ‘alright, let me figure out what I want to do with film for the next few years’.
I know it ain’t going to be what I do for the rest of my life, because apparently View Askew wasn’t what I was going to do for the rest of my life. So I figure if that’s one chapter, maybe this is chapter two, or maybe it’s the end of the book. Who knows what’s in the cards?
But I feel like I’m closing View Askew for the time being, and now I’m opening a new book and I’ll see for a while if I can be this filmmaker where I don’t write everything that I direct, or create everything that I direct.
Like in the case of the hockey movie [that Smith is currently working on], Hit Somebody. It’s based on a Warren Zevon song that Mitch Albom wrote the lyrics for. So in that instance, that’s almost in my world that Story By credit goes to somebody else, and I would get Screenplay credit. That’s where the passion is. The story or that character is something I identity with, and I can infuse it with my own experience. It’s not strictly my story. But essentially it is. “
- Attention US readers (or those of you who know a way around it)…The Hulu free streaming video service is now offering the entire Season 1 catalog of “Reaper” including Kevin Smith’s memorable pilot episode (shot by DP Dave Klein!). “Reaper” was one of those great shows cancelled before its time, and season one’s 18 episode are all gems in their own way. Enjoy. But do it soon — There’s rumors out there that Hulu may turn into a pay service at some point down the road.
Our Bluray Box Review Is Finally Here!
- We’re pleased to finally bring you our own look at the wonderful new “Kevin Smith Collection” on Bluray. Some shipping snafus held our review copy up quite a bit, coupled with the holidays and some issues grabbing screenshots, and there ya have it. A late review. Still, we’re got a lot of insight on this collection, and plan to cover all the stuff the fans care most about here — The NEW stuff. As for screenshots, unfortunately our PS3 used to review the flick doesn’t have the ability to grab stills (surprisingly). So, not the ideal review that we wanted to put together for you, but we still wanted to give you a nice idea of what was in the set — Especially if you’ve yet to experience it and have it on your Christmas shopping list. So, let’s take some looks at what’s included with this 3-movie collection…
Bluray Box Set – IN STORES TODAY!
- Bluray is here to stay, evidenced by View Askew’s full embrace of the format, with today’s 3-disc set, taking 3 View Askew classics and putting them in one neat package. You’ll get “Clerks”, “Chasing Amy”, and “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”, packed to the gills with never-before offered extras, including the festival-only “What a Lovely Tea Party” documentary (hidden on the “Clerks” disc despite its J&SBSB pedigree), and the crown jewel, a brand new “Chasing Amy” doc from Zak and Joey of Chop Shop Entertainment. We always feel these documentaries are worth the purchase price alone. This one could be the best yet.
Our own review’s running a little late this time, due to a shipping mix-up with Buena Vista and our screener, but we’ll be sure to have our own look at this set ASAP. Taking all the new content at once, this may very well be the most new, never-before-available content in a View Askew disc release. In the meantime, surf over to DVD Talk, a fantastic site who have done an amazing job at summing up the collection in just a couple of pages. Here’s what they said about a few of the biggest extras:To that, one new feature of note has been added. In one of the most uproariously candid introductions in DVD history, Smith calls the Clerks Blu-ray a “vulgar cash grab,” but notes that they’ve “gotta keep wringing pennies out of this little black and white movie.” So, for what he calls the “15th Anniversary Give Us Your Money DVD,” he says he begged Miramax to let him add something new of value, in order to “take the sting out of having to buy Clerks for the 19th time.” (Although, he notes, “do you know how many times I’ve bought T2?”) What he added was “Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party: The Making of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” (3:18 intro, 1:27:17 feature), an intimate, fly-on-the-wall documentary directed by Smith’s wife, Jennifer Schwalbach, and his friend and fellow filmmaker Malcolm Ingram. It captures Kevin and the gang joking around on-set, supplemented by on-the-fly interviews with cast and crew (Affleck and Rock’s interviews are the highlights). It’s a tad overlong, and certainly feels homemade (Affleck’s interview is noticeably out of focus), but is a nice added treat for fans, even if it is, indeed, on the wrong disc.
Chasing Amy was originally released on laserdisc and DVD by Criterion, and unfortunately, that disc’s first-rate, uproarious commentary track is property of that label (as are the intros to the deleted scenes and a few other scattered extras) and therefore doesn’t make the leap. However, Buena Vista has done the right by the movie and worked up some excellent new bonus material. First of all, Smith and Mosier provide a new, “SModcast”-style Audio Commentary; they dub it a “technical commentary track,” and while it has some interesting technical information, it is also, in the style of their podcast, a pretty free-form ramble (my favorite detour was their way off-topic discussion of the pedophilia episode of Diff’rent Strokes). It’s a funny track, though not quite the scream that the Affleck-infused Criterion commentary was.
The treat of the disc, however, is “Tracing Amy: The Chasing Amy Doc” (1:21:15). Produced and directed by Zak Knutson and Joey Figueroa (who directed the similarly spiffy making-of docs for Clerks II and Zack and Miri, in addition to Smith’s most recent Evening With DVD), it is a well-constructed and compelling look at the making of the film, from their mindset coming out of the failure of Mallrats to the creation of the script (influenced by Mosier’s crush on Go Fish star Guin Turner, and Smith’s real-life relationship with Joey Lauren Adams) to the casting and budget woes, as well as Smith’s intensive rehearsals and Mosier’s stressful attempts to keep the film under budget. Most of the key players are interviewed–Smith, Mosier, Adams, Affleck, Lee (on the My Name is Earl set, in full Earl garb), Jason Mewes, cinematographer David Klein, associate producer Bob Hawk, Miramax acquisitions manager Mark Tusk, film critic (and Smith booster) Amy Taubin, and more–and wonderful vintage behind-the-scenes footage supplement the genuinely warm memories of the experience (check out Affleck’s sincere and heartfelt closing interview).
We’ll be spinning up the discs this week — In the meantime, if you’ve got a Bluray player or are planning on nabbing one for the holidays, the Stash is now taking orders for SIGNED SETS, the only place you can find them that way. It’s the perfect gift item for you or the View Askew fan in your life. Kevin also suggested grabbing a Dogma Bluray for just $7.99 to help complete the set via Twitter today. For current or future Bluray owners, this purchase is a no-brainer.
An Early Week TwitterThon…
- Kevin’s running hot with the Twitter to kick off the week (close to 50 tweets yesterday, and well over that number today already), so let’s take another look at some of the more interesting tweets from the last 48 hours. In instances where major news drops, we’re still going to split those tweets into their own headlines. Lots of love continuing for the New Jersey Devils — It’s great to see that he’s continued to keep hockey on the brain, which should put him in the perfect state of mind as he continues writing “Hit Somebody” this winter. Let’s take a look at some of the more newsworthy tweets:
- Via @courtenaymmkay “whatcha doing today?” Signing mountains of merchandise for http://www.jayandsilentbob.com – Christmas rush is coming…
- Via @movieinsiders “Check out this Amazon deal: Dogma(Bluray) $7.99 http://bit.ly/28a7fM ” That’s a pretty sweet deal and a packed disc.
- Via @dvdmike “Dave: getting in the ASC” HUGE congrats to Baby Dave Klein (my eyes), invited 2 join the American Society of Cinematographers.
- Via @timmcknightUK “does Jason Mewes have twitter?” Yes, but be warned: it’s a lot of “Mmm..coffee” and “Love the Puggle” Tweets. @JayMewes
Hit up the official twitter page for detailed tweet sessions on some recent couples times with the wife, and his thoughts on attending the recent “Twilight: New Moon” premiere with his daughter. WireImage has the photos.
SModcast #98 Is Here!
- Kevin and Scott grace us with another fresh, free episode of the funniest, greatest podcast in all the land. — Here’s this week’s logline:
SModcast 98: JMJ -
In which the voiceless finally speak.
Die-hard fans may have noticed that SModcast #97 has been skipped. That’s because SModcast #97 has become available exclusively on the new “Chasing Amy” Bluray as the film’s commentary.
This podcast will not appear online, as it is screen-specific and goes directly with the film. Yes, this is 100% a SModcast, as the new commentary kicks off with the classic “Welcome to SModcast” line.
You can pick up the “Chasing Amy” Bluray on its own or as part of the much-recommended set from The Stash right now, for shipment next week (release date is November 17th). Watch for our exclusive first-look at contents from the new set soon.
Blu-Ray 3 Pack Nov 17 – Press Release HERE!
- On November 17th, Buena Vista Home Entertainment releases THE KEVIN SMITH COLLECTION on Blu-ray, including Clerks, Chasing Amy, and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back! Both Clerks and Chasing Amy debut all-new Blu-ray bonus material including a making-of featurette, the Chasing Amy reunion Q&A, and tons more. We’re now close enough to have an official press release to share…While nothing new here that we haven’t mentioned in the past, it’s cool to see it all spelled out here — This release is easily the largest ever for a DVD or Bluray as far as content goes. Check it out:
Three Classic Kevin Smith Comedies Now Available In One Must-Own Blu-ray Box Set!
THE KEVIN SMITH COLLECTION: CLERKS, CHASING AMY and JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK
Includes All New Blu-ray Editions of Clerks and Chasing Amy Plus Hours of Outrageous New Bonus Features!
If You Like Your Comedy Hip, Smart and “Blu,” Pick Up This Hilarious Box Set November 17, 2009, for an SRP of $89.99 Individual Blu-ray Editions Sold separately for an SRP of $39.99
CLERKS on Blu-ray!
Featuring All New Blu-ray Bonus Features!
• “Oh, What A Lovely Tea Party: The Making Of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back”
• Introduction By Kevin Smith
• Plus Original DVD Bonus Features: Classic Commentary; Enhanced Playback Track; Intro To
The First Cut 2004 Commentary; 2004 Commentary (with New Authoring); Clerks Lost Scene – Animated Short; The Flying Car; MTV Spots With Jay & Silent Bob; Theatrical Trailer; Soul Asylum’s “Can’t Even Tell” Music Video; Clerks Restoration; Original Auditions; Snowball Effect; Outtakes From Snowball Effect; Mae Day: The Crumbling Of A Documentary With Intro By Kevin Smith And Scott Mosier; 10th Anniversary Q & A and more!CHASING AMY on Blu-ray!
Featuring All New Blu-ray Bonus Features!:
• “Tracing Amy: The Chasing Amy Doc”
• “Was It Something I Said?” – A Conversation With Kevin & Joey
• 10 Years later Q & A
• Audio Commentary with Writer/Director/Actor Kevin Smith and Producer Scott Mosier
• Plus Original DVD Bonus Features: Deleted Scenes; Outtakes; Trailer and more!JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK on Blu-ray!
• Bonus Features Include: Audio Commentary with Director Kevin Smith; Producer Scott Mosier & Jason Mewes; Deleted Scenes with Intros by Kevin Smith and Guests; “The Secret Stash” with Intro; Gag Reel with Intro; Internet Trailers with Intro; TV Spots; Stills Galleries; Behind the Scene featurette; Morris Day and the Time’s video “Learnin the Moves”; Music video Afroman “I Get High”; Music video Stroke 9 “Kick Some Ass”; Comedy Central’s Reel Comedy: Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back; Cast and Crew Filmographies; Guide to Morris Day and The Time (Still Frames), Storyboards and more!
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, a recognized leader in the home entertainment industry, is the marketing, sales and distribution company for Walt Disney, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax and Buena Vista product, which includes DVD, Blu-ray Disc™ and electronic distribution. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is a division of The Walt Disney Studios.
This isn’t quite on The Stash BluRay page just yet, but should be very soon. As always we’re expecting Kevin will sign the discs — And we’ll possibly even see some chances for you to get your set signed in person, as well. Stay tuned. This is a must-own collection if you’ve got a Blu-ray player.