“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.
“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.
“…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. “
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.
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: 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.
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.
Kevin Smith is getting so good at his public speaking ventures, it’s become a second career for him at this point. Hell, he could retire as a director and just tour around the country with his modified stand-up act, entertaining people across the country. You should know that Smith is a talented writer so he’s combined that skill with his gift of gab for the book “Shootin’ the Shit With Kevin Smith” which is out in stores as we speak.
In freewheeling conversations with his friend and producer Scott Mosier (as heard on their top-rated podcast, known as SModcast), we discover — to pick just four random examples of the riches therein — the genesis of Stalin’s Monkey Soldier army, the horrifying tale of Kevin vs. Steak Tartare, how to make bukkake eggs, and how Kevin was once willing to let Alanis Morissette get mugged…
We’ve got an exclusive excerpt from the book below, a conversation titled “Little Outhouse on the Prairie.” I’d like to think we’ve covered a wide range of topics here on JoBlo.com in the 11-something years since we’ve been up-and-running, but I think this is the first time we’ve had a discussion on using a corn cob to wipe your ass on the site.
You can read said passage at JoBlo, or in your very own copy of “Shootin’ The Sh*t with Kevin Smith”, which should be on your nightstand or bookshelf right now, dang it. Get yourself
a signed copy from the Stash.
Smith completed the first six issues and will begin writing another batch of six. “We’re breaking it up into a volume 1, volume 2 kind of thing,” Smith continued. “So the first six issues happen, then there’s a break, and then the next six issues happen, but I don’t know. DC’ll probably ultimately wind up going, ‘Why don’t we just make it two separate miniseries? 1-6 is one thing, and call the next one something else.’ So we may do that. I don’t know, but I know we’re going to stop at six for the time being and take a little break. Then whether or not the next issue is 7 or a new number 1 for a volume 2 miniseries remains to be seen.”
Keeping the audience entertained between sets was Jason Mewes — famous for playing Jay, a pot dealer in the Jay and Silent Bob flicks.
“It’s a lot of fun. It’s been great,” said Mewes, between signing autographs for a huge lineup of fans. “(There are) a lot of cool bands (and) a lot of cool people here.”
Between acts, Mewes dutifully told the crowd to “drink water, be safe, recycle and Jesus loves you.”
Kevin and Scott Mosier will be recording a live podcast at The Prince Charles Cinema!
07/10/09 at 18:00 Kevin Smith & Scott Mosier
Tickets (which are going to sell out fast) will be available at
www.viewaskew.com/events/uksmod
We are not aware when these will go live
Please keep in mind this has not yet been officially announced by View Askew — But hopefully we’ll be able to confirm soon.
Speedy Coming to SMALLVILLE
The Green Arrow has become a staple player in the ranks of characters featured in ‘Smallville’. He’s been unsuccessful in one endeavor on the show though: recruiting Clark as his full-time partner in crime-fighting. Well. KryptonSite suggests there may be a remedy for that, as season 9 of the show will introduce Arrow’s original sidekick Speedy.
Well, not the original, exactly. Mia Dearden is set to appear in an upcoming episode. She was introduced in Kevin Smith’s revival of Green Arrow back in 2001 and went on to take up the role of sidekick archer.
Check out KryptonSite’s description of episode 7 for more on the ‘Smallville’ version of Dearden.
CHASING AMY: Homosexuality proved to be passing fancy and sign of sexual deviance.
CLERKS: Aimless loser remains in dead-end job, abusive “friendship.”
GOOD WILL HUNTING: Underemployed genius squanders prestigious job opportunity to chase trim.
