• Podcast updates: Kevin issued Bear SModcast (#108) unto the world earlier this week, and tomorrow, the SMODnet gets a third family member. Malcolm Ingram’s new ‘cast hits the airwaves for a regular series, joining Kevin and Scott’s original SModcast and the new Flanagan/Johnson SteveDave series. Rumor has it that Malc’s Mom will join him for the broadcast.
• More “Cop Out” foreign trailer fun: This one was dubbed in Quebec a few days ago for French-Canadian audiences. Fun facts: The French version of the movie was released at exactly the same time as the original version. Bruce Willis always has the same guy doing his voice for French-lanauges as well. The title in French (“Flics en service”) literally means “Cops on Duty”.

• While we’re on the fun facts, take a look at this image, clipped from a Newsweek article on indecency complaints filed with the FCC last year. It reveals that, for the year, “Zack & Miri” ranked at #22 for their horribly “offensive” promos that aired on cable. Interesting, though looking at some of the other entries (“Nip/Tuck”, “Girls Gone Wild”, and various MTV programs) is just as fascinating.
• It goes without saying, but we’d love for you to head on out to see “Cop Out” this week or weekend, be it for the first time or for a repeated viewing. If your theaters were anything like ours, you missed some good jokes due to the audience laughter anyway. See it again on the big screen — Support Kev’s work and this wonderful cast. See ya next time…

• Heavy.com presents An EXCLUSIVE new video interview with Kevin, to promote “Cop Out”, which kicks off with some post-”Zack & Miri” talk, then jumps into the birth of “Cop Out”. Looks like this one comes from a small roundtable that was held during the recent trip to Toronto. Head on over for a look, but settle in – The clippage runs around 17 minutes. We love the story that Kev tells around the middle about filming the interrogation room scene. Classic stuff.
• With V-Day on the way in a couple days, Cinema Blend takes a look at “15 Romantic Movies Men Should Love”. Their list includes an item titled “Most of Kevin Smith’s Filmography”:

  
  Most Of Kevin Smith’s Filmography

  Yes, they’re crude, obscene, and occasionally disgusting, but most Kevin Smith’s movies are also, at their root, romantic comedies. Think about it: the key conflicts in both Clerks films is Dante’s inability to decide whether he should be with his current girlfriend or be with another. Mallrats is about two guys who have been dumped and, while using the mall as a coping mechanism, try and repair their relationships. Zack and Miri Make A Porno is about two friends who discover that they have long had feelings for one another. Do I really have to explain Chasing Amy? These are all classic romantic comedy storylines, just hidden behind hermaphroditic porn and interspecies erotica. There’s no shame in that.

• Jason Mewes is an integral piece of Askewniverse history, so it’s nice to check in and see what the guy’s up to once in a while. Den of Geek has a new interview with Jay, who chats about working with Kev, future plans, and those memorable blog posts. Here’s a taste:

  
  The project I wanted to ask you about was one that’s popped up on the IMDB called The Science Of Cool, which seems to hark back to the John Hughes films of the 80s? Is it finished?

  No, it’s not. And you know what? A lot of those movies aren’t even started. The Science Of Cool is a movie that a friend of mine, Billy, is producing. And he asked me if I wanted to jump on board, and I read it and I thought it was good. It was a different character for me and stuff. And I don’t know how these people even get it up on IMDB like that.

  There’s three other movies up there, but none of them are in actual production right now. They’re all in that stage where they’re getting characters, people attached to the script and some people are interested in financing, but nothing solid. That’s where that’s at. They have some people who want to do the movie and are interested, but they’re waiting to get financing.

  …

  Have you got any involvement in Cop Out?

  No. I was supposed to do a small part in there, and it didn’t work out because the day they were shooting, scheduling, didn’t pan out. It was just a small part anyway, which still would have been nice, don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t worth adjusting the commitments I already had for a small part.

  There’s a lot more interesting stuff, so we recommend you check out the entire article for a decent little read. Job well done by the folks over at DOG.

• The new Electronic Arts iPhone game titled “Surviving High School” features a little Zack & Miri nod. In the game, if you decide to take your date to the movies, it gives you a choice as to what movie you’d like to see. The first one is titled: “Nick And Miri Make A Mixtape”.
• According to tweets from Kevin this morning, this Saturday’s Bear Nation-themed SModcast in San Francisco is canceled. If anything changes, and it’s back on, we’ll fill ya in.

• It was a year like no other – 2009 marked quite possibly the most major changes in Kevin’s professional life since he started View Askew productions almost 20 years ago. For the first time, his film work would take place on a non-View Askew production, furthermore, a project he had not scripted. He would re-discover his love for hockey in a major way. He would blaze trails being among the first celebrities to make use of the Twitter service, taking it to a new level to interact with the fans. He would discover a new love for a popularly-prescribed herb (in some states). Most of all, Kevin Smith will mark 2009 as the year of the people, where his stage presence would rise to new levels of popularity, geography, and frequency.

  
  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 talked to Jersey Shore’s Metromix for a quick interview, here’s a peek:

  
  “December right now is wide open, and that’s when I’m going to sit down and start writing and I’ve got pages and pages of notes, I already wrote the last 10 pages of the script which is weird, I went to the end and started, but it’s ready … it’s just fucking poised to go,” Smith told us in September.

  Smith was upfront with the financial uncertainty that would come with bringing “The Hockey Song” to the big screen.

  “I don’t know if anybody’s going to want to do the hockey movie, because name one hockey movie that people made money off of in its theatrical release; it’s tough,” he said. “Look, the sport doesn’t have a massive following, how the fuck is a film about the sport also going to have a massive following? So, you go in with tailored expectations, you know you’re kind of dealing to a very specific audience, dealing with a specific audience, so you know, we’ll probably make it on the inexpensive side, I can’t imagine spending more than $25 million on a movie like that.”

  However, Smith is convinced of the power of his project. “When all is said and done, when that movie’s done, I guarantee you it’s gonna impact, it’s gonna hit people, even if you don’t like hockey it’s gonna hit you in a very personal place,” he said. “The movie I see in my head, and more than that the movie I feel in my heart, oh God, it’s gonna be good.”

  We’re betting Kevin’s going to be surprised to find cast lining up for “Hit Somebody” — Going out on a limb here to predict the biggest and best ensemble yet.

• We mentioned that photo in the late great George Carlin’s autobiography where his work with Kevin is touched on, now here’s the passage:

  
  “I don’t know if there’ll be any more movies. I did two with Kevin Smith, Dogma in ‘99 and Jersey Girl in ‘04, where he wrote me a great part as Ben Affleck’s dad. I like working with Kevin: there’s alot of great counterpunching and the catholic thing is a strong bond. Acting is fun to do, a worthy fraternity and a great tradition to have had a tiny speck of a part of.”

  Very brief, but you definitely get the impression that Carlin enjoyed his time in front of the camera while working with Kevin. Great book also, well worth checking out if you’d like some new winter reading material.

• Some mini-retro here: A keen-eyed scooper revealed that we missed archiving this fall article from Den of Geek, which chatted up Kevin on topics such as Willis and “Red State”. Not exacting breaking news, but a worthy read as Kev always gives good interview. Some clips:

  
  “…After Zack & Miri I was like ‘oh my god, Zack & Miri didn’t do well’. And then I thought it was a mid-life crisis. But then a mid-life crisis is generally for people who have not achieved their hopes and dreams.

  I was so young and my life was in front of me and what am I doing wasting my time. I had goal and I achieved it when I was like 23. And all of a sudden people were like okay, in order to keep yourself entertained, create new fucking goals, dude! And I didn’t create big ones for myself. I know me, I create little challenges! I want to step over things, I don’t want to climb mountains!

  So I set myself little challenges, and I accomplished them, and felt very accomplished and whatnot. But then you get to that point, man, where it’s just like I’ve been doing it a bunch, it’s now what I do for a living, so I can’t just walk away from it. Particularly because I enjoy it. I enjoy doing it for a living and the lifestyle it affords. I like that my job is to make pretend, and somebody pays me. And I’m like I can’t give that up, that’s awesome.

  But the mid-life thing for me, it was like everything I ever wanted came true. So I feel like it wasn’t mid-life, maybe it is what Stephen Fry is talking about, where it’s like wow, it’s been 15-16 years straight of a really successful run. And I’m not ambitious enough. It’s not like I’ve done it all. I’m not Alexander, and I’ve reached the end of the world and there’s nothing left to conquer. But, I mean, for me, I’m just I can’t retread the same territory anymore, because number one, I can’t do it, and number two, it’s just like leave it alone, it speaks for itself.

  So I reach a point now where it’s like well, now I’ve got to find a different thing that fuels me as an artist, or something I want to express without expressing it the way I’ve expressed it through my characters for all these years.

  Thing was with Clerks, that was a way in, that was a way to start a conversation with the world at large. It wasn’t so much a film as an ice breaker. It was like ‘hi, I’m Kevin Smith and I would like to talk to you for the next 30 years, 40 years. However long you want to speak to me’ or something like that.

  Now with the SModcast, with the Q&As, with Twitter, any number of other things, I could exercise and I can reach out and touch and get instant gratification. I can throw out something funny, ‘hey, that’s funny’, ‘thank you very much’. Everything really kind of on a much quicker basis. Compact. You don’t have to spend a year and a half of your life building it and constructing it.

  Because that’s what the movies are. You get an idea and then it takes a year and a half to hear a response when all’s said and done. With SModcast, we put it up that night, we hear from people that’s funny, thumbs up, and there it is. So I can do those things or talk about weird things that I would use to fuse into the flicks in any of those formats, and I’m like ‘alright, let me figure out what I want to do with film for the next few years’.

  I know it ain’t going to be what I do for the rest of my life, because apparently View Askew wasn’t what I was going to do for the rest of my life. So I figure if that’s one chapter, maybe this is chapter two, or maybe it’s the end of the book. Who knows what’s in the cards?

  But I feel like I’m closing View Askew for the time being, and now I’m opening a new book and I’ll see for a while if I can be this filmmaker where I don’t write everything that I direct, or create everything that I direct.

  Like in the case of the hockey movie [that Smith is currently working on], Hit Somebody. It’s based on a Warren Zevon song that Mitch Albom wrote the lyrics for. So in that instance, that’s almost in my world that Story By credit goes to somebody else, and I would get Screenplay credit. That’s where the passion is. The story or that character is something I identity with, and I can infuse it with my own experience. It’s not strictly my story. But essentially it is. “

• Attention US readers (or those of you who know a way around it)…The Hulu free streaming video service is now offering the entire Season 1 catalog of “Reaper” including Kevin Smith’s memorable pilot episode (shot by DP Dave Klein!). “Reaper” was one of those great shows cancelled before its time, and season one’s 18 episode are all gems in their own way. Enjoy. But do it soon — There’s rumors out there that Hulu may turn into a pay service at some point down the road.

• GeekTyrant got a look at Warner Bros. 2010 slate of flicks, where they list an “Untitled Cop Movie” for a February 26, 2010 release date. Nothing major here, though it does confirm that the release date is sticking, and that they still don’t have an official title. What we DO love is this beautiful new high res still of the film’s 2 stars. Is that a great shot, or what?
• “Shooting the Shit with Kevin Smith” makes AICN’s widely read Holiday Gift Guide this year:

  
  If you haven’t kept up with Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier’s podcast (or SModcast as they call it) you either have weeks worth of audio to catch up with on iTunes or you need to pick up the above book: Shootin’ the Shit With Kevin Smith: The Best of SModcast. Love him or hate him, the dude is a funny motherfucker when talking off the cuff.

  Pick up signed copies of the book through the Stash — Might we suggest taking advantage of today’s newly announced coupons to make the deal even better?


• A familiar photo from the View Askew world is featured in the new autobiography of the late and insanely great George Carlin at the start of chapter 17. Here’s a look at it.
• Another review has popped up for the incredible 3-disc BluRay Kevin Smith box, this time from PopCultureShock.They’ve split their review into 3 pages, 1 per movie. It’s probably one of the most technically detailed reviews we’ve seen of the discs, so highly recommended you take a look. This set is a must-buy for any current or future Bluray player owner — You just gotta have this. The site scores Clerks and Amy with very high marks, though laments the lack of extra on the J&SBSB Bluray — So we’ll remain hopeful for a new edition of that one down the road that adds in the awesome special features of the SE DVD.
• From the Huffington Post: “It’s not quite “Zack and Miri Make A Porno,” but it’s pretty close: a couple in Britain have taken to making porn films in order to finance their dream wedding in Mexico.” We think they might owe Kevin some royalties for intellectual property.

• Aint It Cool News’ “Legends” series, which usually profiles some of Hollywood’s most senior actors, takes a detour to honor Kevin with an extensive new interview with Kevin. Part 1 is available now, with Part two coming sometime later this week. This one’s really, really long, so we’re going to choose a few choices passages here, but of course highly recommend that you head on over to AICN to read Capone and Kevin’s detailed conversation. Having said that (any “Curb your Enthusiasm” fans here?), some highlights:

  
  “…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.

• In a brand new interview, Kevin tells Techland why he’ll “Never Make a Superhero Movie”. Choice clippage ahead:

  
  “…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.

• Fun clippage of the day — Watch Kevin turn the tables on interviewer Elizabeth Snead at the “New Moon” premiere, when she drops some questions on he and daughter Harley. Story and clippage courtesty Zap2It.
• Count us among the sad and stunned when Jason Lee’s sitcom, “My Name is Earl”, didn’t get a renewal this year (inferior comedies have followed). The GOOD news is that, hot off the fantastic role he played in the show, Lee is now slated to return to television for TNT — A new hourlong called “Delta Blues”, where Lee will lead as Dwight Hendricks, a Memphis police officer who lives with his mother and moonlights as an Elvis impersonator. We’re there. Yahoo’s article also confirms that he recently wrapped a small role for “A Couple of Dicks” which we’re sure will be a scene stealer.
• Zack and Miri get a quick name check in a parody advertisement that appears in audio format during the NPR show “On the Media”. Click in and listen.
• Planet Out has a brief look at the just-released Bluray box set, keying in on “Chasing Amy”.
• Brian O’Halloran stars with Corey Feldman & Bronson Pinchot Star in the new comedy “Hooking Up” , due on DVD December 8th. Check out an R-Rated trailer courtesy of YouTube and learn more about the comedy at MTI Home Video.

• While it’s still not the long-awaited announcement of those Clerks 2 inaction figures, Diamond Previews has announced the “Night of the Living Kev” inaction figure which will hit shops in January, 2010:

  

  Never one to pass up an opportunity for blatant pandering, Kevin Smith and Graphitti Designs are proud to present their new Night of the Living Kev InAction Figure. Continuing the tradition of producing figures that lack any articulation or motion whatsoever, we immortalize in fine injected plastic, the man who made “inaction” a lifestyle choice. Based on designs by animator Stephen Silver, sculptor Jon Matthews brings to life (or brings back to life in this case), this colorful, zombiefied rendition of Kevin. Measuring nearly 5″ in height, this figure features zero articulation, zero accessories and zero signs of life!!

  While in the zombie mood, check out the Monroeville Zombies shirt and hoodie as worn by Seth Rogan in Kevin’s Zack & Miri Make a Porno. You can never go wrong when you hang with the undead!!

  
  We’ll of course remind you when release date gets closer, as the Stash will certainly have a nice autographed supply for ya. This also gets us interested in a followup on the Clerks 2 inactions, so we’ll check with our contacts and see what we can find out for you there, as well. While we’d love to see new inaction figures under the Christmas tree this year, the fact that Previews hasn’t officially announced them yet has us thinking we’re looking at a 2010 release for that lot as well.

• Kevin tells MTV movies, via this short video clip, that he would love to see a theatrical take on comic “Hot Stuff, the Little Devil” – Tongue firmly planted in cheek there…we think. Check it out, just a short blurb and a 30 second clip.
• If you’re in the video watching mood, Kevin recently tweeted a new video of him on KTLA where he’s pimping the new book. About 5 minutes in length.

• We dig this photo of Kevin getting up close and personal with the fans from the Dublin gig, part of the recent European tour. Over the course of 3+ hours onstage, Kevin’s been basically taking whatever position makes him comfortable lately, whether it be on foot, hitting a couch, or even just laying right on the stage, as you see here. Good stuff. Thanks to scooper Garth for the shot.

• Comic Alliance posted about a group of guys who make custom lego men of comic book characters — In a gallery search, we noticed someone took a shot at a lego Silent Bob and a funny little Lego Quick Stop – You gotta love that little sign. See ya next time!

• An important note about the October 24th Orpheum show this weekend — While their website still lists a start time of 6:30 PM, that’s just a doors opening time. We can confirm that Kevin will take the stage at 8:00 PM that night. Please be sure to schedule accordingly. Los Angeles is the place to be this weekend if you’re a View Askew fan, no doubt about it.
• Wanna see some live peeks behind the scenes of “A Couple of Dicks”? Our very astute scooper Hunter located this video of “The Ultimate Arm” camera rig at work on the shoot, as some second unit material is shot. No sign of Kevin in these clips, though you’ll get a quick peek at a few of the locations and sequences, and of course a few looks at the stars, too. The ultimate arm is a camera rig used for getting some fantastic in-car shots during action scenes.
• Has Kevin stepped back in front of the cameras again? IMDB lists Mr. Smith as the character “Big Larry” on their page of director Noel Clarke’s “4.3.2.1″. This evidence of a tweet and photo by Kevin and a companion tweet and photo from the director seem to confirm the role. We’ll of course let you know the details as soon as we got ‘em.
• We ran this link last update, but in case you missed it, Newsarama IS back online now (came back soon after last update, actually)…Still, their Seattle report is well worth the read. One of our faves from the tour so far. Check out a snippet here:

  
  “…In good time, we reach what has become the turning point for Smith’s current career direction. It is triggered by a pretty girl in the rafters who passes over the Q & A rules of standing in line and yells out something about Jesus. Smith jokingly suggests this could be someone about to jump. Then she yells about how much she loves “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.” Her question: Why doesn’t Smith embrace this glorious box office failure? And so the window has been opened. Smith toys around with the question like a cat playing with a ball of yarn. Why, of course, he’s always embraced that movie but let’s now go about opening up a fresh wound and see what we may find. Suddenly, someone yells to the girl, “Show us your tits!” To this Smith scolds, “And you guys wonder why you don’t get laid!” Not missing a beat, Smith takes flight.

  
  What happens next is nothing short of amazing. Smith treats everyone to a night at the theater as he beautifully does what amounts to a one act play. In it, he relates what it is that currently spins his wheels. Jumping off the tragic yet wonderful experience that was “Zack and Miri,” Smith talks about how the star of his movie, Seth Rogen, helped to turn him on to marijuana. Feeling pretty bad that he failed to make a hit movie with the rising star of director Judd Apatow, considered “the next Kevin Smith,” he gains some relief by getting stoned. As he slips into a stoner lifestyle, he happens upon a really cool Canadian documentary about hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. As he learns more and more about the exceptional life of Gretzky, he keeps bugging his wife about what he’s learned. She is not amused and starts to wonder if Smith is smoking too much pot. It’s a good thing to wonder about but , in Smith’s case, it seems to have opened things up for him. The writing is better. Even the sex is better. Of course, what works for Kevin Smith is not necessarily going to work for Joe Blow. Smith seems to acknowledge as much and doesn’t come right out and endorse drug use.”

  
  Read the whole fantastic report over at Newsarama — And afterwards, kick yourself if you’ve yet to seek out Kevin Smith live.

• Brian O’Halloran’s new movie “Hooking Up” arrives on DVD December 8th. The flick co-stars Corey Feldman and Bronson Pinchot. Here’s a plot summary: “In this over-the-top comedy, the relationships of three girls and four guys – in affluent, adolescent suburban reality – intersect through the topsy-turvy world of love, power… and Hooking Up!” First we’ve heard of this one, but we love O’Halloran, so suggest you give it a watch on that basis alone.

• Here’s a rundown of the last couple of days of press that’s appeared in audio and written format around the webs — Kevin’s got a few days left in Europe before heading back to the US for the second leg of the US tour. Still, the web defies all geography, so here’s a mix of press from around the globe burning up our screens today:

  • Entertainment Weekly features a new interview where Kev talks about the SModcast book and “Hit Somebody”. Here’s a sample”

    
    “I was talking to him [Mitch Albom] about Twitter. He was like, “So I’ve got this book coming out, and my publisher’s talking about how it would be good for me to be on Twitter. She says check out your page. So I go on to your page and I read about how you’re planning to have sex with your wife, and if that doesn’t work you’re going to masturbate while looking at pictures of her. And I realized that I’m out of Twitter.” So there’s a nice little gap between me and Mitch. But we find this weird common ground. Both of our material has lots of heart to it. I’m just not as talented as Mitch, so I dress it up with a lot of dirty words.”

• Part 2 of JoBlo’s interview is now available, where he chats about dealing with the MMPA and why TWILIGHT is good, dishes on his new Batman character, Baphomet, “A Couple of Dicks”, and “Red State”. Here’s a peek:

  
  JB: I had heard that they wanted to change the name of your upcoming movie A COUPLE OF DICKS to A COUPLE OF COPS?

  KS: Yeah, that’s not even the MPAA. That’s Warner Bros. contacting the network saying…we were still in production…based on what I went through with the ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO title, we said, hey, we’ve got this movie called A COUPLE OF DICKS. It’s a cop movie and it stars Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. Are you guys going to give us a hard time with advertising? And the big three networks came back and said, ‘yeah, you can’t advertise with that title before nine o’clock. So right away, Warner Bros, which is a huge corporate empire, said, let’s fix this title. This title’s got to go, because we just spent thirty five or whatever million dollars making this movie. We’re not just going to lose it all because we can’t advertise to our core audience. And who’s our core audience but people who watch sports on the weekend.

  So suddenly we had to think about changing the title. Marketing is trying to go in there and duke it out and trying to see if we can come to some sort of compromise about the title. One of the easiest ones would be that when you refer to “dicks” it’s detectives. It’s D.I.C.s for Detective in Charge. It’s not dicks. So if it is A COUPLE OF D.I.C.s is that OK to run before nine o’clock? Or are they objecting to hearing the voice over where it wouldn’t matter if there were periods or not? “Dicks. They just got harder.” Whatever.

• Let’s shift to some multimedia now — Video from Kevin’s appearance on BBC 2’s Newsnight Review is right here for your viewing enjoyment. The official website is here though we believe that it will be region-locked. This is sort of a panel show and a bit different from your usual Q&A — Kevin talks about the new mainstream appeal of geek culture in comics, theaters, and TV.
• How about radio interviews? We’ve got two of them today. First up, here’s a voice from the past, John DeBella, who once famously went up against Howard Stern in the Philly radio market, is doing a show on PA’s WMGK radio right now. Kevin called in to promo the SModcast book, and WMGK has kindly put the audio online for your enjoyment. This is a fairly quick one that spends a few minutes on each of the current and upcoming projects.
• And finally, bringing it back to the UK — Here’s a fresh podcast from Friday where Kevin appeared on BBC Radio 5 to sit in on Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s Film Reviews. View this page and look for the Friday October 9th episode or click here for a direct MP3 download.

Kevin brings the big show to Glasgow, Scotland on Monday. Then, the second London gig, his first appearance ever in Ireland, and finally back to Seattle Washington by the end of the week. Be there. Speaking of appearances, no new SModcast this week due to the Europe trip, but you GOTTA go back and listen again to the live SModcast, especially that last 20 minutes or so where they do the reading as each other’s part. One of the funniest things you will ever hear recorded, ever.