Kevin Smith’s Banned-in-the-US ‘Porno’ Poster: Exclusive first look!

You know what’s so special about this, the first poster for Kevin Smith’s new flick, Zack and Miri Make a Porno (due out October 31st)? It’s not that the one-sheet drops just before the movie’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival (which it does), or that Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks look so surprised, or that the chocolate-mint color scheme is making me a little hungry for Friendly’s. No, it’s that you’ll only see this poster in Canada.

Even after winning an appeal to overturn Porno’s NC-17 rating, Smith says the MPAA won’t give their blessing to the image shown here—which is eyes-only for our neighbors to the north. “When you’ve got the word ‘porno’ in the title, naturally, the marketing materials are gonna be scrutinized more closely by the MPAA,” says the director. “I understand they’ve got a job to do, but c’mon…this image isn’t that dirty; they’re both fully clad.”

We can just add this to the long list of things we have Canada to thank for, like William Shatner, Michael J. Fox, and the fittingly monikered Peter North. “I’ve always loved Canada and Canadians for giving us hockey,” says Smith. “Now, I love ‘em just a little bit more. For allowing tufts of hair.”

We don’t really get it, either, though hey, it’s a minor loss and maybe just a nice final jab from the MPAA, who kindly left the film intact after an appeal, so we say THANKS to them for that. Of course we could all play the game of finding more offensive posters, but hey, we’re sure they’ll come up with a suitable US replacement. You can bet these will sell online for a decent amount now, so scoop ‘em up — Perhaps the Stash can even find a way to sell some signed ones, as well? Sign us up.

We’ve got a few more shots from the Zack & Miri panel and behind the scenes at the San Diego con, as well as the final batch from the great Stash West “Spaced” signing that we found as a bonus, sitting in the wrong inbox! But of course we’ll just say we MEANT to do that.

As always, click the minis and you’ll get the biggies. And my are they ever glorious. Enjoy, and special thanks to our photographers for their generous contributions.

“We always have a standby line for ticketed special events such as this one. The policy is you have to be present at the theater one hour before showtime (though people sometimes start lining up earlier) to have your name added to the standby list. The list is first-come, first-served, no guarantees. JBFC members are always given priority on the list over non-members.”

So there you have it. How bad do you want in?

In other screening news, Kevin confirms that the Hollywood premiere will be at Grauman’s on October 20th.

More ink on the Woodstock announcement yesterday comes from USA Today as well as Variety. Still no official time or venue for the “Zack and Miri” screening at that festival, but Keivn does also confirm the flick WILL be there, and we’ve heard it’ll close the festival. So, sometime on October 5th. More details as we get them, along with another full post summarizing all the screenings will be in the next update. Now we just need to find a venue in Pennsylvania to host one of these screenings, dang it!

…”You’re not allowed to bring in clips — but you can cite precedent,” Smith started to explain during a not-long-ago MTV stop.

As far as the sex stuff goes, one of the bones of contention involved a scene that the Motion Picture Association of America, the ratings board in question, said had much too much “thrusting” and was “gratuitous.” And so our Freedom Fighter stepped up his game, and took to referring to Taking Lives, a movie starring Ethan Hawke (during his Uma days) and the aforementioned Jolie (during her Billy Bob phase).

“There’s a sex scene where they f—on a dresser,” Smith recalled, like the erudite student of film that he is. One that is “insanely titillating” and, um, “looks real.”

Some tidbits from the press release:

“I can’t imagine a single person in the entertainment industry who embodies the spirit of the Woodstock Mavericks more than Kevin Smith” said John Sloss, head of Cinetic Media, member of the Woodstock Film Festival Advisory Board and a long time colleague of Mr. Smith. “From “Clerks” to “Dogma” to the upcoming “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” he has tweaked the noses of the Establishment and expanded the bounds of propriety in a singularly brilliant and irreverent way. More remarkably, all the while imbuing his work with an uncommon humanism, a quality also historically attributed to the Woodstock community.”

…

“Woodstock embodies the Maverick spirit as a symbol of creative, risk-taking, independent thought,” said Meira Blaustein, WFF Executive Director and Co-Founder. “This year’s honorary Maverick Award recipient, Kevin Smith, personifies all of these qualities. His films perceptively pursue humanity with a satiric and fiercely independent eye. He’s an outstanding choice for this award.”


“I don’t know about the ‘Maverick’ part, but I’m delighted to be getting an award from Woodstock, as I’ve been a Peanuts fan for years,” Smith said. “Truly, it’s an honor.”

Find more info on the festival, which runs from October 1-5, at their official site. The date the award will be presented, in person, to Kevin has not yet been disclosed. However, our press release states that “Zack And Miri Make a Porno” will CLOSE the festival, which has us guessing Kevin may be there on the 5th at the very least to screen the film. Catch the full press release HERE. Congratulations to Kevin on another well-deserved honor.

Just a correction we wanted to note as well - While Mr. Ortega has forwarded us all the photos, and this week’s offerings have been by way of his camera, the bulk of the shots we hosted last week were shot by his colleague, Austin Gorum - We’d like to give a big round of thanks and applause to Austin for being kind enough to offer up these shots as well, in addition to the Albert Ortega shots featured above and yesterday. Much thanks, fellas.

Some tidbits from the press release:

“I can’t imagine a single person in the entertainment industry who embodies the spirit of the Woodstock Mavericks more than Kevin Smith” said John Sloss, head of Cinetic Media, member of the Woodstock Film Festival Advisory Board and a long time colleague of Mr. Smith. “From “Clerks” to “Dogma” to the upcoming “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” he has tweaked the noses of the Establishment and expanded the bounds of propriety in a singularly brilliant and irreverent way. More remarkably, all the while imbuing his work with an uncommon humanism, a quality also historically attributed to the Woodstock community.”

…

“Woodstock embodies the Maverick spirit as a symbol of creative, risk-taking, independent thought,” said Meira Blaustein, WFF Executive Director and Co-Founder. “This year’s honorary Maverick Award recipient, Kevin Smith, personifies all of these qualities. His films perceptively pursue humanity with a satiric and fiercely independent eye. He’s an outstanding choice for this award.”


“I don’t know about the ‘Maverick’ part, but I’m delighted to be getting an award from Woodstock, as I’ve been a Peanuts fan for years,” Smith said. “Truly, it’s an honor.”

Find more info on the festival, which runs from October 1-5, at their official site. The date the award will be presented, in person, to Kevin has not yet been disclosed. However, our press release states that “Zack And Miri Make a Porno” will CLOSE the festival, which has us guessing Kevin may be there on the 5th at the very least to screen the film. Catch the full press release HERE. Congratulations to Kevin on another well-deserved honor.

“Zack and Miri Make a Porno” (Oct. 31)

Seth Rogen shifts gears from Judd Apatow to Kevin Smith in the indie icon’s latest raunchy comedy. Rogen stars as Zack (Rogen) who reevaluates his long-time platonic friendship with Miri (Elizabeth Banks) after they decide to make an adult film to earn money. Count on Smith, who won an appeal to lower the NC-17 rating to R, to embrace the dirty stuff while finding the heart within. Plus, Traci Lords plays a character named Bubbles. Nice.

Curiosity level: 7