Saturday, May 27, 2006
By Roger Friedman

Bestiality Film: 8 Minute Cannes Ovation

Maybe you remember Clerks, the hilarious indie film that put director Kevin Smith on the map more than a decade ago. Since then, he’s brought us some good ones (”Chasing Amy”), some that are controversial (”Dogma”), and some that are only for the faithful (”Jersey Girl,” “Jay and Silent Bob”).

Last night Smith returned to form in a post-midnight premiere of “Clerks 2,” the long awaited sequel that reunites the still unknown stars of the first film and adds the delightful Rosario Dawson to the mix. The result was a huge eight minute standing ovation in the Claude DeBussy Theater in the Palais at 2 am Saturday.

And this was despite the fact that the film – hilarious, moving and shocking – is simultaneously a meditation on friendship, aging, and bestiality. Yes, you read that correctly. Much is made of a well dressed donkey that is forced into interspecies commingling with its owner as part of an after hours going away party in a fast food restaurant called Mooby’s. The movie has an R rating, and the donkey may be featured in a For Your Consideration ad in Variety next winter.

Besides the donkey, Clerks 2 also features extended cameos by Jason Lee and Wanda Sykes, a walk on from Ben Affleck, and of course Smith himself as his long running character Silent Bob with partner Jason Mewes as Jay. The clerks of the title are still played by Smith’s longtime pals Jeff Anderson as Randall and Brian O’Halloran as Dante; Smith’s real life wife, Jennifer, is featured as Dante’s clueless fiancée Emma.

This is good news for The Weinstein Company, which will have a huge summer hit Smith is one of their franchise players, coming from the original—real—Miramax.

The premise of Clerks 2 is pretty simple. The Quick Stop where Randall and Dante have been clerks since we last saw them in 1994 burns down, and the pair—now in their 30s—move over to Mooby’s where Dante has had a one night stand on the prep table with the manager (Dawson). Before finding out that she’s pregnant, Dante makes plans to move away with Emma. Silent Bob and Jay move their dope peddling from the Quick Stop to Mooby’s as well, and Randall plans the Donkey Show for Dante. It’s that simple, and no, it’s no Da Vinci Code, that’s for sure.

But fans of Smith—who are legion—as well as teens in general and the college crowd, are going to adore Clerks 2, which was originally titled “The Passion of the Clerks.” In the middle of all this nuttiness, and Animal House inspired moments (the poor donkey is certainly the cinematic descendant of the dead horse in the dean’s office), Smith has crafted a nifty little tale of friends who love each other—as they say over and over, not in the gay way—but realize their extended adolescence must finally come to an end.

What’s really amazing about Clerks 2 is that it works at all. The first Clerks was a cult hit, and unlike with say John Sayles’s “The Return of the Secaucus Seven,” the actors never went on to anything other than recurring in Smith’s world. To find them not only picking up where they left off, but also making the whole thing work again, is quite an achievement. A lot of it has to do with Dawson, who is so natural, appealing, and evolved as Becky that she pulls the whole enterprise together.

Special mention, by the way, has to go to Jason Mewes. Unlike his cohorts, he’s managed to get some other roles in the recent past in some great unseen B or C movies that are either already on DVD or simply can’t be sold. In Bottom’s Up, his biggest one, he co-stars with our friend Paris Hilton, whose own “House of Wax” and “Pledge This” would have benefited from having a donkey as well.

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by Casey Tay

RED BANK, NJ - Fans waited from as early as 4:30 am at Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash in Red Bank, NJ for the DVD release of Jay & Silent Bob do Degrassi. Degrassi is a television show shot in Canada about a group of teens and their struggles with school, relationships, and other teen issues. Not only were Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes at the release, but Stacey Farber and Jake Epstein from Degrassi were there as well. This DVD is 3 episodes long and stars the whole Degrassi cast and features Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes.

Jake Epstein, Stacey Farber, Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith sign autographs for fans.

You might be wondering, “What are Jay and Silent Bob doing in Canada, and why are they at Degrassi Community School?” Well Kevin and Jason head north to make Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, eh? which is being filmed at Degrassi. “I was a big fan of the original Degrassi High, and I always wanted to be a part of it,” said Kevin Smith. Some of Kevin’s other directing and acting credits include Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma. “It took a couple of years to make the whole Degrassi thing happen, but we finally did it, and it was amazing,” noted Kevin.

Samara Jordan wept as she described meeting her role model.

While a lot of fans were at the release November 20 to meet Kevin and Jason, a number of them were there to meet Degrassi cast members Stacey Farber and Jake Epstein. “Degrassi is an amazing show that helps kids deal with issues,” says 15-year-old Maddie Woods. Maddie is a very dedicated fan that traveled from Maryland to meet Stacey and Jake. “My friends and I have been waiting here since 7:30 in the morning, but it’ll be worth it when we meet Jake Epstein!” Another fan was very emotional about meeting Stacey Farber. “Her character and I have had a lot of the same problems, and she has helped me deal with them,” says 13-year-old Samara Jordan from Long Island, NY. “She’s my role model. Not just because she’s a celebrity, but because she has helped me in so many ways. It was such an honor to meet her.”

Casey Tay interviewed the Degrassi stars at Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash.

This reporter had a chance to talk to Stacey and Jake and found them to be two typical teenagers who just happened to be the stars of one of the hottest teen television shows on air. “Both of us are complete Kevin Smith fans and we were freaking out when we found out he was going to be on,” says Jake Epstein. Jake’s character Craig Manning is a bipolar musician who was abused by his father as a child. “Yeah, it was great shooting with Kevin and Jason. They’re both so funny!” Stacey Farber explained. Stacey’s character Ellie Nash cut herself because of her mother’s addiction to alcohol. Now that Degrassi is finished shooting, both Stacey and Jake plan on attending college in Toronto where the show was shot. Both of them also plan on continuing with their acting career. “I could really relate to Degrassi because it’s all about problems that every teen has to deal with,” Jake said.

Kevin Smith talked briefly about his experience as a student at Henry Hudson Regional School in Highlands.

Jake Epstein, Stacey Farber and Jason Mewes pose for a photo before the signing.

Catch Jay and Silent Bob do Degrassi on DVD in stores now.

And watch Degrassi on the N on Fridays at 10:00 p.m.

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by Hannibal Tabu, Staff Writer

This year’s panel with Kevin Smith started alarmingly late, and that tardiness was largely forgiven when longtime confidante Jason Mewes showed up at the front row (being given a row-blocking seat after two attractive young women were booted from a similar position). Fans rushed him for photos (”Ya gotta hit the button, sir,” he suggested to one man having a problem getting a shot of his female friend with Mewes) and autographs, and one even paid him ten dollars for a cup of water from the stage. Seriously. Of course, Mewes tried to encourage several female fans to doff their tops, which was further egged on by rowdy audience members and the writer of this article.

Smith finally emerged, and was weirded out by Mewes in the front row, but soldiered on. “Was there a titty show going on, sir?” Smith asked. “I heard you tried.”

“She’s a teacher, she won’t fuck,” Mewes responded, disgusted.

She said something that was difficult to hear, which made Smith respond, “You wouldn’t show your tits but you would fuck. Interesting.” He turned back to Mewes and said, “I was backstage and I heard somebody say ‘fill the cup.’ And it was like nobody reacted,” eliciting laughs from the capacity crowd.

Apparently, the lateness was caused in part by a late night poker game, involving not only Smith and Mewes, but other notable names, with Smith as the over all winner with a pot of seven hundred dollars. “We played poker last night until about 5 in the morning,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “Me and Mewes, [Wizard’s] Gareb Shamus, we took his money. Which is really your money. Jim Lee. Now he’s broke.”

Wasting no time, he leapt into taking questions, forcing questioners to stand on their chair while the question was answered (which was a marathon affair for some). The first one was about his experience as an actor on the new film “Catch and Release,” which led him to discuss first the difference from his normal work (”I walked away with a lot more respect for actors than I normally had. I used to be like ‘aw they’re fucking puppets. stick my hand up their ass and they say what I want.’ The acting is free, they’re paid to sit and wait. Like one day, I got to watch ‘Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2,’ back to back. It was weird to be on the sideline. It was weird, because I’d show up and have an idea how I’d do things, and she’d do something completely different. Like move the camera. Just set it up here, I’ll say ’snoogans’ and we’re done. I’m the bad kid on the set, because I’m chronically late.”). He talked about getting chastized for blogging, and realized he’d become his friend Jason Mewes — set scapegoat.

He was asked if he got tired of having his movies quoted at him, or being called Silent Bob, and he shook his head. “It’s annoying when people come up to me and say ‘I love your movies, Michael Moore.’ Or they’ll come up and ask, ‘You know who you look like?’ I don’t respond to the fishing expedition question. I was having dinner, and this woman comes up to me and says, ‘I love your work, could I have your autograph.’ So I give it to her and she was like ‘this doesn’t look like an M.’ I said, ‘My name starts with a K, not a silent M.” She’s like, ‘Aren’t you Michael Moore?’ I was like no, I’m the other fat bearded director So she asks, ‘Peter Jackson?’ I’m like, ‘Keep going,’ She finally asks, ‘who are you?’ I was like ‘Kevin Smith,’ and she was like ‘oh I’m so sorry.’ It’s weird for me to answer that question when it’s open ended, it’s so braggy. ‘Well, I am Kevin Smih.’ People ask you, and then they just punch you in the face. It’s happened to Mewes, this girl talked to him, and her boyfriend saw it, so his friends are like ‘He’s totally macking your girl, man!’ Going to bars, your chance of getting punched in the face goes up 75%. In places like this, my only fear is people like ‘Hi, I love your films’ [mocks a handshake], I totally fucking stink bombed you!”

The fan who paid Mewes for the water was next, and he asked for another cup of water. People shouted out what had happened, and Smith responded, “Who was in here before? Frank Miller and Jim Lee? Jim Lee spit in that water!” The fan shrugged, and Smith said, “Only at a comics convention. People are like ‘Jim Lee spit in the water,’ and they’re like …” Smith mimicked pouring water all over himself and writhing in sexual ecstasy.

Smith gave a follow up to the Prince story he’s told at numerous conventions, about being hired to do a documentary on the Purple One and things going famously wrong. “I got a call two years after the DVD came out, [Prince’s] producer calls, and she was like ‘I can’t believe you named me, by name!’ I was like, ‘Did you get in trouble?’ She said ‘I left there, but I was getting frantic calls, and I had to go in to meet him. He was like ‘where was his non-disclosure agreement?’ They had given me one to sign, but I put it down like ‘I’ll get to it later. I forgot, and thankfully I didn’t sign it. He was really fuckin’ mad about it. ‘He wanted to sue you, but he found out you didn’t sign the agreement,’ so I was like ‘right on, good for me.’ It went around Paisley Park for a year, from employee to employee, like ‘you need to see this, he fuckin’ nailed him.’ Then I heard he was on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, when Musicology came out, and the author of the piece called me up. ‘’Prince talked about Jersey Girl.’ And I’m still like a fan, like ‘Prince talked about me? Did he love it?’ No. ‘He went out of his way to talk about it. He said he saw Jersey Girl, and he just didn’t like it. He said, ‘I guess that’s what happens when the potty mouth don’t work for you no mo,’ that’s what he said. There’s another DVD, ‘Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder’ where I talk about him again.”

When asked about his favorite character, Smith replied, “The most simple pleasure, because I was so happy no one else thought of it first, was Cock Knocker. Oh, I love the simplicity of it. Duchovny had called me for ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,’ and I’m like I don’t have a part for you. He’s like, ‘Just let me read the script.’ So I sent it, and he calls me, Duchovny’s like ‘I must play Cock Knocker!’ I was like, ‘why?’ He said, ‘do you know how brilliant that is?’ You could build a whole movie around that guy. But Holden McNeil is my favorite character.”

One fan wondered if Smith overexerted himself with too many projects running simultaneously. “I don’t even exert,” Smith countered. “I do over commit, to a lot of projects. Half happen, half never happen. It is a flaw of mine, just learning to say no. That’s a fat mentality. This inability to say, ‘hey that stuff might be there tomorrow.’ I’ll go to the grocery store, and buy three boxes of cereal. And eat them all in, like, one sitting. Those apple jacks ain’t going no where. That’s part of the reason why I put the kibosh on ‘Fletch.’ They wanted to do something more like the Chevy Chase movie, and I wanted to do something more like the book. So I was like, ‘either let me do this my way, or we’ll just part ways, no hard feelings.’ I finished up that Spider-Man/Black Cat mini series, that’ll be out in November. When I turned it in, Axel was like ‘what do you wanna do next?’ I was like, ‘are you retarded?’ I took three years to write three comic books. He was like ‘do you wanna take over Spider-Man?’”

Clerks fans got good news with the next answer, about “Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks.” “We start shooting September 19th. There’s a chick I want to play the female lead who’s gonna read on Tuesday. She’s not super famous, but to me she’s super incredible. I don’t wanna talk about it in case she doesn’t do it. We’re ready, can’t wait. ‘Clerks 2′ is Randall’s movie. We’re done by the end of October. By the beginning to middle of ‘06 we’ll be out.”

Smith was asked of he prioritizes family over career. “Do I feel that way?” he wondered. “Yeah, but only because I can afford to feel that way. I get up, try to fuck my wife, wind up jerking off, go on the board, answer emails, play Ultimate Poker online, eat nine meals. My life is in pockets, work on a movie for three months. After the ending of ‘Jersey Girl,’ he’s totally in his bedroom like, ‘I’m a fucking garbageman! I hate that little cunt!’ I should film a ‘Jersey Girl’ continuation with him calling the kid cunt, killing ‘em.”

How about Green Hornet? “I’m not doing it anymore,” Smith said. “I was going to, and then as I got closer to it, I just was like I don’t wanna make a big budget movie. When you’re making a movie for seventy million, you have to make it appeal to everybody. I make movies that don’t appeal to anybody, they’re for me. $70 million is tough to recoup, there were a lot of factors where I was like ‘nah, this ain’t for me.’ I was excited to be tapped, they made the announcement, the dust settled, and then i was like, ‘I don’t wanna do this.’ It feels great to be chosen, but then when you have to do it, it sucks, it’s like ‘what now?’ I have no interest in making a movie about Green Hornet that everybody would be interested in. I’d have Green Hornet and Kato, leaning on Black Beauty, their super car that can do anything, and be like ‘did you fuck her in the ass.’ Then you hear some noise, they go out of sight and stuff happens off panel. Then they come back and they’re like ‘I totally fucked her in the ass.’ If I’m going to do a big budget movie, it’d be something I create, like Ranger Danger. That I can take the risk on. They’d be like ‘Smith blows it again.’ if I’m gonna take that shot and shoot for the fences, it’s gonna be me.”

Further following that theme, Smith said, “I feel like I shouldn’t apologize. This shit makes me happy. If I can make a living off it, I should do what’s fulfilling to me. I like putting on that coat. Makes me look thin. If I put [Mewes] in a movie and he gets paid, that’s less money he has to borrow from me in the real world. I am where I am today because I followed the same path, make movies that you like, and if people go along with it great. But you can’t call me a hack. The definition of hack is somebody who’d direct a movie for a paycheck, and I’ve never done that. You can call me untalented. I’d agree with some people on that. Then I’d hit ‘em with a fuckin’ chair.”

The panel ran over by more than an hour, even past the closing of the convention floor, but the fans stayed faithfully and never wavered, down to the last words.

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It’s been three years in the making, but Kevin Smith confirmed today at the Marvel Knights panel at Wizard World Chicago, that he has completed the scripts for issues 4-6 of his acclaimed mini-series. The issues are scheduled for release this November, but first a Marvel must-have collecting the first three issues and including an 8-page preview of issue 4 will be release next month.

When questioned at both this panel and at the Cup Of Joe Earlier, Marvel EEK Joe Quesada denied reports that the final issues had been written, despite the fact that Kevin himself posted as much on his own web site days earlier. The ruse was set-up for the grand cameo made by Smith who walked in near the end of the presentation to answer questions and confirm the completion. Amidst a slew of expletives (a Smith trademark) he apologized for the delay and left the room in stitches as he tried to explain the cause. One heckler got a particularly funny remark when he asked Smith about Daredevil: Target.

“I don’t even get to celebrate for five ****ing minutes,” Smith shouted back.

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By MIKE LENGYEL
News Askew Writer

SAN DIEGO, California (NA) – July 16, 2005

“I do make movies… but I was wondering on how to get them in the hands of someone like you?” asks a young, aspiring indie filmmaker to writer/director, Kevin Smith. His query is quickly met by a barrage of collective sighs and beleaguered “boos” stemming from a mob of 6,500 displeased fans, who are more eager to hear Smith make with the funny, rather than cater to answer one’s own self-serving desperate plea at getting his foot in the door.

But rather than chastise the young man, Smith instead decides to take what appears to be the high road and quickly jumps to his defense, addressing the crowd. “Don’t ‘boo’ him. This dude’s got a dream.”

As the chorus of “boos” quickly subsides, Smith focuses his attention back onto the filmmaker and asks, “Are you willing to suck cock for your dream, sir?”

The room quickly erupts into laughter as the filmmaker is left standing at the microphone, face now slightly red with embarrassment and left looking somewhat disheartened, not quite sure of what to make from his hero’s response.

“We all got to start somewhere. You can start on your knees.” continues Smith.

And on that note, this year’s appearance proved to be a welcome return to form for Smith, whose humor and askewed look on life, love and pop culture tends to lend a refreshing breath of air in the midst of the mass-marketing, promotional synergy that is Comic-Con. After taking a year off from 2004’s Con, Smith continues to show that he’s a juggernaut of a performance artist whose comedic reign is one not to be reckoned with - especially when he’s fielding audience questions and answering them with hilarious results.

This year was no exception. Running a bit fashionably behind, Smith quickly opened up the floor to questions, often urging the audience not too waste precious time by clapping after each response.

During one point of the Q & A, Smith was discussing his opinions of Mel Gibson’s ‘PASSION OF THE CHRIST’ and his displeasure at watching a 2-hour long film depicting what he considers to be the least interesting part of Christ’s life and noting that he much more prefers Martin Scorsese’s ‘THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST’ instead. During this point, one dismayed audience member protested Smith’s views by shouting a verbal reminder to Smith that “Jesus died for our sins” several times over, all the while continuing to disrupt the Q & A in attempting to get his point across. At first Smith had difficulty making out his statement.

“Dude, I can’t hear you. Yell it out again.” Smith responded.

“He died for your sins!” the man cried out.

“He died for my sins…? Oh, I totally know that! I’m gonna die for his one day to pay him back!” Smith quickly shot back.

As the man continued his protest, Smith appeared slightly more agitated, however never losing his cool, or his audience.

“Dude, don’t testify. I love Jesus! I love him like… I love him more than you motherfucker!” Smith proudly boasted as he tried to get his point across, which was praised over with laughter from the crowd.

As Smith continued to explain, “My feeling is ‘I love Jesus,’ why would I want to watch a movie in which he gets beat up for 2 hours? Like I would like to watch something more about Christ’s life, you know, what he said and what he did up to that point.”

Later, in switching gears, when asked about the upcoming ‘CLERKS’ sequel, tentatively entitled, ‘THE PASSION OF THE CLERKS’, Smith revealed that a principal photography date of September 12th was set and the shooting would continue through mid-October with hopes that it will be out beginning early next year. Smith also then later went on to reveal that he will indeed be directing the ‘DEGRASSI’ feature next year after he completes ‘THE PASSION OF THE CLERKS’. And while his three episode ‘DEGRASSI – The Next Generation’ story arc is set to air in the states in August, Smith also stated that there will be a ‘JAY and SILENT BOB DO DEGRASSI’ DVD to be released in the fall (October/November) of which will include the three episodes, commentaries and extras alike.

In closing, Smith took the time to introduce fellow writer/director and friend, Richard Kelly, out onstage to discuss his much anticipated follow up to his cult hit, ‘DONNIE DARKO’, entitled ‘SOUTHLAND TALES’, with Smith adding, “which stars a bunch of fuckin’ people like… BUFFY, THE SCORPION KING and… SILENT BOB.” Smith also notes that in conjunction prior to the release of ‘SOUTHLAND TALES’, both he and fellow partner in crime, Bob Chapman of Graffiti Designs, have teamed up with Kelly to produce and publish a six book graphic novel that will serve as a prequel of sorts leading up to the film, which Kelly will also write, with all six books scheduled to be released later this year.

While tight-lipped about the film, Kelly did manage to mention that Smith’s involvement in the film will be playing a wheelchair-bound Iraqi war-vet named Simon Theory, while also stating that filming is scheduled to begin in four-weeks with other casting announcements to be made very soon. Smith also expressed excitement in the film by declaring Kelly’s screenplay in as much as “brilliant” and placing the script’s brilliance in the same league as that of ‘PULP FICTION’.

Kelly meanwhile also acknowledged that the DVD for ‘TALES’ is also in the works and promises “one big, massive, over-priced DVD” which should include a 2-hour documentary on the making of the film by the same team who produced the mock-‘DONNIE DARKO’ documentary which can be found on the recent Director’s Cut of the film on DVD.

Smith, ever being the ringmaster of his own three-ring-circus, made quick last words exiting the stage to remind fans that he has three upcoming DVD’s scheduled for release: ‘MALLRATS: 10th Anniversary’, ‘JAY AND SILENT BOB DO DEGRASSI’ and ‘AN EVENING WITH KEVIN SMITH 2: EVENING HARDER’ all of which are due to be released just in time for the holidays.

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Part One: Degrassi: Next Generation Signing at Secret Stash LA

Fans in the Los Angeles area will get a chance to attend a unique sort of Kevin Smith signing at his “Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash” store in Westwood. Smith and Jason Mewes will join Degrassi: The Next Generation stars Stacey Farber and Adamo Ruggiero to sign copies of Degrassi: The Next Generation: Season Two.

The event begins at 2:00 pm on Saturday, June 25 at Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash, 1045 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA. Call them at 310-824-1373 for more info.

In anticipation of the event, Kevin was kind enough to make time for a preview interview. He was in a hotel room in Vancouver between scenes on the film Catch and Release. Harley Quinn tried to make music with the phone buttons, and it sounded like I kept him from a date with his wife, but ever the gracious interview, Kevin selflessly endured all of my inquiries all for the sake of spreading the word about the Degrassi event with one day’s notice.

Don’t worry if you’re reading this after the 25th though. There’s still plenty of talk about Passion of the Clerks, Fletch Won, Ranger Danger, Episode III, Evening Harder and more. And note: the usual amount of swearing and sexual references are in this interview, bleeped where possible.

When do you fly in for the signing? I’m going to be flying in Saturday morning.

So you go right to the shop? Saturday morning I leave at like 7:00, it gets me in at like 10, so I got a couple hours before the signing.

How do you get through a signing now without smoking? It’s relatively easy. I celebrated a year of not smoking by smoking again, and in production it’s kind of hard to not smoke, especially now just doing the performance thing because I find that I have way more free f*ckin’ time than I do on my own sets. There, you’re the director, you’re running around, you’re getting ready for each shot. Here, I’m an actor, so I’m only needed when they’re shooting or blocking. So a lot of free time, I’ve been smoking up a storm, but I won’t need to smoke at the signing. I mean, I’ve learned especially after that year that I’m pretty good about putting it down, not needing it. I can go a whole day without smoking if need be.

Will this be your typical signing? I think it’s going to be different than any signing we’ve had at the Stash thus far because you’re talking about a completely different audience. I mean, there’s a little bit of crossover between our fan base and the Degrassi fan base, but the kids did tours across America last year to various malls in big cities. They were getting these turnouts of 2,000-5,000 screaming girls of a certain age. We’re talking from 11 to 15, so historically my audience has not been 11 to 15-year-old girls. They set a signing in New York, four different Degrassi kids than Stacey and Adamo who are coming for our signing. And they had a turnout of 1,000 and had to turn some people away. Based on the data that came from that, that Diane at Funamation provided me, again tons of little girls. So it’s going to be a decidedly different signing than the one that I’m used to.

Don’t you expect your usual crowd to show up because it’s you? We’ll get some because it’s us but we haven’t really pumped it as our event. We’ve really hyped it as a Degrassi signing. And Mewes and I are there just because it’s our store, but the episodes in the box set that the kids are signing, Degrassi: Season Two are episodes that we weren’t even in. We just did the three episodes of Degrassi last season and that DVD will be coming out in November I think. We’ll do another signing for that, and Me and Mewes feature prominently. That DVD is called Jay and Silent Bob Do Degrassi and features the three episodes plus we did commentary track, there’s outtakes, all the stuff that we usually try to put on our DVDs. So I think there’ll be some cats coming for us but largely, based on the calls we’re getting at the store too, it’s people who are not familiar with our flicks, have never heard of our store but know about the Degrassi signing.

How late do you expect it to go? I mean, it’s scheduled from 2:00 to 4:00 but we always try to get to everybody, so we’ll see. I mean, I can’t imagine that it will end at four o’clock. I think we’ll probably wind up going over.

How do you get people to pay full retail price at your store when you’re not signing there? Well, we only sell of course our DVDs. In this instance with Degrassi: Season Two, we’ll be carrying that for the signing, but it’s probably not something that we’ll carry after the signing because it has nothing to do with our stuff and we’re not a DVD retailer primarily. But the movies of ours that we’ve made that we keep around, I think the reason that we’re able to move them at full retail, and not above it but at the suggested retail price, is because all that stuff is signed. So somebody coming by, yeah, you can go to Amazon and pick a Clerks X DVD up for $15-20, but you can go to our store and be paying no more than the suggested retail price, but you’re also getting it signed, usually by me and Mewes.

We sign all that stuff. Even if we’re not at the store, we keep a surplus of signed merchandise, so even if people come to visit the store and we’re not there, they can walk away with something signed.

What was the fascination with Degrassi for you? I don’t know, it’s just a show that really clicked with me. I first discovered it when I was still working at Quick Stop. They used to run it on PBS on Sunday mornings. They’d run Degrassi Junior High and then Degrassi High back to back. It just kind of appealed to me because it was a great representation of high school, pretty authentic and also it helped that the kids looked like normal kids. It wasn’t like turning on 90210 or The OC where you’re like, “Where do all these pretty f*cking people come from? I didn’t go to school with anybody that looked like this.” These kids look like real normal kids. Some are ugly, some are cute, some are fat, some are thin. They just look more like real life. It was an accurate reflection of high school I felt. And it was kind of a melodramatic show and I really go in for that kind of thing. Just like a teen soap opera. So I started watching it ardently and then just kept following it. Years later, they started up this Degrassi: The Next Generation and at first I didn’t think it would fly because I hold the first series in such high regard and I was like, “Why go back to the well? How could they possibly outdo it?” And they did. The Next Generation keeps a lot of the characters that I love from the old show, integrates them with new characters and those new characters are just as interesting if not more so. The performers are even better this time around and the scripts are even more edgy and realistic and heartbreaking. So for 25 years, Linda Schuyler, the woman behind every incarnation of Degrassi has kept it an insanely topical and honest piece of television. So for that reason, it’s always clicked with me. And part of the reason why I felt just enough to go back and follow up Clerks with The Passion of the Clerks, which we get to in September, was because I was like, “Wow, if Linda could go back and revisit Degrassi and have it work so well…” it inspired me to do it with Clerks as well.

How long do you get to stay in LA? I’ll be out again on the Saturday night flight, the latest flight I can get out on because the morning after, Sunday morning is my daughter’s birthday. And they’re all staying up in Vancouver. We’re all in Vancouver at the moment. I want to get back here because I think we’re going whale watching.

How old does she turn? She turns six.

Can you believe it? Yeah, you know, it’s weird because you get so accustomed to life as it unfolds that it just feels like well, she’s always been around. Harley’s been in my life for six years and Jen’s been in my life for seven. It just feels like I’ve always been with Jen and Harley. It doesn’t feel like I’ve ever been without them. It was kind of the same way like when Clerks got picked up. Overnight I went from having a job to having a career. In short order, it felt like, “Wow, weren’t we always doing this? Isn’t this what I always did for a living?” You just get accustomed quick, otherwise life kind of just rolls over you. So I acclimate fairly quickly. So her turning six, if there’s any surprised, it’s like I’m shocked she’s not turning 10. It feels like she’s been around longer.

Did Catch and Release come about through the Affleck connection? Not really. It came about because of Chris Moore, you know Project Greenlight Chris Moore. He’s been with Jenno Topping, the producer for years. They got kids and everything. They were looking for somebody for that role and they went to Jason Lee. Jason Lee had passed because I guess he was getting involved in My Name is Earl. And Jenno’s like, “We can’t find the guy to play Sam.” Moore was just like, “Well, what are you looking for?” And they were like, “I don’t know, the last person we went to was Jason Lee and these are the qualities we want the character to have.” Apparently, Jenno says that Chris Moore was like, “What about Kevin Smith?” And she said, “For two seconds I stared at him blankly and then it clicked and I was like, ‘Oh my God, yes.’” So, she brought the idea to Susannah Grant, the director.

And Susannah was like, “I kind of know him but do we have anything on him we can see him in?” So I didn’t send over the movies because Silent Bob doesn’t really give you an insight into whether or not I can pull off dialogue. So I sent over those episodes of Degrassi that I guested on because I actually had dialogue. I’m playing myself but still had dialogue. And then I sent over An Evening with Kevin Smith. Apparently, it was An Evening with Kevin Smith that got me the job. She was watching that and there was a moment in there where Susannah said that I shifted between being funny and then answering a very real and honest question and then tagging it up with a joke. She was like, “That’s Sam. That’s the character.” So I came in and read and they gave it to me. About three minutes after I left the office, I called my agent and he was like, “They just called. You got it.” So it was pretty sweet.

Who is Sam and does he get to kiss Garner? No, Sam don’t kiss Garner. That’s kind of Tim Olyphant’s job on the movie. He’s a friend of Garner’s character’s dead fiancé. It’s me and this actor, Sam Jaeger, playing Sam and Dennis. We were friends with Jennifer Garner’s character, Gray’s fiancé who dies. So we’re all kind of thrown together. We’ve known each other for years apparently but we’re kind of thrown together and grow tighter due to our mutual grief. The movie’s kind of about how people deal with grief, but it’svery moving and dramatic and comedic. It’s kind of a dramedy.

You were really excited to begin Passion of the Clerks early this year. Has the whole Weinstein Company delay been frustrating? It’s been a little weird. Thankfully the Catch and Release thing came along at a time where I could kind of move Clerks by a few months because nothing has settled completely in the aftermath of Harvey and Bob’s separation from Miramax. I mean, they’re still there until September 30th anyway, but we don’t really have any firm details on The Weinstein Company yet. He keeps saying we’re going, of course, and we intend to go. He’s financing Passion of the Clerks, but there’s no concrete infrastructure that they’ve revealed to us yet. I guess that’s what they’re putting together now. So the long and short of it is if there hadn’t been a fallout between Harvey and Bob and Disney, and everything was the way it was, say, a year or two ago, I probably wouldn’t have done Catch and Release. I probably would have just been shooting on Clerks. I would’ve had to pass on Catch and Release. But because things at that point were kind of up in the air, it just kind of gave me a few months to go off and try something different, to do the acting thing, knowing that Clerks was waiting for me when I get back. But being on this movie just makes me more anxious to shoot Clerks because it’s weird being on somebody else’s set and just doing this one function that I’ve done on my own movies, but I do so much more on my own flicks as well. So it’s weird just acting for somebody and not calling the shots, not deciding when a take is done or anything like that. It’s been a real education and kind of an interesting process, but it does make me amped to go shoot my own flick.

Have Dante and Randall changed their views on Star Wars? No. No, but there is a Star Wars riff in there that I’m really happy with. But no, it hasn’t really changed. They don’t really go into the new trilogy as much because these dudes are kind of stuck in one place in their lives.

Did you think of new customer encounters? I definitely came up with new customer encounters but that movie was never really so much about the customers. It was always about those two dudes and the lengths they would go to to avoid working, to avoid thinking about even being at work. That’s kind of taken to the next level in Clerks 2 and it’s also about what happens to the angry young man when he hits his ‘30s, no longer young but still angry.

What happens to Green Hornet now? I don’t know. Green Hornet, I’m not sure where it is now. I don’t know if it went with Harvey and Bob or if it’s staying at Disney. But there’s a script out there and I guess whoever has it looks for a director next.
With Ranger Danger on your slate, how will you feel about directing big budget special effects by then? That one I’ll be happy to do because it’s mine. That’s the thing about Green Hornet. I was like, I don’t know, to kind of shoot my wad on a big budget special effects movie on something that I didn’t even create and don’t really necessarily have a close connection to the material for, just seemed odd. If I was going to make a big budget movie, it should be something that came from me from the get go, like everything else.

So I don’t know. When it comes to that, I think I’ll be ready and won’t be intimidated just because it’s my material. That’s pretty much how I’ve done every flick, which is why good or bad, whether people like them or not, whether they’re good or not, they’re mine from start to finish. I’m invested in them. They have my voice. So I don’t know. It won’t bother me having a larger budget on Ranger Danger or it won’t be intimidating because I’ll know from the get go as I’m writing it what’s going to be required, how much it will roughly be and what not, and I won’t be on uncertain ground or new ground because it’ll just be an extension of what I’ve done before which is write and direct and create stuff, and shoot it using whatever budget. I mean, on Jersey Girl, that was a movie that cost about $30-35 million and it was the most money I ever spent on a movie, although $14 million of that went to Ben and Jen. So roughly it came back to being close to the Jay and Silent Bob budget without the star salaries. But that was kind of a larger budget and I was fine with it, but again I was fine with it because it was my stuff from the get go. I didn’t create Green Hornet. I don’t have to answer to legions of Green Hornet fans or anyone who even remembers the show affectionately or follow in the footsteps of more popular comic book movies based on popular characters. Nobody could say, “Well, f*ckin’ Ranger Danger ain’t no Batman” because it’s not even in the same realm. And it’s mine, so I don’t know. I’ll feel much better about a larger budget on that movie.

Is Zach Braff a lock for Fletch? I guess. It depends. Hopefully, yeah, he’s in. We met, chatted about it. I got to get him a current draft of the script after I do some more work on it, bring the page count down a little bit. But he’d be a great choice and that’s who everyone’s leaning towards.

How did you do a mystery script? Did the book give you all the plot points? Yeah, I did not depart from the book much at all because the book is such an amazing road map. I’ve always been a big fan of the book so I tried not to stray as much as possible. So it was a pretty easy adaptation. I mean, the mystery was there. It was something that I felt like I love the source material so I want to honor the source material while sticking to it as closely as possible.

Have you contacted Chevy Chase at all for anything? Since it’s kind of a year one story, for the version I want to do which is close to the book, there’d be no place for Chevy Chase just because it’s a story about how Fletch first got his job on the paper. So he has to be much younger. So no. I haven’t spoken to Chevy Chase about it or reached out to Chevy Chase. I don’t think Chevy Chase likes me anyway which is fine. The feeling’s mutual.

What Fletch qualities do you see in Zach Braff? He’s kind of deft with a subtle comedic performance which is what the movie calls for. It’s not overt like the first two Fletch movies. It’s closer to the book and the books are closer to an Elmore Leonard type of thing. Whenever I think about Fletch Won, or my version of it, the version I want to do, it feels to me like Out of Sight, the Soderbergh version of the Elmore Leonard book. The first two Fletch movies, and one of which I absolutely love, is far more broad and involves a lot more physical comedy.

How many times have you seen Episode III? I think I’ve seen it three times now.
Do you still think it’s close to Empire? Yeah, oh I do. I think it holds up. Like I went and saw Batman Begins and I thought it was amazing and insanely well done and very classy. But to me, it wasn’t as fun as Revenge of the Sith.

How surreal is it that you get to be friends with George Lucas? I don’t know that I get to. I’ve never met George Lucas.

I thought you had a special connection. No, not at all. I never met the man. I sat across from him once in the commissary at Lucasfilm but that was it. Never spoke with him. Waved at him. That was it.

How validating is it that so many people line up to read what you think of the last movie? I don’t know.

I think that only came about because it was one of the first things, if not the first thing written about the movie out there. So it wasn’t like, “Well, let’s find out what Kevin Smith thinks.” It was more just like, “Hey, let’s see what some guy who saw it thinks.” And it’s never validating when you’ve got as many people grousing about it, like, “F*ck him, what does he know? It’s still going to suck.” Sh*t like that. The internet’s kind of full of those clowns. Yeah, it was weird. Put up that review and it crashed our site that day because we got so many hits. Over a million hits, so it was kind of weird.

Will you direct the Star Wars TV series? I don’t know, we’ll see.

Will you mention me in today’s diary entry? Yes, of course. If I get to today’s. I’m about three weeks behind on the blog and that’s what I was just working on earlier. But yeah, when I get to today, of course. And won’t that be weird? You reading about yourself on the blog. It’s always a weird experience for some people because some people clam up around you and stuff. I get this a lot: “Don’t put this in your blog.” That’s become the mantra for the 21st century really. “Don’t put this in your blog. This is not for the blog.” And then you get some people who start telling you some intimate story and then they’re like, “Wait a second. I don’t want to tell you. You’re going to write about it.” To which I’m always like, “Fool, I don’t f*ckin’ write about your life. I write about my life.” So generally when I do stuff like that, when I talk about people I’ve spoken to, if they tell me stuff that’s very personal, I don’t put it in the f*ckin’ blog. And I hate calling it a f*ckin’ blog so let’s not.

That’s why I said diary. Online diary. But when I write about sh*t in the online diary, it’s stuff that happens to me directly, or my thoughts and feelings. Not other people’s thoughts and feelings or tales. Unless they interact with me, and then it becomes my story. But somebody telling me their story, like you telling me, “Oh my God, I totally got some massive anal last night” giving me the full spectrum of details, I probably wouldn’t relate that in the diary “My Boring Ass Life.” I would just write, “Well, I spoke to Fred and we talked about nookie.” Rather than going into f*cking details because it’s not my place to reveal how much the copious amounts of anal you get.

And you have another Q&A coming up in Vancouver? I’m doing a Q&A on July 9th. I was here in town, I looked at my schedule and I saw that I had some time. I’d never done one here so I said, “All right, we’ll rent out one of the theaters on Granville, called The Vogue and do a Q&A there one Saturday night.”

Are there enough new questions for a new DVD? Yeah, I mean, we finished shooting An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder and that comes out for fall. We shot those two big Q&As, one in Toronto at the Roy Thomson Hall which is a big opera house, and the other at the Criterion in Piccadilly Circus in London. That two disc set will be out in the fall.

So this one won’t be part of the DVD? No, but I’ll put in a call to the guys that I did Evening with with to see if we wanted to pick it up. It’s kind of a production because you’ve got to bring people out and set up multiple cameras and knock out seats and sh*t like that. But I don’t know, there are some Q&As that I’ve done where I’m like, “God, I wish we had shot that because there’s some good stuff there.” It’s always dependent on the audience, right? Granted, you get some of the same questions over and over, but so much of it is based on the night and the person standing at the mic asking you a question. So much so that each Q&A is different in a weird and wonderful way. And some of them go very, very long. One of the recent ones I did three months ago, four months ago in Jersey, in Red Bank, the first time I’d ever done a Q&A in the home town at the Count Basie Theater went the longest I’ve ever gone which was seven hours on stage. So I think this one in Vancouver will probably be at least four, maybe five.

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Hi Harry - I’m Capnwatsisname. Saw a screening of Jersey Girl Thursday and have been mulling it over. Some thoughts below - slight spoilers, but nothing a previous reviewer didn’t reveal.

Lopez does not ruin the film. I really had no more trouble with her than I did Affleck - I just had more time to get used to him. I actually kind of liked her after a while, although I was mastering the zen of selective recall to make it through her scenes without applying all the media baggage of the main characters’ highly publicized real lives. She actually reminded me just a little of the playful moments with Joey Adams (button nose and all), and when we finally get a long enough slice of Affleck & Lopez later in their marriage to gage their relationship, there’s a couple of scenes that establish at least the implication of a life together. Mostly it’s just well-written-but-universal married-people talk. It’s just not quite enough to appreciate the characters or the relationship by the time you need to be able to do so.
The lack of development with Lopez’s character is, I think, most of the film’s weakness. Without any info about this film other than it being a J-Lo B-Lo project, I spent the first part of it trying to figure out when the other shoe is going to drop. There must be a good reason for Lopez to be in this film, considering her price-tag, the media hype, and Smith’s reputation. There is such a significant lack of information about her character, I guessed we were headed into a hidden mafia family/lesbian/divine identity twist (except that I couldn’t imagine an attempt to repackage Chasing Amy - which I loved and think is a stronger film, just to put my comments in context), and continued to view her character with suspicion until I realized we were really watching a film about a single Dad. But when Affleck is (and I think he worked hard at this) expressing his loss, I felt distanced from the emotions because I didn’t ever quite get the character he loves or their relationship. Okay, he loves her, but why should I?

Jason Biggs creates a similar challenge - I recognize him immediately, and assume he will be a major character (I think he was even in the promotional material), but his relationship with the plot and characters is confusing. What I know about his relationship with Affleck is that Affleck doesn’t fire Biggs in a friendly exchange between superior and subordinate, but that doesn’t establish why this character would be part of the mourning process later. His character does play a part in the film, but it’s a little distracting. While the film manages to keep us from getting lost in an unnecessary number of characters, you’re kind of missing the context for a few key players (who also are big names).

As far as abandoning the Askewniverse, I don’t think that’s totally fair. The Damon/Lee cameo works for me; it’s definitely not there for general audience appreciation (I wonder if most will find it distracting because they’ll think it’s an Affleck/Damon inside joke). There’s just enough self-reference to keep Smith in the picture. You’ve still got New Jersey, a video store, porn. . . heck, Ben Affleck. I’m curious about the placement of films in the video store - could be random, but I kept looking for dvd commentary fodder.

I went into the film waiting for the Mewes/Smith-ex-machina appearance, but by the time I got the hang of what’s going on I realized they probably weren’t showing up, and that was okay. Smith’s films are not just a cartoon strip about Jay & Silent Bob, and the setting & people heís dealing with here do not naturally co-exist with the weed inspired, idiot-savante-spirituality of those characters. It would have been too much a jump, and it’s great to let these well-developed characters work out their own problems. However, I don’t think Smith’s strength is writing the needed turning points. After several brilliant exchanges about the film’s primary themes, and a great deal of respect for the fluidity and messiness of life, Affleck throws us a couple of cheesy lines that make for a weak bridge into resolution (for some reason I think of Pee Wee Herman: “I’m so inspired, I’m going to start a paper route right now!”). His monologues drag compared to what Smith can accomplish in 5 minutes between two characters in a diner (why the recognizably Hollywood-lot diner set, though?).

I hear that Lopez is hurt by the negative response the early screenings are laying on her, and that in meetings with Smith there’s talk about some changes. There may be a level at which he’s developing some skills for mass consumption through this experience. But right now there’s a “no reshoots for Jersey Girl” notice on Smith’s website, and I applaud him for this. I don’t think J-Lo should be left on the cutting-room floor, but I do think we need a little warning as to what we’re headed in for from the marketing department. Remember Executive Decision (maybe you were smart enough to skip it) where Segal dies in the first 5 minutes? You just keep wasting energy waiting for him to surprise you in a save-the-day return, because he’s a big name and this is an action flick. Maybe just a little more help from editing. It may still be a weakness in the final cut, but her character is important - it’d be sad to lose the impact of Affleck’s previous relationship and his daughter’s namesake. I’m not saying much about the daughter, but she’s central, and she’s good. Well written and extremely well cast.
The centerpiece of this film is the dialogue and the relationships. I expected over two hours, but I expected to feel it. I think it was brilliant - I ate up every conversation, believed and loved Affleck with his Dad and with Liv Tyler (whose character I really liked - I hope we don’t lose a second of her in the final cut). I think when Tyler shows up is when I start enjoying Affleck more. The little girl is fantastic. Smith does a brilliant job of giving us a sympathetic father-son relationship that’s neither dominated by clichÈd abandonment/lack of affection issues or older-and-wiser omniscient father syndrome. It’s like most actual relationships - you feel like you’re seeing it in a context of the whole lives of these people; the film doesn’t attempt to idealize and capture the entire meaning of that relationship in one climactic scene. I love the Tyler/Affleck relationship as well - it is paced in a way that is believable, doesn’t take over as an over-the-top love rescue, and it avoids clichÈ speeches when dealing with Affleck’s grief.

I partly really value this because most of the crap that’s passed for movies about relationships is completely worthless in terms of identifying with the characters or situations - they mostly just try to get us to buy in to the fantasy. I’ll take something from Kevin Smith even if I have to watch some not-my-top-10 actors say the lines.

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Chris Rock says he would love to work again with his “Dogma” and “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” filmmaker Kevin Smith.

“I want to work with Kevin again,” Rock told reporters in New York. “Ben Affleck’s the star of (’Jersey Girl’). I wanted that movie. I want to star in a (Kevin Smith movie.)”

So, did he actually lobby for the role in “Jersey Girl”?

“Yeah. I mentioned it,” he admitted. “I wanted that movie. I really wanted ‘Jersey Girl.’ He wanted Ben and then I started this. I want to star in one.”

Of course, the award-winning comedian said he would play another supporting role for a filmmaker like Smith.

“If Kevin had a supporting role, I’d take that,” he stated. “It depends on who the movie’s with. If the star is bigger than me, then I’ll take the supporting role. If the star is not… I just got ! offered the role, Ashton Kutcher, a supporting role, I was like, ‘Why would I do that?’ I would have no problem carrying Mel Gibson’s bag, but Ashton Kutcher’s bags?”

Asked what he admires so much about the “Chasing Amy” and “Clerks” director, Rock replied: “He does it so simple. Very simple. Movies don’t have to be so complicated. He does it so simple. It’s all on the page.”

“Head of State,” Rock’s directorial debut, opens Friday. (ArcaMax Entertainment Today for Friday March 28, 2003)

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