Kevin Smith on the media’s coverage of ‘Fatgate’: ‘They’re really pathetic’

“We all took pay cuts to keep it R-rated, which with me meant I gave up 80% of my salary, but it was worth it,” he says, explaining that, thanks to some tax rebates, the movie cost roughly $37 million to make. He certainly wasn’t worried about his actors having good chemistry, always a key ingredient with a buddy picture. “Tracy just oozes chemistry,” he says with a hearty laugh. “He could have chemistry with a ceramic ashtray. Bruce loved him. He kept calling him kid, even though Tracy’s over 40, so there’s not really that big an age difference. But I think calling him kid meant Bruce liked him.”

Smith insists that he didn’t have any problems communicating with Willis, at least once he realized that Willis wasn’t going to do anything that he felt was out of his comfort zone. Smith illustrates the issue with an unbelievably raunchy metaphor involving a detailed description of oral sex, then teasingly said, “Try and get that into your old-media story.” I asked him if he could offer a PG-13 version of the story.

“Put it this way,” he said. “On the first day of shooting, I started to mess with Bruce, trying to get him to do something crazy, and he took out his gun and went bang — and shot me in the head. His point was pretty obvious. He’s done this part so many times that he knows what works and what doesn’t. He’s the caretaker of the Bruce Willis persona. He’s been a star for 25 years while most of his peers have fallen by the wayside, so he knows what works for his image. Basically, we all tried to make him laugh, figuring if we got Bruce just to smile once we’ve have something to tell our kids about.”

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Kevin Smith: I almost wanted to “curl up in an asylum” when Southwest controversy was brewing

Q: So does that mean we can expect you to do another movie with them?

KS: It was easy this time. I don’t know what it would be like if I went in with something I wrote, or let’s say something I didn’t write but wanted to write. They were talking about “Hit Somebody,” the hockey movie I wanted to make based on the Warren Zevon song. And I said, “I know you like me right now. But I sweat blood for this. If you say you’re committing to it then you’re saying you’re greenlighting this movie.” So we said we’ll talk.

Q: What’s “Hit Somebody” actually about?

KS: It’s not a movie about the NHL. It’s a movie about the game, and it’s a movie about Canada. I look at it and keep describing as what I’m going for as the “Forrest Gump” of hockey movies. Not flat-out funny stuff I’ve always done. It’s a more serious comedy.

Q: If you get that one going, does that preclude you from coming on to direct another studio comedy that already has a script written?

KS: There are about five scripts that Warner Bros. has handed me that they’re interested in. One of them is with Tracy [Morgan]. The romantic in me wants to paint it as a “Platoon”-like battle for one soul, a battle between Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe. But it’ll come down to what happens next. If best-case scenario, I’m shooting “Hit Somebody” by the end of the year, then what am I going to do between now and then? Maybe nothing. Or I can multi-task and spin another plate while waiting for it to come together. And there’s also “Red State” [a dark political drama he's written]. There’s some very interested money that wasn’t interested a week ago, before “Cop Out” came out.

Frame’s wide releases, Warner Bros.’ buddy comedy “Cop Out,” starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, as well as Overture’s horror-thriller pic “The Crazies,” turned in solid estimates with $18.6 million and $16.5 million, respectively.

Kevin also mentions that the WB was very pleased with the weekend’s take, especially the rise in ticket sales on Saturday, which is always an excellent sign that a movie was well-received:

Thanks for all the well-wishes. Got called by happy WB big guns. 35% spike on Saturday means good things. Thanks for the support! #CopOut

Let’s hope one of those “good things” is a chance for “Hit Somebody” to become a reality with the WB. Of course, competition always gets tougher when new movies hit theaters next weekend, but that doesn’t mean you can’t see the film again, or spread the word to your friends and co-workers this week. When you’re having trouble getting into work mode on Monday, let folks know you saw “Cop Out” and that it’s hilarious. Let’s just see if we can’t rake in a few more bucks. If bad weather kept you indoors over the weekend, treat yourself to a movie this week as a reward to yourself for all that digging. “Cop Out” is now playing all over the place.

Smith ready for U.S.-Canada, then it’s ‘Hit Somebody’

By Adam Kimelman – NHL.com Staff Writer

Acclaimed filmmaker Kevin Smith spent Sunday doing interviews for his new movie, “Cop Out,” which comes out Feb. 26. But there really was only one thing on his mind.

U.S. vs. Canada.

“I called my kid (daughter Harley), she’s sleeping in a different hotel room from me this morning,” Smith said. “I got up very early and I said, ‘You know what happens tonight?’ And she said, ‘Parise vs. Brodeur,’ and I said ‘Yes!’ It’s a big game for us.”

Smith, New Jersey to the core despite his current Los Angeles address, still bleeds Devils red. So for him, it’s a win-win situation knowing either Canada goalie Martin Brodeur or U.S. forwards Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner are going to leave Canada Hockey Place happy.

“That’s a big bucket of win for me,” said Smith. “I’m not sitting there going (go) Team USA, and I’m certainly not sitting there going (go) Team Canada. I’m just like, that’s the best hockey you’ll ever see. Unlike an all-star game, these guys are going for medals. They’re going to play really hard.”

So hard, in fact, he hopes for some NHL-like extracurricular activity.

“I’m hoping they’re so competitive Marty starts busting out like (Ron) Hextall and starts slashing ankles,” Smith said. “It would be awesome to see a Marty-Parise fight.”

While that likely won’t happen — at least outside of Lou Lamoriello’s nightmares — expect to see that kind of action in Smith’s next project, the hockey-themed “Hit Somebody.”

Smith revealed exclusively to NHL.com that Seann William Scott, who worked with Smith on “Cop Out,” will play Buddy, the title character in “Hit Somebody.” The script, based on a Warren Zevon song with lyrics by acclaimed writer Mitch Albom, is a story of a hockey enforcer who strives to score just one goal in a hockey game.

“Seann, for me, was the key into the character,” Smith told NHL.com. “I had all the elements in place, and the one thing I was missing was the personality. Generally I like to write to a voice, but I didn’t know who that voice was or what that voice could be. And then after spending all the time with Seann on this movie, he’s pitch perfect. He is that guy.

“This dude has something in him that you can just see hangs so well on Buddy. He’s got some pain that’s going to work out well. More importantly he has so much love in his heart. Seann Scott is such an ebullient, happy person who’s just happy to be there. And on (“Cop Out”) you could see it. On our set the guy is just so delighted to be working, to be making people laugh. But he’s always dismissed as Stifler. … This is his chance to shine.”

Scott, a native of Cottage Grove, Minn., admittedly isn’t much of a skater, but for the role of Buddy, that works just fine.

“I didn’t grow up playing hockey which is good because the character is not supposed to be a great player, he’s a great fighter,” Scott said.

“When I pegged Seann, I said ‘You’re Minnesota; that might as well be Canada,” said Smith. “You’re from hockey country. He was like, I’m an athlete and I played a lot of baseball and basketball, but I wasn’t good at hockey. I can skate, though. I said that’s all I need. He doesn’t have to be Paul Coffey on skates. He shouldn’t be.”

Scott said spending time with Smith drew him back into hockey — he follows the Minnesota Wild, but not closely — and Smith said he’s hoping Scott will join him in June at the Walter Gretzky Street Hockey Tournament in Brantford, Ont., that Smith has turned into a personal pilgrimage. Besides his playing goalie for his own team, Puck U., Smith will be bringing seven teams along with him.

The tournament also allows him to indulge his personal obsession with all things Gretzky, and have a life outside the movies. It’s why he enlists close friends and family members for his own team, rather than friends like Seth Rogen and Ben Affleck.

“These cats are super-famous and they got other things to do, they got lives,” said Smith. “The notion that you want to go to suburban Ontario to play street hockey while Wayne Gretzky’s dad watches — some people don’t want to do it. Seann William Scott will definitely go. He wasn’t aware of it last time. I remember saying while we were making the movie that I was going to play hockey, and he was like, where? Maybe he’ll come.”

While nothing is locked in contractually, Smith said having Scott’s voice in his head makes finishing the script a far easier task.

“Once I get going I could probably write it in less than a month, because it’s all right here at the top of my throat, ready to go, and in my heart,” Smith said. “In my heart of hearts I know it’s Seann, it’s so easy to go. Just easy to skate all-out when you have a voice in your head and I have his voice well in my head.”

That voice doesn’t sound like Scott’s famed “Stifler” character from the “American Pie” franchise. Scott has done dramatic roles before, and Smith believes Hit Somebody can elevate both their careers.

“I look at this as Seann’s opportunity to go to the (Tom) Hanks level,” Smith said. “Hanks for years and years did this (lesser) role and then he became that (blockbuster movie) guy. This is Seann’s chance to do that as well, not just be Stifler. And it’s my chance to not just be the “Clerks” guy. It’s my chance to do something big, epic in scale. Stories I tell span one day. … This spans 30 years. You’re talking a period. You’re trying to bring people to a time in your life that hasn’t existed in 30 years. The look of it, the feel of it, the sound of it — everything I have is going to be in that movie.”

Kevin’s a good soldier, and continuing to do his part to promote his role in directing the film as much as possible. He’s also revealed that he’s just given Warner Brothers the OK to use his name in ads for the film if they choose to do so. When in Toronto, he conducted this 18-minute sit down with Tribute which they’ve graciously just made available online.

In other press, in case you missed our earlier story with the beautiful stills from the “Cop Out” press kit, /Film has taken it a step further and included a very long-form article on the production along with the photos from the press kit as well. There’s a LOT of detail in this one, so if you’re trying to avoid plot and theme spoilers, you might wanna take a pass on that one, though. Up you. It’s a LOT of detail, but if you’re looking for stuff on some of the minor characters, that’s your place to find it.

Finally, in round three for “Cop Out” today, AskMen.com talks with Kevin about becoming a director for hire, as well as the future. Here’s a peek:

KS : …What I did was different. I would rip open my chest, pull out the fatty chunks of heart and put it on the platter and project it. That to me is making a movie, that’s film, that’s the only way I know how to do it. Some people will see that and identify with that and feel it like religion. Other people will say it’s not standard: “This doesn’t count! This can’t possibly count!” They’re right, man. I was not fundamentally born to direct. But I’ve been doing it for 15 years and I’m sorry, I’ve gotten better at it. If you can stay in that long and work on your craft and sh*t, you get to the point where it’s like: I’m sorry, man, I got a legacy behind me now. I may have been chasing a $100 million gross for my whole career, but there are eight movies in my wake that have impacted the culture, impacted people [who] love those movies.

AM : So you think you had it all wrong?

KS : I did. And weed helped me out of it. Weed and hockey, and that’s why the next flick I’m doing is a hockey flick. It’s based on the Warren Zevon song “Hit Somebody” about a goon — a guy who shouldn’t be playing hockey because he’s not very good at it, but they make him play the one role he doesn’t want to play.

@Choccster “What did WB say to Hit Somebody?” Essentially? “That movie requires a needle-threading approach. We make chainsaws here.” Understandly, it’s an easier call with a script. So as of 2/24, I gonna start writing HIT SOMEBODY. WB’s in-or-out remains to be seen.

On “Red State”…

Are you still working on Red State, about the religious Phelps family?

Yes, trying. We haven’t had luck finding money; it’s an uncommercial venture at best so it’s been tough finding cash.

What fascinates you about Fred Phelps?

Um, he’s so paternal and yet so… I mean, look. I’m not going to say he’s evil, but he’s so outside the mainstream, so marginalised, you know what I’m saying? I mean, his views are beyond extreme, they’re ridiculously extreme. The whole country’s founded on, ‘Say what you want, you’re allowed to say whatever you want.’ So because we’re the United States you have to afford that dude a voice, and he’s the exception that proves the rule. It’s a strong reminder of the republic we live in, but then it’s like, ‘What kind of universe do we live in that this man would wanna put this bile into the world?

So sure, it’s legitimate and legal, but it’s immoral, it’s absolutely immoral and the dude preaches on behalf of the immoral, and I’ve never seen an instance where someone so immoral maintained they were so moral.

Have you been to any of his parades? Will your movie be fictional?

No, it’s more fictional. The one thing you know about the Phelps family if you read anything about them is how litigious they are – they’re a family full of lawyers. So I’m not getting real close. I felt bad it was kind of based on Fred Phelps, but they can’t sue me for that. When you see what we do in our version of the story, they wouldn’t wanna be that’s us! Because they’d be admitting to some heinous things.

On “Hit Somebody”…

What are you doing next?

The one i’m gearing up to is Hit Somebody, the hockey movie. It’s based on a Warren Zevon song called ‘Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)’ and it’s written by Mitch Albom, the guy that wrote Tuesdays With Morrie and those books, and it’s a story song. Some songs are just like, “I love youuuuu” over and over, but I like songs that tell a story, like The Brady Bunch theme song. This song is like that, a three-act structure tells a story of a character’s life and it washes over me like a flick and I feel I can bring something to it, because I identify with the subject matter in a big way.

So I got into it with Mitch, where I was like, “Dude I’d like to turn this into a movie.” So we kicked off a friendship and suddenly the movie’s moving closer and closer to fruition. December is when I have my first big break after A Couple Of Dicks and the press tour and the shows I’ve been doing all fall. In December I go home and start writing the script, and God willing next year we go into production.

Please check out the entire interview, which includes a couple of great Willis stories from the set of “Cop Out” that we haven’t heard before. Worth your valuable time.

Via @RyanInHollywood “How’d HIT pitch go?” Dunno yet; maybe today. But I gave it my all in the room. All-heart pitch. Cried during 3rd act.

Via @hockeynight “How did the Hit Somebody pitch go?” Did the game proud and emptied the tank, sir. Puck’s in their zone now…

DC gig half sold-out after first day of sale. Never thought I’d say this, but THANK YOU, WASHINGTON! http://tinyurl.com/springtour2010




Unlikely pic of the week: Me, Harold Faltermeyer & Lady Marmalade herself, Patti LaBelle: http://preview.tinyurl.com/gitchigitchiyayadada

ThatKevinSmith: Via @dizzygirl “How the hell does she continue to look THAT good?” Can you believe she’s 64? She pwned COP OUT closing song, “SOUL BROTHER.”

Get the latest up-to-the-second tweets from Mr. Smith at his official Twitter feed.

Hey @MitchAlbom! Headed to WB for official HIT SOMEBODY pitch! Roll by the Joe & give it a rub for good luck. Big Thx. The Cup Run begins…

Kevin’s also recently said his goal for this film is to rival the “Chasing Amy” as far as acclaim and tone. We’ve got a fingers crossed for a successful pitch tonight, as we’d love to see Kev get right to work on this one after “Cop Out”.

He’d best do it fast though, as it sounds like idea thieves are lurking — In his latest podcast, ESPN’s Bill Simmons pitches a hockey film to director Jason Reitman that sounds remarkably like “Hit Somebody”. Check in around the 45 minute mark. When Reitman suggests that he’s writing a flim about an NHL referee, Simmons suggests that he should make a film about a goon. Reitman also mentions that Kevin told him he was doing “God’s work” when he mentioned he was serving on an NHL board a few years ago, so maybe he’s already aware of the “Hit Somebody” project.

Come on, WB — Let’s get this one in ink!

Via @BrandonConsoli “what kind of feel is hit somebody gonna have?” I’m going for FORREST GUMP of sports films. Big valentine to the Game.

Via @LeakingPan “Just got tickets to a prescreening for tomorrow” Score me up, Homey: I wanna make A BIGGER COP OUT after HIT SOMEBODY.

Via @dibbs34 “LOVED The Smomcast. does she return for next weeks as well?” For two solid hours. One of ‘em completely baked. S’awesome.

Re: Toronto’s Roy Thomson Show, Feb 6th – 23 tix freed up on TicketMaster. 63 full view. 48 partial view. http://tinyurl.com/tdotkev

Via @rosecity1980 “ticketmaster is turning me down, sir. says they got nothing…again” Call Roy Thomson box office. They’ve got some there.

DailyDevils: @NHLDevils want to get to 10k followers, and they’re giving out 100 pairs of tickets to do so! http://bit.ly/7bW2hK #devs10k

A request from Jeff Anderson (and a rare chance to get a signed page from his CLERKS II script): http://tinyurl.com/arequestfromjeffanderson

Via @themuckshow “is it worth the 9+hr drive from Ont 2 NJ just to see a store?” It’s gonna be, the weekend of August 2nd…

Yes, all we can confirm right now is that early August weekend will bring something big to Red Bank. But for now…No further deets. When we know, so will you.

If you are in the LOS ANGELES area on Thursday and would like to see a Sneak Screening of the new Bruce Wilis movie Cop Out – Contact us

It might be worth hitting them up with a tweet or message to see if you can still get into the show tomorrow. Seeing Kev’s flick almost 2 months early? Priceless.

“…He basically explained his take on Hughes and his work. (As far as his films go, the doc focused mostly on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, and Weird Science.) Kevin also mentioned that as much as the movies touched him, what he felt was missing for himself personally, he made into Clerks.”

Pretty cool stuff, can’t say we recall Kevin ever referring to “Clerks” as missing material from the other Hughes movies brought to life in Kevin’s own world, but we like it.

After an undercover stolen cell-phone bust goes bad in the cop comedy Cop Out, out Feb. 26, the detectives on the case — Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis — are hauled in for what director Kevin Smith calls “the classic ‘You guys are f— ups!’ scene.” Clearly, Willis isn’t too happy about it. “Later on, you’ll see three different forms of Bruce Willis action grimace,” says Smith. “But this is the getting-dressed-down-by-a-superior grimace, and that, mercifully, happens very little in the movie, because as we all know, Bruce Willis has no superior.”

As for Morgan’s cellular attire, Smith jokes that the suit was “definitely a controversial choice.” While Morgan was always supposed to wear the suit in the previous scene, Smith explains, “I remember in the script, it didn’t say that Tracy was still wearing the suit. [I thought], let’s spin it a little bit by leaving him in that ridiculous outfit — it just plays into what happened, and we get a few more [comedy] beats out of it. The first time we see Tracy [in the scene], it’s Bruce and Tracy in profile. So you see Bruce and you see this giant cell phone suit, and then Tracy pops his head out of the suit altogether and says, ‘Thank you captain!’”

The film also wasn’t always called Cop Out, either. You can click here for Smith’s ode to the film’s original risqué title, A Couple of Dicks, but the director says he stood firm about worries over the film’s salty R-rated language. “I’m sorry, in the world of cops, if people are firing guns at you, nobody says ‘freakin,’” says the director. “Except on TV, where they say ‘mother falcon’ all the time.”

Furthermore, Obsessed With Film logs a nice summary of the project so far, piecing together a lot of the news we’ve logged over the past few months in a tidy little package. Sort of a “Cliff’s Notes” of “Hit Somebody” in its early stages.