Who he?
The indie writer/director of Chasing Amy, Clerks, Dogma et al. He’s also well-known for his mammoth (and very entertaining) question and answer evenings, and most recently became notorious for getting thrown off an airplane.
Typical Tweets:
He can usually be found plugging either his latest movies or his podcast, aka the ‘Smodcast’:
Like Lana from RISKY BUSINESS, SModcast comes to your town!
His twitter feed is most (in)famous, however, for some alarmingly graphic posts about sexual escapades with his wife.
On a roll this week: we’ve f-cked twice a day every day since Sunday. With little fanfare I’m trying to make it a solid four weeks straight.
And that’s one of the milder ones.
Likelihood he’ll Tweet you back:
Almost 100%, he tweets approximately a bajillion times a day and will answer any conceivable question you might ask.
Ming announced the week’s schedule for Puck U. Game 1 was last night, game 2 at 9:30 AM Saturday, and game 3 at 2:45 PM Saturday. You can follow live broadcasts at Gretzky.com. Get there!
Let’s take a look back at the last 12 months, shall we? 2009: The Year In Askew, part one, is straight ahead.
January 2009
2009 kicked off in an uncharacteristically quiet, low key way. Kevin’s normally regular web presence continued to remain at low-key levels. Interviews and promotions for his latest comic, “Batman: Cacophony”, which he wrote, continued — longtime friend and fan favorite Walt Flanagan drew the book. However, it was obvious that this was a much more subdued press push than the past. We’d soon know why. Meanwhile, as the shrinking home video window continued, a February release date was already announced for “Porno”, which had just hit theaters at the end of October. The Bluray release would be day and date with the DVD, a first for a View Askew flick. Despite a lower than expected box office bow, the film would wind up on many “Best of 2008″ lists which were revealed this month.
While Kevin wasn’t posting to the web and conducting as many regular interviews, the great SModcast would not be stopped. Episode #71 hit the webs in early January. Before the year was out, Kevin and Scott would hit a significant SMod milestone. By the end of the month, the guys would have recorded 3 more episodes for the web.
As the month continued, details began to surface for the “Zack and Miri” discs. Thankfully, View Askew would not let us down once again as far as extras go — The package would include a brand new documentary, a pile of deleted scenes, bloopers, and lots more. As Kevin and Scott had discussed the film at length on SModcast, for the first time, a View Askew DVD would not include an audio commentary track (though the extras would more than make up for the lack of one). Kevin made a rare post to explain his feelings on the commentary and how SModcast was an even better replacement. Our extensive review of the film details the greatness of the discs.
His first live appearance of the year took place in Hartford, laying groundwork for what would be the most significant year for Kevin’s stage show yet. Meanwhile, Smith made plans for a major event in Toronto for early February…
February 2009
February 2009 arrived with rave reviews for the “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” DVD. Critics and fans alike praised the film and the disc’s abundance of extras, some who had unfortunately discovered the film for the first time in their homes. Canadians were gifted with versions of the disc that featured exclusive “scratch and sniff” packaging.
While it had now been over 2 years since the last Vulgarthon film festival, Toronto celebrated their own mini-film fest of sorts in early February. With Kevin coming to town for a historic two-night appearance at the beloved Roy Thompson Hall, where every one of his gigs continually sells out, the Bloor Cinema tacked on a 3-night film festival following the appearances. Kevin appeared live for a Q&A session following each of the films, creating Canada’s own mini-Vulgarthon — a bright spot among their normally brutally cold winter. Audience reports raved that the appearances were among the best ever, with Jason Mewes making a rare onstage appearance alongside Kevin for most of the second night.
Kevin capped February with more live shows in New York and Ohio. At these shows, rumors began to circle on what his next project would be. Would it be “Red State”? “Ranger Danger”? Something new? It seemed that anything was possible, though Kevin’s immediate concern was getting out in front of the public, as his love for being onstage continued to blossom, as fans continued to pack seats to watch Kevin spend a few hours taking questions and entertaining crowds with one of the best impromptu shows in the land….A theme that would continue throughout the year. Until…
March 2009
In the most exciting, unexpected announcement of the year, March 2009 kicked off with a bombshell — Kevin had become a director for hire. But not just for any studio, and not just for any movie. Warner Brothers pictures signed Kevin to direct a major motion picture starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, titled “A Couple of Dicks”. The film was one of the great unpublished screenplays of 2008, so to see this script land in Kevin’s lap was a dialogue-lover’s dream. Full of raunchy, hilarious text, the script was the perfect fit for Kevin’s sensibilities. It would also mark the first time that Kevin would direct a feature film that was not from his own script. News agencies across the web picked up the news, and it appeared that we now had our main project/theme for 2009. This would be the year of “A Couple of Dicks”.
Within mere days of the announcement, rumors already started to circle that the title may change, to the more tame “A Couple of Cops”.
In mid-March, “Reaper”, a show with a pedigree similar to “Dicks” (Kevin directed, but did not write, the pilot episode), returned to the CW airwaves for a second season. While building on its mythology and critical acclaim, the program would not survive past its second-season finale.
In comic news, artist Walt Flanagan revealed that he and Kevin were working on a yet-to-be-titled follow-up project to the highly successful “Batman: Cacophony”. Before the year was out, we’d not only know its identity, but have quite a few issues on shelves to enjoy. Astute listeners to SModcast soon suggested that it had slipped that a “Batman” series was being written after the first series was already in the can, prompting us to speculate correctly that the next series would once again feature the caped crusader.
As March “marched” on, Kevin’s signing to direct “A Couple of Dicks” continued to generate quite a bit of press and speculation. In the middle of the month, though, another film briefly stole the spotlight — After a great deal of anticipation due to his praise of an early cut of the film, the world finally got to see “Watchmen”, one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, come to life on the big screen. And as one highly-anticipated geek movie debuted, one of the most beloved geek series of recent memory concluded — Sci Fi aired the final two hours of the incredible “Battlestar Galactica”, a show beloved to Kevin (who had the pleasure of making a set visit before everything was struck and boxed for good).
Around this time, when Kevin was in a particularly introspective mood, journalist Lee Stranhan scheduled what would become one of the most amazing sit-down interviews of his entire career. The interview, which was conducted earlier in the month, would feature the director discussing all aspects of his life and career in an even more open and honest way than ever before (a feat many thought not even possible for the already public Smith).
Since “Clerks”, hockey had always played a role in the films of View Askew. But in late March, Kevin laid groundwork to take his love of the game to a whole new level. After being touched by the story of Wayne Gretzky and his father Walter, Kevin mounted efforts to bring himself, fans, and friends to Brantford, Ontario for June’s Walter Gretzky Street Hockey Invitational. During an appearance in Vancouver, he also mentioned, for the first time, that he had an interest in making a hockey-themed film in the future.
By the end of March, SModcast, still rolling strong, had celebrated its 81st episode of free entertainment.
April 2009
It would become a buzzword on many reporter’s lists of the best of 2009. Twitter. Tweeting. While the service had been active for a few years prior to 2009, it wasn’t until this year that the mainstream embraced this service, burgeoned by the sudden celebrity love for the technology. By eliminating publicists, for the first time, celebs could use twitter as a direct line to their fans. By contrast, this was a practice that Kevin had adopted from early in his career with ViewAskew.com. Still, always being in the forefront of technology, Smith saw Twitter as yet another viable communication vehicle. Frequent use of the service started in early April, when Kevin trekked back to the east coast, where he would live for many months as production on “A Couple of Dicks” took place. The film would shoot in and around New York City, mostly on location.
Not ones to shy away from technology, News Askew also began tweeting our headlines and stories as well, giving readers yet another way to keep up with the latest.
Following a pre-production trip into NYC, Kevin jetted to Vail, Colorado, where he was presented with the Renegade Award at the Vail Film Festival, celebrating his entire body of work.
The good news continued, as Kevin made a weeklong visual clue game of one of the biggest announcements of the year: He would bring his beloved Q&A act to the stage of New York City’s prestigious Carnegie Hall in mid-June. To sweeten the announcement, it was also revealed that a new book would arrive in the Fall: “Shooting the Shit with Kevin Smith” would collect some of the best moments of SModcast in print form.
Hockey came back in a big way in April, when Kevin revealed he would be writing a new blog for the NHL to highlight the experience of watching the Devils in the playoffs. He’d also purchased a luxury box at Prudential’s center city Newark arena, The Rock, where he would entertain family and friends and introduce newcomers to the great game of ice hockey, with his beloved Jersey team.
May 2009
With the popularity of SModcast continuing on iTunes and Quick Stop Entertainment, Kevin and Scott decided to try an experiment – It was announced that the first LIVE SModcast would be held next month in Canada, the same weekend that the crew would be heading north for the Gretzky hockey tournament. Dubbed “Stocky Night in Canada”, the limited event would sell out in record time.
We also had a new date to add to calendars – Before film had started to roll on the movie, we had a tentative release date for “A Couple of Dicks” – February 26, 2010. Those brothers Warner sure don’t mess around.
By the middle of the month, Entertainment Weekly announced another newsworthy release — Kevin and Walt would indeed return with that speculated “Batman” series. This one, titled “The Widening Gyre” was already half completed with issue 1 set to debut in August. In addition to this expected news, it was also revealed that Kevin’s “Green Hornet” script ideas would see the light of day in comic form. A new miniseries would be on the way following the completion of “Gyre”.
The month of big announcements continued when on May 14th, Kevin revealed to MTV that he wasn’t kidding around when he mentioned that hockey-themed movie idea in March. “Hit Somebody” would be the title of this one, based on a Warren Zevon song penned by author Mitch Albom. Following the announcement, quite a bit of articles on and by Kevin tied into the sport. It was apparent that hockey was on the brain, and in a very big way.
Followed by all the good news in May, a spot of bad news arrived on the 19th via Twitter – Star Ethan Suplee revealed that he and longtime-Askewer Jason Lee’s hilarious sitcom “My Name is Earl” had been cancelled by NBC. A glimmer of hope via a save by network TBS would come briefly before the official June cancellation announcement.
With filming getting close to rolling, May capped off with the announcement of two more cast members for “Dicks”: Seann William Scott and Adam Brody. By the end of May, the cast would have gathered for the first full read-through of the script.
June 2009
Production might have been starting on “A Couple of Dicks” as of June 2nd, but Kevin wasn’t going back to work behind the cameras without a gift to the fans — He and Scott presented SModcast #87 on the eve of the shoot. Due to the public nature of the on-location summer in New York City set, fans were quick to locate the cast and crew and snapped the first of what would be many looks at Willis, Morgan, and Smith in action.
Though filming had begun, Kevin wasn’t about to let that stop his hockey-themed weekend plans in Canada. Starting on June 6th, he and a large crew of friends and fans took to Brantford, Ontario for the Wayne Gretzky Hockey Tournament and the first live SModcast. The View Askew all-star team name? Puck U.
Then, on Saturday, the first ever live SModcast found Smith and Mosier on stage before a sold-out crowd of 1,100 where history was made.
On June 17th, we arrived at one of the biggest events of the year, and one of the most significant in Kevin’s life — Kevin took the stage to a sold out crowd in Carnegie Hall. Some of the world’s greatest performers have stepped onto that stage, and Kevin had now joined the ranks of a very elite few — Especially from the point of view that this was a one man show, where he’d single-handedly entertain the packed house for almost three full hours. News Askew was fortunate enough to witness this magical and historic event – One of Kevin’s finest performances of all-time.
While the first half of the year would have already celebrated a fairly busy, public schedule for Kevin as far as events, the next six months would set records, as Kevin announced a very aggressive Fall Tour schedule which would take him across the United States, to new cities, and abroad.
Finally, as June came to a close, more confirmed casting reports for “A Couple of Dicks” that built on an already impressive cast: Michele Trachtenberg, Kevin Pollak, and the great Jason Lee were all confirmed for supporting or cameo roles.
Join us later this week as we wrap it up, and cover the last 6 months of 2009. See you then.
The Clerks OST was definitive in that it literally sums up everything about ’90s young adult derision and its impact on society, complementing attitude with amplitude and allowing room for both witty quotations and suitable background audio. There are obvious moments where a song makes the scene, such as the quintessential opening credits featuring “Clerks” by New Jersey alt rock outfit Love Among Freaks. The band was local to Smith and he approached them to do music for his film; the movie unwittingly became a vehicle for Love Among Freaks as they also performed the soundtrack inclusion “Berserker” and reappeared on the soundtrack to Chasing Amy, but unfortunately the group only released one full studio album before dissipating into nostalgic bliss.
Other pivotal moments that are boosted by their musical companions include: the introduction of Jay & Silent Bob receiving the Girls Against Boys treatment with “Kill The Sex Player” — a stoner rock tune (how appropriate) with plenty of fuzz and bass along for the ride; Jay attempting a white boy break dance routine to the sound of Stabbing Westward’s “Violent Mood Swings [Thread Mix]“; the Randal and Dante discussion of contractors killed on an exploding Death Star (one of two primary Star Wars conversations) is enhanced by Bash & Pop’s “Making Me Sick”; the entrance of Randal Graves is accented by Alice In Chains’ bluesy “Got Me Wrong” before he exits at the end credits to Soul Asylum’s “Can’t Even Tell”.
“It’ll be fun; it’s sort of like Kevin’s ‘Night With’ that he’s doing and they filmed one of for HBO, but Kevin can go for five or six hours or longer because he’s been doing them for years. I’m building up to that [laughing]; I can go for about three hours and while his stories are about fifteen or twenty minutes long, mine are about three to six minutes – but I’ll pull my balls out and he won’t.”
Has Mewes thrown down the gauntlet? Catch him live…if you dare. For more Jay press, check out a similar blurb at Pulse Niagara.
The Storyteller – Kevin Smith
You may not like the films of Kevin Smith, but after watching this clip you can’t tell me that this guy doesn’t know how to tell an entertaining story. Listening to Smith talk about movies is like having a conversation with one of your friends, and there are very few people who can connect with their audience like that. Granted, his critiques aren’t always the most ‘highbrow’, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t accurate — and more importantly, pretty damn funny.
Surf over and watch the video, where Kev talks Superman Returns and Star Trek during an “Evening With”.
…
Some of Smith’s upcoming film projects were the next topic of discussion, however Smith said that he is still looking for funding for “Red State” and that the script for “Ranger Danger” hasn’t been finished yet. The following question brought up the negative “Kevin Smith asides” in “Entourage.” Smith revealed that “Entourage” producer Rob Weiss throws those into the scripts because Smith once called him “Vanilla Weiss.” However, Smith reiterated that he isn’t offended by the jabs and in fact, he greatly enjoys them because they mean that “in that universe, I exist!”
The final question returned to “A Couple of Dicks,” which is a departure for Smith in that it will be the first film that he directed but didn’t write. “I read it and fell in love it,” explained Smith. “This is the buddy cop movie I would have written if I had any interest in writing one. The script is really strong.” Smith mentioned that he is much more collaborative on this project and that he has learned a lot while making this movie.
The Magic of Penetration
By Christian Bu
A romantic comedy disguised as a sex flick: Kevin Smith pulls of an impressive magic trick with his loser comedy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”: he lets tender feelings grow amidst filth and sperm.
The city of Philadelphia didn’t allow the public display of posters for “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”. Officials argued that the word porno in the movie’s title might deeply disturb adolescents. This is a curious concern, considering that, online, every hardcore movie is only a mouse click away for the hands of sweaty boys.
The brouhaha seems even more inappropriate when you watch the movie-turned-scandal all the way to the end: Quite possibly “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” is the most romantic comedy ever made.
Every kind of filth and sperm just rolls off of the heroin and hero, while the world around them drowns in all sorts of bodily fluids. And that basically is what every romantic comedy is about: staying clean and steering towards a morally flawless happy end in an environment determined by temptation, depravity and brutalization.
However, presumably director Kevin Smith doesn’t see pornography as such as something objectionable. On the contrary, it can be assumed that the 39-year-old slacker for life, who ,with comedies such as “Clerks” or “Chasing Amy”, is second to none when it comes to putting the pop cultural compensatory interests of sexually underfed boys into focus, is indeed rather fond of XXX-home-entertainment. He probably dusts off his porn stash under the bed just as affectionately as his Star Wars figures on the shelf.
Keeping that in mind, you may think of the protagonist Zack (Seth Rogen, “Knocked Up“) in Smith’s latest movie as the director’s alter ego, because what does he – broke and permanently trapped in a McJob – do when he and his equally broke roommate Miri (Elizabeth Banks) want to fill their empty coffers by shooting an amateur porn? The very first thing he does is create a number of movie titles which artfully and knowledgeably combine his own pop cultural preferences with official porn-speak. For someone like him, coming up with the words is more important than the actual deed.
Therefore I recommend you watch Smith’s porn romance in the original English if you can. Even if there may be a fitting German translation for Zack and Miri’s movie project “Star Whores”, things will get more difficult in finding one for “Swallow My Cockaccino.”
The humor of “Zack and Miri“ is in the details. The story itself doesn’t exactly knock your socks off. And it doesn’t have to. It’s exactly as predictable as it has to be in a romantic comedy – or in a porno. One genre is as no-frills about advancing the consummation of romance as the other is about the consummation of the sexual act; there are hardly two other movie genres which are less secretive about their objectives.
What is interesting about “Zack and Miri” are not the plot twists but the dialogues. Comedy unfolds masterfully, for example, when at her high school reunion Miri tries to talk a guy she used to have a crush on into a one night stand while he gently tries to reveal to her that he has become a gay porn star and that he chose to do gay porn because that corresponds to his sexual orientation.
The one positive thing that Miri and Zack take home from this failed hook-up is the inspiration for their new business idea. They quickly recruit a crew which includes real-life porn veterans Traci Lords and Katie Morgan, who might be known to fans of that genre from movies such as “Open Up Traci” or “Desperately Horny Housewives.”
It’s touching how a group of friendly freaks grows closer while realizing their independent project. It is even more touching how amidst all this uninhibited and enthusiastic going-ons Zack and Miri suddenly discover their love for each other.
As if by magic every exercise in penetration either of them has scheduled with another of the semi-pros gets canceled until finally Zack and Miri get some action with each-other during their shoot on some uncomfortable padding – while director Smith seems to let the camera float chastely upwards to the ceiling from the strictly functional porno close-up shot. This monogamous final act is almost a little conservative.
But who would call all that immoral? The very first bizarre postures already allude to the heartfelt finale. Even Traci Lords, the grand old dame of eighties porn uses her body to create some romantic ambiance: In her first scene, she blows soap bubbles with her vagina.
He wasn’t, as was so often decreed, not even supposed to be there. But Dante, the clerk at the Quick Stop, had to spend his day off in the ninth circle of hell. Well, at the very least, it was with his best friend-come-shoulder devil, Randal who manned the neighboring video store. No, not really much of saving grace, but it did make for one bromantic turn of events. From the door being gummed shut, to the constant shooing of drug peddlers, Jay and Silent Bob, to a mishap at a wake, to a blown hockey game on the store’s roof, to a love-life disaster between Dante, Veronica, and Caitlin, to the death of a masturbating patron… and that’s barely half the day. It is a day that will never end, but through it all, even after a snack food fight, Dante and Randal begin to understand just what they mean to each other. But soon, a few years later, the two share employment at the Mooby’s fast food place (see, Randal burns down the Quick Stop), and they manage to get into a similar situation: Dante does not really love his fiancee, but rather his boss, and Randal just chooses to be the monkey wrench in the works. Eventually, after a donkey show goes horribly awry (seriously), they end up in jail where Randal spouts quite possibly one of cinema’s finest bromantic diatribes of all time. Yeah, they love each other.
