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.

Kevin Smith Talks Judd Apatow, Weed, And His Post-’Zack And Miri’ Depression

Today it seems every leading man in a comedy is a nerdy, awkward, social deviant trying to get laid. But it wasn’t always like that. Kevin Smith’s iconic films of the 90’s brought the often overlooked slacker to the leading role in this decade’s films, offering comic book geeks everywhere the chance to see themselves represented on the screen. Now in his late 30s, Smith’s fame has almost surpassed that of his films, and he’s in a period of transition. I recently sat down with the filmmaker/writer/pop-culture godfather to talk about his new book, his upcoming projects and the heartbreaking realization that he’s not the slacker he was 15 years ago.

When I arrived at Smith’s hotel room, he opened the door wearing a long, black bathrobe, reminiscent of Silent Bob’s trench coat. After we sat down on what we both agreed was an uncomfortable couch, I broke out my tape recorder and Smith munched on some bread and peanut butter. First we discussed his new book, “Shootin’ The Sh*t With Kevin Smith: The Best Of SModcast,” which he didn’t really write, so to speak. It’s a “best-of” transcription of his and best friend/producer Scott Mosier’s podcast, where they discuss topics like the origin of Santa Claus, inter-breed dog sex and the effects on the digestive tract after eating four pounds of raw meat, among others.

“When they told me they wanted to do this at Titan, I was like ‘I don’t think it’s gonna translate, dude. It’s all about inflection,” Smith said. “But what I loved about it is how they formatted it. It just made sense. You can just read it and just go ‘Oh my God, I can hear it in my head!’ That’s why I give credit to the people who transcribed it, like they’re the real authors. I mean they wrote the book.”

In the introduction, Smith explains how he wanted SModcast to be a strictly “No money, no problems” oasis where he and friends can “shoot the shit” without working. Then he and Mos took SModcast on tour to do live shows, concluding with one in his hometown of Red Bank, NJ. “The whole thing is just such goofy fun. Sadly, [The Redbank Live SModcast] will be the last one because Mos and I had this long discussion like, ‘If we’re taking this out on the road and selling tickets, isn’t that work?’ Then we decided if we do live ones anymore it’ll be for free. The next one will be at San Diego Comic-Con.”

SModcast, while seemingly just “goofy fun” among friends, is actually an important part of Smith’s new lifestyle. His last movie, “Zack And Miri Make A Porno,” was a box-office flop and an indication that Smith isn’t going to be making the same types of movies any longer. SModcasts, along with Twitter and his blog, provide a new outlet for Smith to continue doing the same kind of “dick and fart joke” humor without necessarily working it into films.

“At the beginning, [making films] was a communications medium. I was a dude from Jersey who was like ‘Must make a movie; must communicate,’” Smith explained. “I’ve been doing that for years and now I found a shorter, easier way to do it. I’m learning to compartmentalize my life, like now I don’t have to do everything in one medium. I’ll tell stories with films, but not necessarily about me and my friends. Now if I wanna fuckin’ be me and express myself, I can do it on SModcasts or on stage, or put it in a blog or a comic book.”

Die hard fans might miss Smith’s former movies, but the filmmaker has honest reasons for his transition. His latest films, “Clerks II” and “Zack And Miri” both had adult, almost melancholy overtones of the slacker growing up and getting too old to fuck around anymore.

“It’s sad when you realize you can’t be the angry young man anymore. The angry young man is barely ever interesting, and tolerable in his 20s. But his late 20s? Early 30s? God forbid late 30s? You can’t anymore. I’m in a business where I get to make pretend for a living, so what the fuck am I angry about? There’s nothing anymore; I’m a very content, middle aged man,” Smith said. “People are like ‘Ah when are Jay and Silent Bob coming back?’ And I’m like ‘I don’t think they are. I’m fuckin’ 39! I can’t just put my fuckin’ hat on backwards.”

After “Zack and Miri,” which grossed over $35 million worldwide, Smith fell into a slump. “I was depressed, man. I wanted that movie to do so much better. I’m sitting there thinking ‘That’s it, that’s it, I’m gone, I’m out. The movie didn’t do well and I killed Seth Rogen’s career! This dude was on a roll until he got in with the likes of me. I’m a career killer! Judd’s [Apatow] going to be pissed, the whole Internet’s going to be pissed because they all like Seth, and the only reason they like me anymore is because I was involved with Seth! And now I fuckin’ ruined that’,” Smith said.

I was shocked at Smith’s honesty, but I understood what he meant. When I saw “Zack And Miri,” I had to keep reminding myself that it was a Kevin Smith movie. It just didn’t feel the same as his previous work and signaled a turning point. For two months after the film’s theatrical release, Smith didn’t work. He even stayed away from the Internet, claiming, “It was like high school. I was like, ‘I’m a dead man. I’ll be the laughing stock.’”

With all this new-found free time, Smith picked up smoking weed on a regular basis, something he hasn’t done traditionally, and tried to rebuild his life at the same time. “People seem kind of surprised by it, but I’ve never been a big stoner. I wrote stoner movies but you can watch those movies and tell, or at least I can now that I am a stoner, it’s like a user-friendly version of a stoner,’” Smith explained. “It started as sort of a midlife crisis thing but it wasn’t that. It was sort of me saying ‘You can’t write like that anymore Kevin, you can’t write like a fucking slacker, you can’t write dick and fart joke movies anymore because it’s too easy. Now you do it in your sleep and that’s not where good films come from.’”

Smith started to tell me more about his realization. This was not a midlife crisis, and Smith wasn’t just upset he made a film with today’s hottest leading R-rated comedy actor and still failed to draw enough attention. He was genuinely upset with the quality of his work, and he was doing something about it.

“There had been a weird confluence of events. I thought I was breaking down after the failure to make $60 million, which is what I had hoped ‘Zack And Miri’ would do, but what I was really confronting was the notion that I can’t be the same filmmaker I was 15 years prior. I’m not in touch with the person I write about anymore. It’s been years since I paid my own bills or lived with my parents,” Smith said.

“I thought, ‘Oh I’m sad that “Zack And Miri” didn’t do well’ but really I’m sad because I shouldn’t even have made ‘Zack And Miri’ because I’m beyond it now. Not that I’m too good for it but that one happened all too easily. The script came out so fast, and we were done with the movie so fast. Now there’s nothing wrong with that, but the world I came from? My world was about digging my fingers into my chest, pulling open my cavity, pulling out a big chunk of fatty heart tissue, slapping it on a platter, putting another one on it and slapping it onto a projector. I didn’t just make movies, I put my heart and soul into them.”

Smith’s growing pains in the aftermath of “Zack and Miri” begged the question: has Judd Apatow cornered the slacker/bromance comedy market for good? In a sense, yes. But Smith admits it’s all part of the nature of filmmaking and a natural progression.

“I saw ‘Slacker’ and Hal Hartley’s movies when I was 21. Richard Linklater’s film was a wandering, meandering student film that was fascinating to watch. Hal Hartley’s stuff had people speaking in surrealistic, almost theatrical speech patterns. These two dudes did something where I was like, ‘Ok, I want to do that too but I think I can change it just enough where it’s better,’” Smith said. “And now, Judd does the same thing. Judd watched a bunch of movies, some of them were mine and he’s very kind about shouting me out, but all he did was say ‘I liked this and if I change it just enough I can make it mine.’ And now he’s doing better, just like my shit did better than Hal and Richard’s shit did in the beginning. Look, it’s such an incestuous medium, film.”

Smith doesn’t resent Apatow for borrowing his realistic dialogue (think about the porn preferences conversation at the top of “Superbad”) nor does he mind Simon Pegg (the British Kevin Smith in a lot of ways) using cues from his films in his own work. “They saw my shit and it informed their shit. I saw ‘Shawn Of The Dead’ and it informed ‘Reaper.’ We pass the ball back and forth because it’s one of those mediums where you’re always going to be influenced by everything you’ve ever seen,” Smith said.

So what’s next for Smith? Try a buddy cop movie called “A Couple Of Dicks” starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, to be released in February 2010. “Think ‘Lethal Weapon’ and ‘Beverly Hills Cop,’” Smith said. “It’s totally fun and very warm but let’s be honest, it’s not a movie that has a searing message at its center. It’s pretty much the movie you imagine in your head but like 40% funnier.”

“A Couple Of Dicks” will be the first film Smith has directed but not written. He also thinks no one will believe he directed it because “it looks really good.” But the modest filmmaker had the right idea to direct someone else’s work.

“I was like ‘If I write a movie right now it’s going to be about a filmmaker who made a movie that enough people didn’t go see and it’s really sad.’ You know, I’m not gonna write that,” Smith said. “So this ‘Couple Of Dicks’ script fell on my desk and I was like ‘Wow, if I had written a buddy cop movie this is exactly what it would be like.’”

While “A Couple Of Dicks” doesn’t sound too much different than Smith’s old “dick and fart joke” movies, he thinks it’s different, especially because he didn’t write it. To prove that he’s really done writing those kinds of films, he told me about “Ranger Danger.”

“I’ve got a half-finished script for “Ranger Danger”, which is kind of a dick and fart joke movie in space and its very funny but I can’t fucking finish it,” Smith said. “I mean, I could do it, but you’d see a world of difference between the first 50-60 pages and the last 50-60 pages. My head is elsewhere. Now I just want to make a hockey movie.”

And a hockey movie is exactly what Smith’s working on next. Based on the popular hockey song by Warren Zevon, “Hit Somebody” was recently announced by Smith as an upcoming project. The song adaptation tells the story of a guy who wants more than anything to be in the NHL, but is only good at one thing: beating people up on the ice. Smith says the tone he’s going after is akin to a “Forrest Gump” of sports movies, but not as ambitious.

“It’s not like my normal shit. Some people heard of it and were like ‘Oh, you’re gonna do a ‘Slapshot” and I’m like ‘No,’” Smith said. “I mean it’s set in that era [The 70's] but I’m going for something a little else, a little different on this one.”

“Hit Somebody” will be one of Smith’s more serious movies, although he admits he can never do something completely seriously. When he describes the main character’s dream of being in the NHL only to find he’s not playing the role he wants to, one is reminded of the recent shift in Smith’s career.

“The great irony is that he’s out there doing the thing he’s always dreamed about and loves but not in the way he thought he’d be doing it,” Smith said. “It’s definitely right up my alley and that’s where my head is right now. I think its gonna be kick-ass because when I hear that song… Ah, it reminds me of me.”

With a new book, two movies in development and post-production and an online presence that requires constant upkeep, Smith seems content to leave the slacker genre to the people who have their heads around it at the moment. For now, Silent Bob has a lot to say, and not just about his films. He recalled a moment to me during a Q&A when he shifted topics: “I was like ‘You know what? Let’s not talk about the movies because I’m not fucking Spielberg. Let’s talk about, like… Fuckin! Let’s talk about the shit that bonds us, you know?’

“The movies get people into your house, and then you’re like, ‘Let me show you around!’ And they’re like ‘This house is much bigger than it looks from the outside!’ So I need the movies, that’s how I get them inside, but then it’s them,” Smith said. “And let’s be honest, it’s about me too.”

Of particular interest, Kevin does mention that the long in planning “Ranger Danger” may no longer be made, with the new Sci-Fi comedy sort of a replacement. This makes sense to us, as we’ve heard Kevin say many times in the past he’ll take a completed script and borrow ideas from it for other projects. We’re guessing this new idea is a totally different film, but that he may have borrowed some of those “Ranger Danger” sequences or nuances to help shape this one.

With “Red State” very close to finding all the funding needed, we’re still hopeful to see THAT as the total 180 degree follow-up to “Zack And Miri Make a Porno” — Then, it’d be way cool to see Seth Rogen and other big names return to star in this unnamed sci-fi comedy. Of course, News Askew will be there, every step of the way, as the project develops.

“First, I’m going to do a 180 turn and do a horror movie called ‘Red State,’ ” Smith said in an interview Sept. 7 at the Toronto International Film Festival. “It’s going to be a total horror-political-psychological movie without a funny line in it. Then I’m going to do the science-fiction superhero movie. It’s going to be an original superhero that I’ve created. It’s stewing right now. I want to do it, though, and, God willing, it will star Seth Rogen.”

See the full story over at the LA Times website. Kudos to Joblo as well for picking up on this scoop.