It’s a wrap on Kevin Smith’s ‘Porno’

By Barbara Vancheri, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It’s not exactly the sort of slogan you’d put on a license plate or town stationery but Monroeville is “the last place in the world you’d imagine someone would make porn.”

And that is why Kevin Smith’s $25 million comedy, “Zack & Miri Make a Porno,” is set in Monroeville, where shooting wraps up today. It’s about a pair of cash-starved friends, played by Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, who decide to make a porn flick.

“In terms of the stuff I’ve done in the past, it’s probably closest to ‘Chasing Amy.’ It’s very frank, it’s very dirty but it’s very sweet,” Smith said, calling it a very touching love story.

“We shot a scene yesterday that was about as dramatic a scene as I’ve ever shot in anything I’ve ever done,” Smith said, with his star confirming it. “This is in the same movie as all that other stuff?” Rogen said.

Yesterday, Smith and Rogen sat down with two reporters and a radio team to field questions on everything from driving in Pittsburgh (GPS is invaluable for newcomers) to strippers (hired locally) and Pittsburgh as a winter wonderland (how Smith sold the city to his 8-year-old daughter, who loved her time and uniform at Winchester Thurston).

The director and actor took two of the seats at a big round table at Tolerico’s, a real Monroeville restaurant down the strip mall from the fictional Bean-N-Gone Coffee Shop where Rogen’s character works.

Smith, layered in a hoodie and long black coat, smoked throughout and Rogen, unmistakable with his loose corkscrew curls, dark-rimmed glasses and distinctive hearty laugh, sampled the sugary fried dough the restaurant placed in the center of the table.

Tonight, if all goes well, Smith will trade his rental bed for his home model, and Rogen will prepare to fly to Las Vegas to receive the ShoWest Comedy Star of the Year Award. He’s one of the go-to guys for comedy, with “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!” “Superbad,” “Knocked Up” and “40-Year-Old Virgin” among his credits.

In a relaxed, good-natured, 30-minute session, here is some of what they had to say:

On the stars’ chemistry: “They had crazy, sick chemistry, it was really nice,” Smith said of Rogen and Banks. “There was a familiarity there, but beyond that, their performances read like they’re lifelong friends who slowly kind of realize they’ve fallen in love.”

On picking Pittsburgh: Smith said, “I spent a lot of time here,” after high school because a then-girlfriend went to Carnegie Mellon University. He shot “Dogma” in Pittsburgh in 1998 and that positive experience, along with the state’s tax incentives for filmmakers, helped to lure him back.

On shooting here: “It went so swimmingly, it was crazy,” said the director, who finished two days early.

“We were fighting weather issues at the beginning because we tried to do most of our exteriors up front,” Smith said, as Rogen added, “The weather was too nice.” But some of the real snow allowed Rogen to fishtail as he drove, lending authenticity to the wintry setting and man-made white stuff.

On navigating the city: Rogen got lost a lot at the beginning but said, “I slowly narrowed down where I go to a few places. Now I get to the Waterfront easy,” to go to the movies, eat at Red Robin and — like all the out-of-towners — shop like mad at Target.

Off-set diversions: Smith favored NHL 08 (he also went to a couple of New Jersey Devils games at Mellon Arena, clad in his home-team colors) while Rogen is a “pretty mean drummer” on Rock Band and pretty good at Guitar Hero. “I’m like your utilitarian game player.”

On casting: Smith wrote “Zack & Miri” with Rogen in mind. “I saw ‘40-Year-Old Virgin,’ and I was, like, that [expletive] dude’s hysterical.” Steve Carell? “No, the other guy.” Then Rogen got famous and Smith worried he might lose him, but he didn’t.

Sneak preview: Smith has been editing as he’s shooting and recently hosted an early rough cut for cast and crew in the Strip District. “We set up two big monitors, two big flat screens, and I think 80 people came over and watched 80 percent, 85 percent of the movie. … It’s pretty watchable.”

Release and rating: Smith said the movie is expected to be released in November and he’s “praying for an R rating. … the initial porno scene that they shoot in the movie is one of the funniest but most graphic.”

When studio chief Harvey Weinstein visited the set, he asked Smith if he was shooting “TV coverage as well,” which would allow the movie to air on television or in other tame outlets. “I was, like, dude, I’m having a hard time shooting an R-rated movie, let alone a PG-13- rated version of the movie.”

The story is set at Thanksgiving-Christmas, and the fall release prompted Rogen to say, “We’ll get that ‘Enchanted’ audience.” And then let loose with a big laugh.

---

Director waxes philosophic on his ‘dirty, dirty movie’
By William Loeffler - Pittsburgh Tribune Review

Zack and Miri couldn’t make a porno movie just anywhere.

For writer and director Kevin Smith, choosing Pittsburgh to shoot his latest comedy was “a no-brainer.”

Smith, who filmed the controversial religious comedy “Dogma” here in 1998, began shooting “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” in January.

On Tuesday, with one night of shooting left before flying home to “sleep in my own bed,” Smith talked about his latest visit to Pittsburgh.

“We had such a good time with ‘Dogma’ in 1998,” said Smith, a bearish man with a neatly trimmed beard and horn-rimmed glasses. “It seemed like a no-brainer to shoot here. It had to be shot in a place that you’d think was the last place someone would shoot porn. And that’s Monroeville.”

OK, the $75 million tax incentive passed by the state Legislature last year helped, too. The grant provides a 25 percent tax credit to film companies that spend 60 percent of their production budgets in the state.

“We could have gone to Massachusetts,” Smith said. “They were pushing Connecticut pretty hard.”

Strippers from the local labor force benefited from the movie.

“It would seem inauthentic to bring in strippers from Los Angeles,” Smith said.

Budgeted at $25 million, “Zack and Miri” stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as two cash-strapped friends who make an X-rated film to get out of debt. During the making of this movie within a movie, the pair discover that they have feelings for one another.

Rogen — playing Bud Abbott to Smith’s Lou Costello — talked about how real-life porn star Katie Morgan was invaluable in helping to make a fake sex scene.

The two had not previously worked together. Smith said he was worried he wouldn’t be able to afford Rogen after he became famous as the star of Judd Apatow’s smash comedy “Knocked Up.”

“I saw ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin.’ I said, that dude is hysterical.’ ” Smith said. “Then he got famous.”

Smith said he knows he’s taking a risk with the word ‘Porno’ in the film’s title.

But love trumps sex, he said. Like his other films — “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy” — there’s an old-fashioned romantic sensibility beneath the raunch.

“It’s a dirty, dirty movie,” said Smith with perfect deadpan. But then, he added, “I hope the balance is there. It’s a really touching love story, no pun intended. In terms of the stuff I’ve done in the past, it’s probably closest to ‘Chasing Amy.’ ”

His family — wife, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, and daughter, Harley Quinn, 8 — moved to Pittsburgh during the shooting.

“We put Harley in Winchester Thurston for about three months,” he said. “She had a great time. … I think she found the idea of wearing a uniform every day incredibly novel. She felt like she worked for the government.”

He caught a couple of Penguins games at Mellon Arena, including one where the Pens lost to the New Jersey Devils.

“It was odd being one of the only three Devils jerseys in the building,” Smith said.

“Zack and Miri,” which is set for a November release, features Traci Lords, Jason Mewes and Craig Robinson, who plays glowering warehouse manager Darryl Philbin in the NBC comedy “The Office.” Betty Aberlin, who most people remember as Lady Aberlin from “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” makes her third appearance in a Smith film.

---

USAToday - If the title says ‘Porno,’ will moviegoers say ‘no thanks’?

By Anthony Breznican, USA TODAY

MONROEVILLE, Pa. — It sounds like the most dangerous title in movies —Zack & Miri Make a Porno — but in comedy these days, the riskier the better.
Kevin Smith’s film, now shooting in western Pennsylvania, stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as broke friends who embrace their desperation by making their own X-rated tape to pay off their debts. In the process, they uncover romantic feelings for each other.

Smith readily acknowledges that having “porno” in the title could turn off some potential viewers.

“We’re just hoping that by the time the movie comes out, if the marketing people do their jobs right, it’s a word that people will kind of get over,” he says.

This is the era in which the nation just spent weeks chattering about Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel’s dueling videos about having sex with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. (Banks released her own spoof video about Rogen.) And R-rated films such as Knocked Up (co-starring Rogen), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (co-starring Banks and Rogen) and Superbad are major comedy hits.

Industry analysts say Porno fits right in. “It’s one of the best titles of the year,” says Jeff Bock, an analyst with movie tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. “It sells the film for exactly what it is.” It helps, he notes, that Smith (Clerks, Dogma) has a dependable fan base. “They’ll follow him anywhere. I don’t think anything is too risqué for Kevin Smith fans.”

But that base is somewhat limited; Smith’s films tend to gross $20 million to $30 million. (Knocked Up brought in nearly $150 million.) With star-on-the-rise Rogen and the success of Knocked Up, “expectations are up for this particular film,” Bock says.

Those behind the film point out that it’s more than just a filthy movie (though it’s plenty filthy).

“What’s weird about it is, it’s dirty. But it’s so incredibly sweet,” Smith says, noting that Porno will be rated R (obviously, there’s no actual porn in it). Banks says grown-ups are mature enough for immature jokes. “These kinds of comedies, these sweet and sexy comedies, have all started to push the envelope. This movie takes it even further, that’s definitely true. But if you’re over 15 years old … you know what sex is, and in comedy you’re always trying to find those taboos that you can break for a laugh. Sex in America is a huge one.”

And Rogen? For him, there’s no safety in safety: “Oh, we are going too far … ” He laughs and adds: “The first thing people should think is: ‘Are they allowed to do that?’ ”

---

Daily Variety - Half the work for twice the pay
By STEPHEN SCHAEFER

Seth Rogen has always had a talent for making people laugh. The only difference now is that the genial comic generates laughs on a global scale.

With writing and acting credits for “Superbad,” a starring role in “Knocked Up” and four movies due this year, the comedian has scaled Hollywood’s hits list.

“Definitely, I’d say careerwise that things are going good,” Rogen acknowledges. “It’s becoming increasingly easier to work. I’m in the position at times to actually choose what I’m going to do instead of whatever will pay me.”

With his sudden success, the 25-year-old Canadian has discovered a whole new way of working. “Before the only reason I got cast in a movie was that me, or someone I knew, wrote it for me to. Now other people have opened up to letting me be in their world of movies. It’s a whole other experience!”

Case in point: Kevin Smith’s latest, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” in which Rogen plays Zack.

“It’s one of the first movies that I’ve just acted in, and it definitely feels like I’m doing half as much,” he says from the film’s location at Pittsburgh’s Monroeville Mall.

Working with Smith is a big deal for Rogen. “‘Clerks,’ when I saw that, was one of the defining moments of my career,” he says of Smith’s early success. “It’s the first movie I saw where the characters were talking like me and my friends talk to each other — about ‘Star Wars’ and blowjobs and what have you. That was tremendously influential in my writing. And then Kevin Smith told me he wrote a movie for me and I’m in. Thank God I really liked it,” he says of “Zack and Miri.” “It was a very simple process. Usually you have to put a gun to my head to make me finish a script, and I read ‘Zack and Miri’ in one sitting.”

Rogen has a slew of other yet-to-be-released features: He is a co-writer and actor on Owen Wilson’s “Drillbit Taylor” and does the same duties on “Pineapple Express,” which reteams him with James Franco, another alum on “Freaks and Geeks,” the Judd Apatow TV series that launched Rogen’s career in 1999. He’s also the voice of Hogsqueal in the current “The Spiderwick Chronicles” (including a marvelous digestive sound as he eats the ogre), Morton the mouse in “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!” and a mantis in “Kung Fu Panda.”

Of performing for animated films, Rogen says: “It’s a chance to play around more than anything. You’re all alone. It’s all about you, which is the opposite of a real movie set where it’s the extras, the background, the talking, a million elements at play. You can explore the dialogue in a way you never can on a real movie set.”

It seems unlikely that success will change this multihyphenate’s ways, however.

“For me, it’s very simple,” Rogen says. “Would I say, ‘Holy fuck! I’ve got to go see that!’? I want to do movies that I would really want to see, and that’s the only way I want to navigate that now.”

---

---

By William Loeffler
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, February 29, 2008

Fans of the NBC Comedy series “The Office,” know that Darryl Philbin is not a man to be trifled with.

The warehouse manager at Dunder-Mifflin has a fierce glower that says “Please don’t make me tear off your arm and beat you with it,”which is probably what he’d like to do to his clueless boss Michael (Steve Carell).

Robinson used his powers of intimidation to great effect in a scene-stealing turn as a club doorman in Judd Apatow’s smash movie comedy “Knocked Up.”

Robinson, who’s in town filming “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” will perform a stand-up show March 8 at the Pittsburgh Improv at the Waterfront in Homestead.

Some of the other “Zack and Miri” cast will be on hand to sign autographs and contribute to the hoopla, including actor Seth Rogen and director Kevin Smith, who will serve as host.

Robinson, a keyboard player and singer, will log double duty by performing with his band.

“It’s going to be his show but he’s bringing members of the cast of ‘Zack and Miri Make a Porno,’ ” says Improv manager Aimee Arnold.

There’s no word on whether cast members Traci Lords or Elizabeth Banks will show.

Tickets to the 11 p.m. show are $20. Details: 412-462-5233

---

“The Office’s” Craig Robinson and former porn star Traci Lords have joined Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks and Jason Mewes in Kevin Smith’s “Zack & Miri Make a Porno.”

Ricky Mabe (ABC Family’s “Beautiful People”), Jeff Anderson (”Clerks II”) and Katie Morgan (HBO’s “Katie Morgan: A Porn Star Revealed”) have also joined the film, which is being produced through The Weinstein Co. and Dimension Films. Production is set to begin Wednesday.

The story centers around two lifelong friends — Zack and Miri — who after finding themselves deep in debt enlist their friends to make a pornographic movie with the goal of earning some quick cash.

Michael Cole and Carla Gardini are overseeing the project for TWC and Dimension Films.

The film marks the latest collaboration between Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Smith and producer Scott Mosier. Their previous projects include “Clerks,” “Clerks II,” “Chasing Amy” and “Dogma.”

---