PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: This was a blockbuster year at the box office with Hollywood on the verge of record-breaking numbers. So, for the inside story on the movies you missed and those you shouldn’t miss, I spoke with Kevin Smith, the hot independent director. His latest feature: “Jersey Girl.” It stars — you know these two — Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. He gives us his hits and misses for 2002.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN (on camera): “My Big, Fat Greek Wedding.” What is it about a movie like that, where you can take unknown actors, or a unknown actor, and spend what, 3 or 4 million bucks on it and end up making close to a couple of hundred million?

KEVIN SMITH, DIRECTOR AND ACTOR, “JERSEY GIRL”: A total phenomenon really. You know, how often does that happen when something that extensive (ph) with almost no marketing budget behind it just keeps earning and earning?

SMITH: This is a movie that just kind of picked up steam as it went along. Obviously, people found something in the movie that they identified with, because boy, they went out there and told the world about it.

ZAHN: “Harry Potter, Chamber of Secrets,” “Men in Black II,” “Analyze that,” another “Star Trek” movie, “Santa Clause 2,” this genre of film doesn’t seem to lose its staying power, does it?

SMITH: No, there’s always comfort in the familiar, when you can kind of sit down in the movie theater and be like, OK, I pretty much know like what the chemistry is going to be like.

“Men in Black,” I love it, it was a wonderful movie. But “Men in Black II” it felt like they were like people love that dog. It really wasn’t the dog in the last movie that did it for most people. It was the chemical between Tommy Lee and Will Smith, and they didn’t seem to share as much screen time as they had in the first one.

ZAHN: Did “Spiderman” live up to your expectations? SMITH: The first time I saw “Spiderman,” I wasn’t really wild about it, but I watched it on a tape at home.

SMITH: And the movie came out and did huge numbers. I went to see it on the big screen when things calmed down a bit, when you could finally get in to see it, and I liked it a lot more, like you know it plays wonderfully on a big screen.

ZAHN: Another movie that got a lot of attention this year was Eminem’s “8 Mile.”

ZAHN: Is this the beginning of a new career for him?

SMITH: A large cross-section of people like Eminem music. You know, I’m sure there’s a certain percentage of the audience that showed up just to see if he’d fail, rooting for him to fail. But apparently, he didn’t, because he got great acting notices.

ZAHN: If you would, Kevin, reflect on what you think were some of the movies that had the greatest impact this year.

SMITH: Two of the best movies that I saw this year were cartoons: “Ice Age” and “Lilo & Stitch.”

SMITH: “Lilo & Stitch” I thought was one of the best, if not the best, movies of the year, because that really — it did everything that a movie should do. It made you laugh, and it made you cry, it totally touched you, and it had songs in it.

ZAHN: “Ice Age” visually was just spectacular.

SMITH: “Ice Age,” yes, was wonderful to look at, and I also thought the chemistry between the voices was totally well-done, proving like, you know, you could take something familiar and as long as it’s well-written and well-directed, it doesn’t matter.

ZAHN: Yes, that’s…

SMITH: I really enjoyed that movie.

I finally got around to seeing “Austin Powers 3: Gold Member,” and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I didn’t find it funny.

SMITH: There’s a few moments where you kind of chuckled, but it felt like diminishing (ph) returns. The movie did incredibly well, and everyone thinks that Austin Powers is really funny. And I thought he was funny the first time, but that movie to me was just kind of like, oh man.

ZAHN: Tell me a little bit about how the industry reacted to “Swept Away,” and that was the venture of Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie.

ZAHN: It did horrible at the box office.

SMITH: It’s kind of a shame. Guy Ritchie is really a talented director, and Madonna can’t seem to catch a break in movies. Don’t know why. But who knows? Who knows why stuff doesn’t work?

ZAHN: Some of the other movies you see leading the list of the worst movies of the year are “Jackass, the Movie.”

SMITH: In terms of “Jackass,” you’ve got to (UNINTELLIGIBLE), because it’s barely a movie. It’s to a certain extent a version of the TV show. I guess you’ll never go broke, you know, underestimating the intelligence of the American public, or the taste of the American public for that matter.

ZAHN: Let’s close by talking about your latest project, “Jersey Girl.” It’s your latest…

SMITH: “Jersey Girl,” yes.

ZAHN: … movie. Now, that stars, what? Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck?

SMITH: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, it will be out sometime in 2003. I had a great time shooting it.

ZAHN: Did they become a couple during the filming of this movie? Or were they a couple preceding it?

SMITH: They — I guess they had started dating right before we started rehearsing. So, they had been together for about a week, two weeks, and then suddenly we were rehearsing, and they were a couple, which was kind of great, because they were playing a couple falling in love in movie. So, the onscreen chemistry was mirrored by their offscreen chemistry.

ZAHN: So, you didn’t have to fake anything?

SMITH: Didn’t have to fake a thing, and hopefully, next year we’ll be sitting here talking about that movie and not you’re referring to it in “Swept Away” terms. That would be horrible.

Transcript #2
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Some of the hottest movies of 2002 are in theaters right now. Hollywood’s bringing out all the big guns from Leonardo DiCaprio to Jack Nicholson to the directing debut of George Clooney. So what should you see? I recently sat down and talked with hot indie director Kevin Smith to get his take on the can’t-miss movies of 2002.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN SMITH, DIRECTOR: “Gangs of New York” I have seen.

ZAHN: What did you think?

SMITH: It’s fantastic, I think. The sheer volume of the flick, the sheer scope of the flick, kind of just screams out for, give it an Oscar right now, give it the best picture Oscar.

Beautiful movie, wonderfully acted, just amazing vision. You sit there as a filmmaker, you’re kind of humbled. You go like, oh, so this is what filmmaking is all about. Martin Scorcese kind of outdid himself.

ZAHN: Another movie getting a fair amount of buzz is the musical version of “Chicago” with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger. Do you think that will do well?

SMITH: I think it could do well. I don’t know, musicals don’t fare that well, but every Disney movie that comes down the pike seems to be a musical. So why wouldn’t a live action movie work, particularly if people really like the stars.

ZAHN: Let’s talk about Jack Nicholson. He’s out with in a new movie called “About Schmidt,” and I guess Oscar talk is really loud on this one.

What did you think?

SMITH: I mean, there ought to be, like, an Oscar category just for Jack Nicholson so that he doesn’t have to compete with everybody else. It seems like every time Jack Nicholson comes out in a somewhat dramatic role, people are like, it’s Jack’s year, he’s going to win again. We’re like, we know he’s a great actor, he’s wonderful, but maybe let’s give somebody else a shot this time.

It’s always a pleasure to watch Jack Nicholson, always a pleasure to watch Kathy Bates. Best picture of the year, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.”

George Clooney, first-time director, made a better looking movie than my first five movies, far more visually engaged. I know that’s really not that great a compliment, because my movies don’t look that good, but I thought that movie was incredibly visually accomplished and incredibly well-directed, wonderful performances.

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Director Kevin Smith Calls In. 12/19/02. 7:30am

Director Kevin Smith called in to promote his new DVD. Howard said he hasn’t had him on much lately because he doesn’t think people care about Kevin. Howard said people probably don’t even know his movies. Howard said what got his attention was the fact that Kevin told them that he has tape of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez talking about Howard. Kevin told Howard that he hasn’t tried to call in since the last time he was on the show. Howard said Gary told him that he has tried to contact them though.Howard said there were rules about this tape that Kevin has. Howard said they got a letter from Kevin that said he can’t play the tape without him setting it up. He also has to get a plug in for his new DVD ‘’An Evening with Kevin Smith'’ where he sits down for 3 and a half hours and does a Q&A with some college kids. He said it’s pretty funny. Howard took a call from a guy who said he’s a big fa! n of Kevin’s and took offense to what Howard had said about him no being popular. Kevin joked and said that he wanted to thank his father for calling in. Howard took a couple more calls for Kevin and people defended him against the stuff Howard said.

Howard got to the clip and played the clip that Kevin sent them. It’s actually from his movie ‘’Jersey Girl.'’ Kevin said he wrote the lines but he might change them today because of the stuff Howard was saying about him. Howard spent a couple more minutes with him and took a call from Crazy Cabbie. Cabbie asked a question about Ben Affleck and the possibility that he wears a wig. Kevin said he doesn’t wear a wig though. Howard told Kevin that he really does like him so he shouldn’t be upset about the stuff he was saying earlier. Howard then wrapped up the call and replayed the clip of Ben and Jen talking about Howard in the movie. After listening to it again Howard and the guys thought the scene needed some music. Fred threw in a music clip he had and it actually worked. Howard said there are some movie scenes that don’t need music and played a couple of porn clips to demonstrate.

Listen in here.

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