• The film takes place in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. It’s also being filmed in and around that very same town (yep, a REAL place, much like Clerks and Chasing Amy, who referred to the towns they were actually filmed in).
• The aspect ratio will be 1:85 — This is the larger letterbox which fills your 16×9 TV, and continues in the tradition of “Clerks II”. Most of Kevin’s films follow this ratio, by the way, with the exception of “Dogma”, “Jersey Girl” and “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back”.
• Filming began on January 17th, 2008. The opening days of filming involved a daytime shoot at the Monroeville Mall (home of the original “Dawn of the Dead”), and other scenes inside a moving car. Shooting has since moved to rural Monroeville areas, including the inside of a high school there, and a real strip club. February 12th marked the halfway point of the shoot, which by our calculations will continue until around March 9th, give or take a few days.
• The billing order for the cast in the film’s opening credits will be as follows: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, and Jason Mewes. A large supporting cast has been confirmed, along with some confirmed and unconfirmed cameos. We believe some appearances will be kept secret in the hopes they can be discovered on opening day. Johnah Hill, however, will NOT appear, as confirmed by Kevin.
• Kevin recently confirmed shooting his “first snowfall” for the film in February, which tells us that “Zack & Miri” will take place in Winter, perhaps in its entirety (the mall scene above takes place on “Black Friday” which falls in November). The entire movie does NOT span only that one day though, Kevin confirms.
• While over an hour of the movie has already been roughly edited together by Kevin, he does not anticipate to have a trailer anytime soon. Current hopes are for the movie’s official trailer to debut with “Pineapple Express” im July. Going by a rough theater rule of thumb, that means they’re likely eyeballing a September or October 2008 release date for the movie (this is only speculation).
• The first test screening is planned for April or May, meaning that Kevin anticipates a mostly-finished version of the movie by that point. The screening will be by special invitation only, and held in the Los Angeles area.

So there ya have it, folks — Like we said, it may not be new to all of you, but it’s kinda cool to see it all in one spot, right? And it sure is enough to have us stoked to see the first footage, as well. As always, keep your bookmarks set to News Askew, and we’ll be happy to continue to give you the up-to-the-minute latest from the world of “Zack & Miri”.

On the first potential test screening: “Some of you will find out in April or May. We’ll be doing another one of those private pre-test screenings for boardies only around then. I really doubt we’ll test in NY/NJ with this one. But this screening I’m talking about would be the first, unofficial test: like we did with “Clerks II”, with no scoring cards or paperwork to fill out; just a long conversation afterwards. In essence, this would be the screening that helps me get ready for the dopey test screening I’ll be forced to eventually do - and I have no clue where that’ll be. ”

[Ed. note - This will likely be a similar process to what happened with Clerks II a couple years back, and is a real treat to attend. Kevin goes on to say the screening will be on the west coast, because it’s just plain easier. “Clerks II” eventually did hold an east coast NYC session as well, which is what he refers to in this quote.]

In other general news, Kevin proclaims the film “hands-down, our best looking flick to date.” Mewes is looking quite dapper as well, as evidenced by this fan-supplied photo recently taken from the set. Mewes will come fouth in the film’s front billing, with Craig Robinson in the 3rd spot.

In other casting news, Kevin confirms Tom Savini will indeed appear, as our IMDB scoop from earlier in the week predicted. Finally, the hope is to get the trailer for the film attached to “Pineapple Express”, the Seth Rogen flick due to arrive in theaters this July, for the biggest visibility. As fans, we’re hoping to get an “internet only” trailer even earlier than that. With Kevin behind the editing controls, we’re thinking that’s a strong possibility.

As we’ve had some wintry weather here in Pennsylvania, Kevin shot his first REAL snowfall for the film, which we think will look fantastic. We’ve had quite a few nice light snowstorms here since filming began, which we think is part of the reason they chose to come back to the state at this time of the year. As of last Tuesday, February 12th, they are officially halfway through the shoot.

More “Zack & Miri” news as we see or hear it. Stay tuned.

CHASING AMY - Written by: Kevin Smith

Arguably one of Kevin Smith’s best movies (though maybe not his wittiest, which would go to Clerks), Chasing Amy is a story about a lesbian and the man in love with her. Whether you are straight, gay, or bi, you can’t deny that Chasing Amy has heart. And its script is really well done, at that. My personal favorite scene would be when Jason Lee is trying to explain to Ben Affleck why the relationship can’t work, using examples with Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and the Man-Hating Dyke. It’s just classic Smith dialogue.

Character: Silent Bob
Films: Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks II
Years Released: 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2006
Chief traits: Silent, Not Silent
Trademark line: ” “
Additional comments: Probably not since the days of silent films has one man said so much by saying so little. Pairing with his hopped-up sidekick Jay (or is Bob the sidekick?), Silent Bob went from a quirky minor character in Kevin Smith’s debut Clerks to the co-star of his own film, along the way spawning a franchise for Smith and Bob alike, including comic books, cartoons, and guest spots on crappy TV shows (Yes, Dear).

The article summarizes some of what was said in Kevin’s blog post and on SModcast, which have been some of the only gossip that’s leaked from the set so far. We’re guessing the cast and crew have been extremely busy at work on this one. With a month of shooting completed, though, we’re expecting to see some emergence from the shadows and for the news floodgates to open up once again, very soon. Until then, take a gander at the /Film article for the small video, and look forward to seeing much clearer stuff in the coming weeks.

Given the silence from the set, we can only speculate on the roles here, but we’re loving the cast and excited to see how everything rolls together. If we hear more, you’ll see it at News Askew. See our Zack & Miri cast page for a full listing with photos, where available.

Last week, Silverman surprised her boyfriend, Jimmy Kimmel, on his show with a music video called “I’m [Bleep]ing Matt Damon,” featuring Silverman and the “Bourne Identity” star singing together about their faux affair. Now Kimmel is striking back with a song called “I’m [bleep]ing Ben Affleck.” Our source told us the video for this song, set to the theme of “We Are the World,” will star Affleck, Robin Williams, Don Cheadle, Harrison Ford, Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz.

With Affleck involved, it should be a riot — we can’t wait to see what he gets the guy to do. We’ll be watching for it. Kimmel’s show airs nightly on ABC.

Let me do some corrections…

“Last week, Tony Amen of Penn Hills and Jackson Nunn of Trafford, both frequent movie extras for Pittsburgh films, worked on a scene at Club Erotica in McKees Rocks.”

We did, indeed, shoot at a strip club in McKees Rocks.

“The prize for longest distance probably goes to Eddie Smith of Ireland, who read Smith’s message board, decided to “holiday” in Pittsburgh and volunteered as an extra. Dressed in a blue vest, he is portraying an employee of Janda’s HD Gallery, a television store where Miri works.”

Miri does not work in Janda’s HD Gallery.

“Smith, who also wrote the script, has chosen Monroeville, Minn., as the name of the fictitious town where the movie is set.”

The film is set in Monroeville, PENNSYLVANIA (aka, the actual Monroeville in the actual PA). We ditched the Minnesota setting months ago, when we decided to shoot in Pittsburgh instead. Hence, the film is set in (and around) the Pittsburgh area.

“The film takes place on Black Friday, the official launch of the Christmas shopping season, thus the decorations, says mall marketing director Mindy Suhoza.”

That scene in the mall is set on Black Friday - NOT the whole film.

And while it has nothing to do with the article, let me alert you to some shenanigans over at the IMDB. Mewes and Rogen both reported reading a “page” from the script on the IMDB message board for the flick that’s bogus. Essentially, the poster took the character names and wrote a page of dialogue. We’ve been so super tight with the security on the script (not for any particular reason; we’re just always pretty tight with script distribution) that I’d be shocked if any real pages ever got out.

Anyway, that’s all for now.

The coolest news here for us is that the film will actually take PLACE in Pennsylvania now, which we believe is a View Askew first and quite an honor for our state. In fact, this should make the film a distant cousin to the original “Dawn of the Dead”, which primarily filmed and was set in Monroeville, PA.

In addition, a local resident reports a new possible set spotted in the West End of the city — The entire area of the town has been decorated in a Christmas motif, with a snowy wintry look on the ground and surrounding cars. Pittsbugh’s west end was also utilized way back in the “Dogma” days for the famous diner scene. More news from the scene as we hear it!

Mr. Smith comes to Monroeville
Story By Zandy Dudiak, Staff Writer

Photos By Chris DiSabato of Gateway Associated Photographers


Snowmen and strings of bright, clear lights still dangle from the ceiling of Monroeville Mall five weeks after retailers deep-discounted winter coats and filled store racks with summer shorts.

Wearing his trademark full-length wool coat and long shorts, movie director Kevin Smith fits right in as he moves between a scene in the former Thomas Kincade storefront and the crew members standing just outside.

“I don’t know who they are,” says Joan Lunney, a volunteer at Monroeville Mall Ministry’s Talk Shop kiosk, as she watches the action.

While they may have some name recognition among mall rats and clerks — at least younger ones — Smith and the film’s stars, Seth Rogen of “Knocked Up” fame and Elizabeth Banks of “Scrubs,” still aren’t well known among the older crowd.

“They’re shooting a movie that’s coming out next Christmas,” Lunney says, unaware of the film’s somewhat-irreverent title, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.”

The movie is not a porn film, but a yet-to-be-rated comedy about lifelong friends who make an adult film to solve their cash flow problems, only to find they have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.

The cast was filming at the mall last week.

While the details of the film are hush-hush, there will be some risque, though funny, moments. Smith’s films generally have an “R” rating.

Last week, Tony Amen of Penn Hills and Jackson Nunn of Trafford, both frequent movie extras for Pittsburgh films, worked on a scene at Club Erotica in McKees Rocks.

For Amen, who also appeared as an extra in Smith’s locally-filmed 1998 movie “Dogma,” it was deja vu of sorts. Amen worked alongside actor Woody Harrelson while shooting a scene for “Kingpin” back in 1996 when the strip club was called Mancini’s.

Crew member Jared Wellman, a Forest Hills native now living in Los Angeles, belongs to unions in both cities, enabling him to work as a lighting technician on films being shot either place. Though willing to talk about themselves and their local ties, Wellman and other crew members do not discuss details of movies in production with outsiders.

Cast member Craig Robinson, who plays warehouse worker Darryl Philbin in the television hit “The Office,” comes out from the storefront, takes a seat and gets a backrub in front of the Happy Feet kiosk. An autograph seeker approaches, camera in hand, and Robinson good-naturedly obliges.

But when Robinson is approached for this story, publicist Amy Cohn ends the interview before he has a chance to say more than a few words.

Just below them, toddlers and their parents play in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, oblivious that “Porno” is being shot above them. But a play area sign, in the spirit of the late Fred Rogers, reminds everyone that “You are always welcome in this neighborhood.”

Some fans traveled a distance to see the stars.

Shaun Brake and Justin Griffin, both Smith fans from Akron, Ohio, are leaning against glass and rail on the top floor of the mall waiting to get a photo of Griffin with the director and other performers. Griffin, who has a collection of photos of himself with celebrities, snagged one with Bill Clinton two weeks ago.

Griffin explains his rules — not entering the work space and watching for the stars to cross into public areas before making his approach.

Others, like Chad Bracken of Punxsutawney, made the trip just for the chance to see the film being made.

The prize for longest distance probably goes to Eddie Smith of Ireland, who read Smith’s message board, decided to “holiday” in Pittsburgh and volunteered as an extra. Dressed in a blue vest, he is portraying an employee of Janda’s HD Gallery.

Smith, who also wrote the script, has chosen Monroeville as the name of the fictitious town where the movie is set.

The entourage has been spotted filming along Monroeville Boulevard at the Monroeville Municipal Center and at Twin Fountains Plaza, where the former Meadows ice cream parlor has been converted into a coffee shop for the film. The giveaway is the touch of Tinseltown outside — two large tinsel Christmas trees still standing in February.

The scene takes place on Black Friday, the official launch of the Christmas shopping season, thus the decorations, says mall marketing director Mindy Suhoza.

This is the first movie filmed at the mall since George Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead” 30 years ago. And that was filmed at night when the mall was closed.

Smith’s shooting schedule provides for some more public interaction.

Lunney, who hosted her own quilting show on the Monroeville cable access channel and runs cameras for the mall ministry’s cable show, leans over to a crew member assembling a large metal frame for a light diffuser, a task he may repeat many times before shooting wraps up about mid-March.

“I’ll pray for you if you want,” Lunney says.

“I need all the prayers I can get,” he replies with a smile.

This story’s been added to the archive over in our “Zack & Miri Make a Porno” press site as well — Expect that article list to get a LOT more extensive as the months roll on.