“…I found the ability to connect to News Askew web content to be most useful. You can find that feature buried inside the “More” tab which includes Smith’s SModcasts, Podcasts and Fanimation videos. The fact that Kevin Smith is already resident in the App Stores list of “What’s Hot” should be a small clue that this iPhone nugget is well on its way to cult superstardom.

…

“…While Smith does offer users the ability to purchase his films and soundtrack music from inside the app via iTunes, it’s not a feature being blasted in your face. Committed followers should feel overwhelmed with tremendous man-love for this epic iPhone offering. It’s a must-have dollar app well worth the price of admission.”

Click away and enjoy. It’s nice to see that even Kevin hasn’t abandoned the idea of returning to the project once again, though we still think Lee is the man — With a new TV series coming for TNT, Lee will be working, but not so much that he couldn’t use a hiatus to make a film, and the new show will keep him in the public eye. You never know…

“7. Which two NHL teams are featured in the Sega video game played by Jason Lee in the 1995 Kevin Smith film “Mallrats?””

Now THAT’S some good trivia. Without cheating, you know the two? Think about it.

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”.

Movie Trailers – Movies Blog

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.

“…That’s what weed taught me, too. I’d sit there going, Wait a second. All these things that people write on the Internet. And, again, they’re not all bad, but I used to gravitate towards it, because it’s, like, “Oh, what can I do to change this?” That’s the sad thing about that. You don’t pay attention to the people that actually like your stuff. You pay more attention to the ones who are trying to bring you down. You’re trying to win them over and shit. That’s just backwards and stupid.

But now, it’s just, like, they can say what they want and, honestly, they don’t take a fuckin’ dime out of my pocket, or piece of food off my table. Just because somebody fuckin’ rips me a new one cleverly online about one of my flicks, I don’t get laid one iota less. I still get laid. You sit there going, Wow, in the last 15 years, out of that 15 years, if you concentrated the time that I spent online trying to correct misconceptions about me, or when people write wrong shit. I never went after people for not liking the movies. That’s subjective, can’t do nothin’ about that, but going around correcting shit. I must have–concentrated time: two years, dude, two years of doing that online. Two years of my life—gone! I’ll never get back. As I’m fuckin’ cruisin’ toward the grave, believe me, I’m gonna be, like, “You piece of shit? I wasted so much time on you. I want those seconds back!” And, that’s a lot of seconds, dude, ’cause I used to do it a lot.”

…

“… I love ZACK AND MIRI. I mean, I think it turned out well, but I look at ZACK AND MIRI, and I look at CHASING AMY, and I go, Okay, two movies cut from similar cloth. What’s the difference? One is made with the passion and brio of somebody who is desperate to get their message across, desperate to communicate desperate to say, “If I don’t make this film, I’m gonna die.” And, the other one was made by a guy who was, like, “Well, that’s the movie I chose to do that year.” And, it’s just not the same thing. I mean, ZACK AND MIRI happened very easily, very quickly. Seth [Rogen] read it. He loved it. The Weinsteins are, like, “Great. We got Seth Rogen. Let’s make it.” It came together. The shooting went well, no fighting, everything was copacetic. But, there’s just not same, like…you know, for CHASING AMY, people were sleeping on couches, dude. We were stacked five men to an apartment and shit like that. That world is gone. That world produces something that I can’t bring back to this world. I can’t replicate the type of films I did.”

…

“A COUPLE OF DICKS–nobody’s gonna believe I directed this movie, because it looks so average. And, when I say ‘average’, I mean that in a good way, like, it looks like everybody else’s movie now. Back in the days, you’d look at my flick and you’d be, like, “Oh, that’s by the motherfucker who made CLERKS. You can tell, because it looks so terrible. His camera won’t move.” A COUPLE OF DICKS, man, it looks like 48 HOURS. It looks like BEVERLY HILLS COP, LETHAL WEAPON. And, I know some people are, like, “Great, your movie looks like an ’80s movie.” But, hey, I’m on a slow curve. What the fuck do you want from me?

You know, my film school has been in front of everybody. I’m not ashamed of that. I mean, I’ve been given this rarefied position, dude, where it’s, like, somebody handing me the golden ticket. Yeah, I made a fuckin’ indie flick like everybody else, and I was in the right place, right time, and Harvey Weinstein gave me a fuckin’ golden ticket, and forced me to become a personality by being, like, Get out there and talk about your fuckin’ movie, it ain’t got anybody else in it, so you become the front man. So, that forces you to become the front man. You’re out front and center, and here I am talking to you, talking to everybody about the flicks. And, you become something of a personality, and suddenly, you’ve got this amazing golden-ticket life, where you’re just like, “Wow, it keeps happening, over and over again. And, people like what we’ve done. And, some people fuckin’ can’t stand it, but some people absolutely dig it.” And, because of those people, you’re inspired to go on, and keep doing it, and shit like that.”

…

“…Like, you know, I did interviews in the beginning of my career, where I talked about, I think I have 10 movies in me. And, guess what, [HIT SOMEBODY]’s going to be Number Ten. So, I got to honor the superstition. Look, I’m not finding any fuckin’ money on RED STATE, because it’s so fuckin’ blatantly uncommercial and very, very marginal in terms of its subject matter. That money’s not forthcoming any time soon. And, so I concentrate on something where my heart actually is, so that there’s a fuckin’ chance, dude, a hope in hell that I can make something that has that fuckin’ fire and that passion in it that CLERKS had, that CHASING AMY had. I mean, it’s not…That didn’t come from desperation or not having the means. That just came from because I was so fuckin’ in love with the material, I was, like, I just gotta share this. If only people could see the world the way I see it, through this particular picture, man, they would get it. So, that’s where I am now, but I wouldn’t have gotten there back in the day, ’cause I was always the dude who was, like, “I write and direct my own stuff. I would never direct something that somebody else wrote or conceived or something like that.”

We had trouble finding clips to pull, the whole thing is just so good, it was tough to pick favorites above. If you’re liking what you’re seeing, be sure to do yourself a favor and head over to Aint It Cool News for the full piece. We’ll let you know as soon as Part Two is up. This is one of the best sit-downs with Kevin of the year. Don’t miss it.

“…We just did A Couple of Dicks here in the city all summer long, and there are more action sequences in it than anything I’ve ever done before. And those action sequences were like pulling f___ing teeth with me. You spend two days shooting storyboards and nobody is talking. That’s just not why I got into it.

The big ambition for me right now is a hockey movie. That will be a real test of visual storytelling skills. I mean, on A Couple of Dicks I think me and my DP Dave Klein definitely notched it up. I don’t think anybody’s going to believe I directed the movie, because it looks slick and good. I want to take what we learned there and bring it into the hockey flick, and that will have a lot of action. When you go to a live hockey game, it’s f___ing crazy. It’s the best sport you’ve ever seen — it’s the best thing you’ve ever seen. It goes beyond sports at some point and becomes this beautiful, poetic ballet, where dudes in costumes are skating, but it’s not the Ice Capades, and they’re hitting each other, and there’s an aim and a goal … I want to try and represent what it’s like to be there, watching the game, and so far that hasn’t really come across on film. We’re going to try it.

I think I’m ready for it. I’ve been doing this, I started in ’93, so like 16 years. You just get better at s___ the longer you do it, even if you start off being inept at it. You look at Clerks, that is inept filmmaking. That’s a guy that watched three Hal Hartley movies and four Jim Jarmusch movies and said I think I’m ready. I learned on the job.”

Don’t miss the entire Q&A at Techland.

• 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.

They’ve also got a nice hockey-centric Q&A available as well, here’s a couple highlights:

Q: You remarked in your Twitter account that you finally wanted to visit Edmonton and see an Oilers game live. Was there anything in particular that made you decide you wanted to finally see the Oilers?

A: 2009 marks the 25th Anniversary of the first Cup win. I felt like I wanted to quietly observe it in my own personal way, so I looked at the schedule and realized the Yotes game would put Gretzky and Kevin Lowe in the same building at the same time, and that would be good enough for me (naturally, this was before all the weirdness with the League, Gretzky, and the Coyotes). So I booked a Q&A in Edmonton for around that time and put it into my schedule. Sure, Gretzky won’t be there (neither will Lowe, who’s scouting prospects on the road), but that wasn’t the make-or-break part of the equation anyway; more about visiting Mecca, so to speak.

Q: Have you ever been to Edmonton before?

A: I’ve done two or three Q&A’s at the Winspear in Edmonton – all before my Oilers conversion. The gig at the Meyer Horowitz the night before that Yotes game is gonna be religious because I’ve got a LONG story I tell about seeing the light, as it were.

Q: All of your movies have had hockey featured in it at one point or another but your next project – Hit Somebody – will be an entire movie based on the sport. What made you decide to finally make a movie on hockey?

A: It’s just time. And man, is it gonna be the bomb (God-willing, not A bomb). I’m gonna wear my Oilers tees everyday of the shoot.

As for Smith’s recently announced ‘Hit Somebody’, a movie based on a song written by none other than ‘Tuesdays With Morrie” author Mitch Albom, he says that it’s not really as off of a pairing as it sounds, “Mitch used to be a sports writer before he was an author. He loves hockey and he wrote this amazing song for Warren (Zevon) and it’s the movie I’ve always wanted to make. I sought out to contact him, because obviously Warren Zevon died, and get his permission to do this.”

Though Smith hasn’t begun writing the script yet (something he will do in December once he is finished with ‘Dicks’), he is determined to make this his next movie. “I don’t have a (studio) home now so I will have to find some financing but I WILL make it one way or another. This isn’t a (Happy Gilmore) or anything like that. This is my Forrest Gump, where it will just follow this goon through his life. I mean, there will be a lot of comedy in it, but it’s not going to be like anything I’ve done before.”

Until Smith can dive head first into ‘Hit Somebody’, he will keep himself busy with his tours, editing, books, hockey (he is an avid Devils fan) and comics. Enjoy the calmness you call busy now Kevin because if your growth continues, come this time next year, you may just be the bona fide superstar you should have become years ago.

Overall a nice article, and a recommended read this week.

Via @edgarwright “Nice! Test screening?” Last night. Really strong, promising first test. Some confusions to clear, but people really dug.

Via @kingjong “Loved flick. Perfect companion film to Beverly Hills Cop & 48 Hours. You need to do Fletch.” You were there, huh? Went well!

Via @blueneurosis “Do you consider the testings a necessary evil or do you like doing them?” Useful listening to the aud; meh to the cards.

Via @GrahamBecksted “Did you meet Gretzky” Avoided doing so. I know plenty of humans; he’d need to be a god. If I don’t meet him, he is one.

Via @estrellaverde “have you gotten round to writing HIT SOMEBODY?” That’ll be December, if I’m not too tied up closing up DICKS. Can’t wait.

That’s right, “Hit Somebody” starts becoming a scripted reality next month, folks. We sure can’t wait for more news to start trickling in on that one.

Follow @ThatKevinSmith on Twitter for the latest right to your device of choice.