Kevin Smith

For other people named Kevin Smith, see Kevin Smith (disambiguation).

Kevin Smith
Smith in 2006
Born	Kevin Patrick Smith (1970-08-02) August 2, 1970 Red Bank, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, comic book writer, spoken word artist, podcaster
Years active	1994–present
Spouse	Jennifer Schwalbach Smith (1999–present)

Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American screenwriter, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian, podcaster, actor, and story-teller, best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob. He is also the co-founder, with Scott Mosier, of View Askew Productions and owner of Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash comic book and novelty store in Red Bank, New Jersey. He also hosts a weekly podcast with Scott Mosier known as SModcast. Smith is well-known for participating in long, humorous Q&A sessions that are often filmed for DVD release, beginning with An Evening with Kevin Smith.

His films are often time set in his home state of New Jersey, and while not strictly sequential, they frequently feature crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon in what is known by fans as the "View Askewniverse", named after his production company View Askew Productions. He has made numerous films and television projects, including Clerks, Dogma, Zack and Miri Make a Porno and Cop Out.

Personal life

Kevin Smith was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, the son of Grace, a homemaker, and Donald E. Smith (1936–2003), a postal worker. He has an older sister, Virginia, and an older brother, Donald Smith, Jr. He was raised in an Irish Catholic household and attended Henry Hudson Regional High School in Highlands.

After high school, he met Jason Mewes, who would later become a recurring actor in his films. He then attended The New School and the Vancouver Film School, where he met Scott Mosier, his producer for almost every movie he has made. He majored in film, but dropped out halfway through his studies, electing to take a partial tuition reimbursement in order to help finance his first film.

Smith is married to Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, and photographed her for the magazine Playboy. He named his daughter Harley Quinn after the character from Batman: The Animated Series, who was created by friend and fellow writer Paul Dini.

Although Smith was raised Catholic, he has said on Back to the Well, the Clerks II documentary, that now he only goes to Mass on the day before he starts production of a movie, and the day before it premieres. He never smoked until his debut film, Clerks, in which he used the cigarettes as a prop, but never actually inhaled. In fact, he has said that prior to filming Clerks, he was a staunch non-smoker.

One of the running themes in his work is a woman cheating on her boyfriend. This has been said to be autobiographical.

Kevin Smith is a hockey fan and loyal New Jersey Devils fan. Smith wrote his own blog that was posted on the National Hockey League's website and also often blogs specifically about the Devils. The NHL has since discontinued his blog after deeming it to be too controversial. Smith is also a fan of the Edmonton Oilers.

Career

Work as director

In an interview with Robert K. Elder for The Film That Changed My Life, Smith attributes the film Slacker as his main inspiration to becoming a director.

It was the movie that got me off my ass; it was the movie that lit a fire under me, the movie that made me think, “Hey, I could be a filmmaker.” And I had never seen a movie like that before ever in my life.

His first film, Clerks, was shot for the sum total of $27,575 in the same convenience store where Smith worked. It went to the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, where it won the Filmmaker's Trophy and was picked up by Miramax before the festival's end. In May 1994, it went to the Cannes International Film Festival where it won both the Prix de la Jeunesse and the International Critics' Week Prize. Released in November 1994 in two cities, the film went on to play in fifty markets, never playing on more than fifty screens at any given time. Despite the limited release, it was a critical and financial success, earning $3.1 million.

Initially, the film received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, solely for the graphic language. Miramax hired Alan Dershowitz to defend the film, and at an appeals screening, a jury consisting of members of the National Association of Theater Owners reversed the MPAA's decision, and the film was given an R rating instead.

Smith's second film, Mallrats, did not fare as well as Clerks. It received a critical drubbing and earned merely $2.2 million at the box office, despite playing on more than 500 screens. The film marked Jason Lee's debut as a leading man. While it later found its audience on home video, Smith has said of the movie "It was a six million dollar casting call for Chasing Amy'".

Widely hailed as one of Smith's best films, Chasing Amy marked what Quentin Tarantino called "a quantum leap forward" for Smith. Starring Mallrats alumni Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams and Ben Affleck, the $250,000 film earned $12 million at the box office and wound up on a number of critics' year-end best lists, and won two Independent Spirit Awards (screenplay and supporting actor for Lee).

Smith's fourth film, Dogma, had an all-star cast and found itself mired in controversy. The religious-themed comedy, which starred a post-Good Will Hunting Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, as well as Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, George Carlin, Alan Rickman, Linda Fiorentino, and Smith regulars Jason Lee and Jason Mewes, raised the ire of the Catholic League due largely to a reference about the Virgin Mary having post-Jesus intercourse with her husband, Joseph. Smith received over 10,000 pieces of protest/hate mail (some of which were showcased on the film's official website) and three death threats.

Smith at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

The film debuted at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, out of competition. Released on 800 screens in November 1999, the $10 million film earned $30 million.

After the controversy surrounding Dogma, Smith said he wanted to make a movie that could not be attacked for its content. Focusing the spotlight on two characters who'd appeared in supporting roles in his previous four films, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back featured an all-star cast, with many familiar faces returning from Smith's first four films. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon appear as themselves filming a mock sequel to Good Will Hunting. The $20 million film earned $30 million at the box office and received mixed reviews from the critics. It was meant to be the film that closed the book on the "Askewniverse" – the New Jersey-based, interconnected quintet of movies written and directed by Smith.

Jersey Girl with Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, George Carlin and Raquel Castro was meant to mark a new direction in Smith's career. However, the film took a critical beating as it was seen as a post-Gigli vehicle for Affleck and his then-girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez, who also appeared in this movie. Budgeted at $35 million, it earned only $25 million.

Clerks II marked one more trip into the Askewniverse, Smith resurrected the Dante and Randal characters from his first film and looked in on them 10 years later. Roundly criticized before its release, the film went on to win favorable reviews as well as two awards (the Audience Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Orbit Dirtiest Mouth Award at the MTV Movie Awards). It marked Smith's third trip to the Cannes International Film Festival, where Clerks II received an eight minute standing ovation. The $5 million film, starring Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Halloran, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes, Jennifer Schwalbach and Smith himself – reprising his role as Silent Bob – earned $25 million.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno was originally announced in March of 2006 as Smith's second non-Askewniverse comedy. The film, which began shooting on January 18, 2008 in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, and wrapped on March 15, 2008, stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as the title characters who decide to make a low-budget pornographic film to solve their money problems. The film, which was released on October 31, 2008, ran into many conflicts getting an "R" rating, with Rogen stating:

It's a really filthy movie. I hear they are having some problems getting an R rating from an NC-17 rating, which is never good... They [fight against] sex stuff. Isn't that weird? It's really crazy to me that Hostel is fine, with people gouging their eyes out and shit like that, but you can't show two people having sex – that's too much.

Smith took the film through the MPAA's appeals process and received the R rating, without having to make any further edits. Following the box office disappointment of the movie, his relationship with producer Harvey Weinstein soured according to an associate of Smith's, "An associate says Smith bitterly blamed Harvey Weinstein for failing to spend enough to market the movie. Although Weinstein said he spent $30 million on marketing, Smith didn't believe he had followed through. Either way, the relationship between the two frayed."

It was announced in 2009 that Smith had signed on to direct a buddy-cop comedy starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan called A Couple of Dicks and written by the Cullen Brothers. Due to controversy surrounding the original title, it was changed to A Couple of Cops, before reverting back its original title, A Couple of Dicks, due to negative reaction, before finally settling on the title Cop Out.

The film, which was shot between June and August 2009, involved a pair of veteran cops tracking down a stolen vintage baseball card, and was released on February 26, 2010 to poor reviews; it was the first film that Smith has directed but not written.

In September 2010, Smith started work on Red State, a independently-financed horror film. It will be released in the US in March 2011 with a word-of-mouth tour featuring Smith and members of the cast and crew doing after-show Q&As. The film will have a wide release in the U.S. on October 19th, 2011.

Frequent casting

Main article: Casting in Kevin Smith films

Smith often casts several of the same actors in his films. This originally began with actors from his first film, Clerks, appearing in subsequent films.

Work as a writer

Smith has been a regular contributor to Arena magazine. In 2005, Miramax Books released Smith's first book, Silent Bob Speaks, a collection of previously published essays (most from Arena) dissecting pop culture, the movie business, and Smith's personal life. His second book, My Boring-Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith, published by Titan Books, was another collection of previously published essays (this time blogs from Smith's website www.silentbobspeaks.com) and reached #32 on the New York Times Best Sellers List. Titan released Smith's third book Shootin' the Sh*t with Kevin Smith: The Best of the SModcast on September 29, 2009.

Comic writer

Kevin Smith at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con

A life-long comic book fan, Smith's early forays into comic books dealt with previously established View Askew characters, and were published by Oni Press. He wrote a short Jay and Silent Bob story about Walt Flanagan's dog in Oni Double Feature #1, and followed it with a Bluntman and Chronic story in Oni Double Feature #12.

He followed these with a series of Clerks comics. The first was simply Clerks: The Comic Book, which told of Randal's attempts to corner the market on Star Wars toys. The second was Clerks: Holiday Special, where Dante and Randal discover that Santa Claus lives in an apartment between the Quick Stop and RST Video. Third was Clerks: The Lost Scene, showing what happened inside Poston's Funeral Parlor. (This story was later animated in the TV series style and included as an extra on the 10th Anniversary Clerks DVD.)

Smith has written a comic mini-series Chasing Dogma, which tells the story of Jay and Silent Bob between the films Chasing Amy and Dogma. He has also written the trade paperback Bluntman and Chronic, published by Image, which purports to be a collection of the three issues of the series done by Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards (of Chasing Amy). It includes a color reprinting of the story from Oni Double Feature #12, purported to be an early appearance by Chasing Amy characters Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards.

These stories have all been collected in Tales From the Clerks (Graphitti Designs, ISBN 0936211784), which also includes a new "Clerks" story tying in to the Clerks 2 material, and the story from Oni Double Feature #1. They were previously collected by Image Comics in three separate volumes, one each for Clerks, Chasing Dogma and Bluntman and Chronic.

Smith makes occasional mention of his desire to do a one-shot comic book about Dogma characters Bartleby and Loki and the story behind how they were expelled from heaven, as well as a comic-only sequel to Mallrats called Mallrats 2: Die Hard in a Mall announced in August 1998. In 1999, Smith won a Harvey Award, for Best New Talent in comic books.

In 2009 it was also stated that he would be making a comic book version of The Green Hornet, the storyline for which is based on his unproduced screenplay for the film adaption.

Marvel and DC Comics

Smith began a lengthy association with Marvel Comics in 1999, taking over as the writer of the Marvel Comic Daredevil. His run, titled "Guardian Devil" and lasting eight issues, was plagued by delays (which artist Joe Quesada publicly took responsibility for, though it was a sign of things to come). His tenure on Daredevil was controversial among Daredevil fans. Some fans accused Smith of misogyny in his handling of Karen Page's death, and others objected to the killing of long-time Spider-Man foe Mysterio in a non-Spider-Man series. John Byrne and Howard Mackie (then-current writers on the Spider-Man titles) would bring the character back to life (however, because of the delays in his Daredevil run, Mysterio's return to life in the pages of Spider-Man was published before the Daredevil issue featuring Mysterio's death was published).

Kevin Smith followed this by jumping to DC Comics, producing a 15-issue tenure on Green Arrow that saw the return of Oliver Queen from the dead and the introduction of Mia Dearden, a teenage girl who would become Speedy after Smith's run had ended.

Smith returned to Marvel for two mini-series: Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do and Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target. The former is six issues long, but after the third issue was published two months after the initially scheduled release date, the final issues were delayed for at least three years, prompting Marvel to release an "in case you missed it" reprinting of the first three issues as one book prior to the remaining issues' release. The delay in part was due to Smith's movie production schedule (in this case, work on Jersey Girl and Clerks II) causing him to shelve completion of the mini-series until the films were completed.

He was announced as the writer of an ongoing Black Cat series and Amazing Spider-Man in early to mid-2002. However, because of the fatal delays on Evil That Men Do and The Target, the plan was switched so that Smith would start a third Spider-Man title (originally planned for then-ASM writer J. Michael Straczynski), and even this plan was eventually abandoned and the title (by then known as Marvel Knights Spider-Man) launched in 2004, by Mark Millar instead.

While the Spider-Man/Black Cat mini-series was ultimately completed, Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target remains unfinished, with one issue published. As of May 2007, Marvel and Kevin Smith have indicated that there are no plans for the mini-series to ever be completed.

Smith at the 2008 Comic-Con convention

Smith wrote for the limited series Batman: Cacophony (with art by friend Walt Flanagan) which ran from November 2008 to January 2009. As announced at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, the series featured the villains Onomatopoeia (a character created by Smith during his run at Green Arrow), The Joker, Maxie Zeus, and Victor Zsasz. The trade paperback of Batman: Cacophony became a New York Times Bestseller in their Hardcover Graphic Books section.

Smith has recently announced he will be writing new Batman comics and a Green Hornet story. The Green Hornet story being based on an unused script he wrote for a Green Hornet film project that never came to fruition. He is currently working on Batman: The Widening Gyre; the first collected volume went on sale on December 8, 2010.

Hired screenwriter

In 1997, Smith was hired by New Line to rewrite Overnight Delivery, (1998) which was expected to be a blockbuster teen movie. Smith's then-girlfriend Joey Lauren Adams almost took the role of Ivy in the movie, instead of the female lead in Chasing Amy. Eventually she lost out to Reese Witherspoon, and Overnight Delivery was quietly released directly to video. Kevin Smith's involvement with the film was revealed on-line, but he remains uncredited. He has said that the only scene which really used his dialogue was the opening scene, which includes a reference to long-time Smith friend Bryan Johnson.

For a time, Smith worked on a script for a Superman movie. He did a couple of drafts but his script was dropped when Tim Burton was hired to direct. Burton brought his own people to work on the project. Smith still sees the whole experience on working on the Superman project as a positive one however; he has said that he was well paid and it was a lot of fun. In the end, neither Smith's nor Burton's vision for Superman was filmed. Years later Smith noted the coincidental similarity between a scene in one of his comics and a scene in Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes.

In the 2007 Direct-to-DVD animation release of Superman: Doomsday, Smith has a cameo as an onlooker in a crowd. After Superman defeats The Toyman's giant mechanical robot, Smith scoffs, "Yeah, like we really needed him to defeat that giant spider. Heh. Lame!" This was a reference to a giant spider that producer Jon Peters of the Superman movie wanted Smith to put in the movie when he was attached, that was later put into another movie tied to Peters called Wild Wild West.

In 2004, Smith wrote a screenplay for a new film version of The Green Hornet, and announced prematurely that he had originally intended to direct as well. The project however died after the film was placed into turn around following the poor box office of Jersey Girl. Smith's screenplay is now a Green Hornet comic book miniseries.

Other film involvement

Smith was co-executive producer for the 1997 movie Good Will Hunting, assisting friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with making and marketing their film. After Damon and Affleck received Academy Awards for their screenplay, critics alleged that Smith himself was responsible for the script, a rumor which Smith vehemently denies. On an episode of SModcast in 2007, he also revealed that he was invited to direct the film, but ultimately turned the offer down, citing an insecurity he had at the time with directing something that he had not himself written.

Smith has appeared in three Q&A documentaries: An Evening with Kevin Smith, An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder and Sold Out: A Threevening with Kevin Smith. The first is a collection of filmed appearances at American colleges, while the sequel was shot at two Q&A shows held in Toronto and London. The third was filmed in Red Bank, New Jersey at the Count Basie Theater on Smith's 37th birthday. The first two DVD sets were released by Sony Home Video, while the third was put out by the Weinstein Company.

Smith appears with Marvel Comics guru Stan Lee in Marvel Then & Now: An Evening With Stan Lee and Joe Quesada, hosted by Kevin Smith. The film is similar in tone to the Evening with Kevin Smith series. Proceeds from the sale of the film benefit The Hero Initiative, a charitable organization that aids ill or aging comic book creators.

Smith was featured in This Film is Not Yet Rated, a documentary about some who believe the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) sometimes unfairly gives out ratings. Smith's interview was in reference to Jersey Girl receiving an R rating and reference Clerks originally receiving an NC17 rating.

Television

Clerks: The Animated Series

Main article: Clerks: The Animated Series

In 2000, Smith and Mosier teamed up with television writer David Mandel (Seinfeld and SNL) to develop an animated television show based on Clerks. This was an idea Smith had since the production of Mallrats and, after pitching it to nearly every major television network, ABC TV picked it up for airing in March 2000.

After being delayed to May, Clerks: The Animated Series aired only two episodes before being canceled as a result of poor ratings. The six produced episodes were released on DVD in 2001, marking one of the first occasions in which a very short-lived TV series found success in the DVD format.

Commercials

During the mid-1990s Smith directed and starred in a series of commercials for MTV, alongside Jason Mewes, in which they reprised their roles as Jay & Silent Bob. In 1998 he directed best friend Jason Mewes as "Gary Lamb – Ground Activist" in a series of Nike commercials. That same year, he also shot commercials for Diet Coke. Two years later, he directed "Star Wars" toy commercials for Hasbro. He has also directed and starred in commercials for Panasonic. In 2004 he also shot a public service announcement for the Declare Yourself organization. These advertisements brought Jay and Silent Bob out of their "semi-retirement."

Other appearances

Smith also appeared in an mtvU show titled Sucks Less With Kevin Smith. The show gives college students ideas for things to do on the weekends. Smith also played the role of Paul, a cynical divorced man, in a Showtime television series pilot, "Manchild", filmed in December 2006. However, it was not picked up by the network.

After an August 2001 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to promote Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Smith returned to the show for monthly segments as a correspondent. The "Roadside Attractions" segments featured Smith traveling to random locations around the country and showcased places like Howe Caverns in upstate New York and the Fish Market in Seattle. While five of these segments were included on the Jersey Girl DVD, at least twelve were aired on the actual show. Smith regularly appeared on the program to introduce the pre-taped bits.

From July 2006 on, Smith has guest reviewed on Ebert & Roeper, in place of Roger Ebert, who was recovering from thyroid cancer treatment. These spots have been notable for the arguments between Smith and Richard Roeper over certain films, with Smith often citing Roeper's poor review of Jersey Girl to discredit his review of the film at hand. On his most recent appearance, Smith compared Craig Brewer's Black Snake Moan to the works of William Faulkner.

In early 2005, Smith appeared in three episodes of the Canadian-made teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation. In the episodes, Smith, portraying a fictionalized version of himself, visited the school to work on the (fictional) film Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh! Smith wrote all his dialogue for the shows he appeared in. All three episodes were collected on a DVD entitled Jay and Silent Bob Do Degrassi. Smith and Mewes also appeared in two more episodes the following season, when they returned to Degrassi for the Toronto premiere of the fictional Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh! movie.

In addition to appearing on Degrassi: The Next Generation, Kevin Smith is an avid fan of the original Degrassi series, Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High and references to the original are present in some of his early films. He also appeared in the 2009 made for TV movie Degrassi Goes Hollywood.

Smith directed the pilot for The CW Television Network show Reaper. TV.com's summary of the show is "A twenty-something slacker finally scores a job as the devil's bounty hunter." He describes it as "less Brimstone or Dead Like Me and more like Shaun of the Dead than anything else". He went on to say that the reason he took the job was that he has always wanted to direct something he did not write, but never had an interest in doing it on the big screen.

At the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Kevin Smith would write and direct an episode of the Heroes spin-off, Heroes: Origins. Smith was the first director officially announced for the series. However, the project has been indefinitely postponed due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike.

Smith has also cameoed in the second season premiere of the sitcom Joey, where he played himself, on an episode of Law & Order in 2000 (episode "Black, White and Blue"), Duck Dodgers (2003 as Hal Jordan, voice only) and Yes, Dear (2004, as himself and Silent Bob). Smith appeared in the second episode of season two of Veronica Mars, playing a store clerk. He stated on his Web site that Veronica Mars is some of the best television work ever produced.

In the third season of the HBO series Entourage, Michael Bay and Kevin Smith are directing and writing Aquaman 2. In Entourage, the characters awkwardly react with obvious disappointment at Smith's involvement. Smith has speculated that, that jab and another from season two may have been motivated by a 1995 book in which he criticized Rob Weiss and his movie Amongst Friends. At his 37th birthday Q&A in August 2007, Smith assured the audience that he was not offended by the jibe, but rather that he is always amused when his name is mentioned on television shows, whether in a positive or negative light. He expressed interest in guest starring on the show and punching main character Ari Gold.

Acting roles

Silent Bob

As an actor, Smith is known for his role as Silent Bob in Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, and Clerks II. He made a cameo appearance in the horror film Scream 3, and was featured along with Jason Mewes in several Degrassi: The Next Generation episodes, including a special, "Jay and Silent Bob Do Degrassi" (also as a fictional version of himself).

Other roles

From 1995 to 1997, Smith played small roles in the View Askew movies Drawing Flies, Vulgar, and Big Helium Dog. In 2001, he appeared in friend Jeff Anderson's Now You Know. In 2003, Smith appeared in a cameo role as coroner Jack Kirby in the film Daredevil. In 2006, he voiced the Moose in the CGI cartoon Doogal. In 2007, Smith appeared in three films as an actor. He had his first starring role in a film he did not write or direct, co-starring as Sam in the film Catch and Release, starring Jennifer Garner. The performance earned him many favorable critical notices. Later that year, he had a small but significant part as a hacker called The Warlock in the fourth installment of the Die Hard franchise, Live Free or Die Hard for which he again received strong critical notices. At year's end, he appeared briefly in friend and fellow writer-director Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, in which he played the legless conspiracy theorist General Simon Theory. That same year, Smith also did voicework for the CGI film TMNT as a diner chef. He was also seen as Rusty (a friend of lead Jason Mewes) in Bottoms Up with co-star Paris Hilton.

Smith has also done small roles on television in shows such as Law & Order, Veronica Mars, Joey, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Phineas and Ferb, and Yes, Dear (in Yes, Dear, he also reprised his role as Silent Bob, which was simply him standing in one spot smoking a cigarette and saying nothing as the end credits rolled).

Upcoming films

Red State

Main article: Red State (2011 film)

Smith announced at the Wizard World Chicago 2006 convention that his next project would move in a different direction, and would be a horror film inspired by the likes of the Westboro Baptist Church and their Pastor Fred Phelps. In April 2007, Smith revealed the title of the movie to be Red State and said that it would be loosely based on Fred Phelps, or as Smith claimed, "very much about that subject matter, that point of view and that position taken to the absolute extreme. It's certainly not Phelps himself but it's very much inspired by a Phelps (like) figure." With the script finished, Smith originally planned to shoot the film in late March or early April 2009. Speaking at a live event in London on October 13, 2009, Smith stated that funding had been secured for Red State but he was more in the mindset to proceed with Hit Somebody and hold Red State off for a year. Another reason cited was a superstition he holds around dying after his tenth movie, and not wanting to leave an "unpleasant, nasty" film as his last. In February 2010, he talked about his project with Cinssu, saying that the project is currently working out financial challenges, and may even get funded through investments from his many loyal fans. Film producers and moguls Bob and Harvey Weinstein who had thus far been involved in the distribution of all Kevin Smith films, with the exception of Mallrats and Cop Out (for which Smith did not write the script, only directed) have passed on supporting Red State with necessary funding. On March 23, 2010 it was announced that Smith would begin production of the project in July 2010. On July 24, 2010, it was reported that Michael Parks had signed on to star in the film, and on September 5, 2010, Smith confirmed that Matt L. Jones was also cast. On the September 20 edition of his podcast Hollywood Babble-on, Kevin Smith announced that John Goodman had joined the cast for Red State. The wrap party was held on October 30, 2010, during which the cast and crew watched what Smith called a "fine-cut, complete with credits and some pre-mixing" version of the film.The film stars Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo and Stephen Root. In July 2010, Smith stated on his Twitter that "God-willing, Sundance in Jan for RED STATE." Smith has stated several times on Smodcast and at the 2011 Sundance Festival that the budget for this film was $4 million dollars. Rights to the film were originally supposed to be auctioned off at a controversial event following the debut screening of the film at Sundance but Smith did not find a distributor and, instead, purchased the film himself with plans to self-distribute the picture "under the Smodcast Pictures Banner" on a traveling show in select cities before officially releasing the movie on "October 19th" in 2011. Kevin Smith listed Mel Gibson as a role-model he looked up to, and his inspiration, for how he planned to distribute this movie, citing Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" as an example of a successfully self-distributed movie.

Hit Somebody

Smith is set to direct a hockey drama-comedy based on the song "Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)" by Warren Zevon. The song, which is about a hockey player famous for fighting on the rink, was co-written by Tuesdays With Morrie author Mitch Albom, who is working with Smith on the film. Smith recently announced that Nicholas Braun had been cast in the lead role of Buddy McCracken. At the Sundance premiere of Red State, Smith also announced that Hit Somebody will be the last movie he ever directs.

Other projects

Another planned project for Smith is Ranger Danger and the Danger Rangers. He has described the project as "my stab at a comic-book/sci-fi movie. It's in the vein of Flash Gordon, something I've noodled with a couple of years. Now I feel we are mature enough filmmakers to tackle it". In an April 2007 post on his blog, he mentioned that he's "planning something special" for his tenth movie. However, in his appearance on the Cinema Blend podcast, he stated that he has another science fiction film in mind that will replace Ranger Danger. Another project that has long been in the works is Clerks: Sell Out, a feature-length animated film done in the style of Clerks: The Animated Series. Clerks: Sell Out has since been canceled, as Clerks 2 took its place.

After the filming of Red State, Smith is slated to write and direct a science fiction film set in space. It is rumored that Smith wishes for the budget to be in the $45 to $50 million range. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Smith has already finished the first draft of the script. An article in Variety, based on an interview Kevin did to promote the release of Zack and Miri Make a Porno, apparently blew the rumor about Smith's science fiction project into something bigger than he would have liked. In an October 2008 interview, Smith was somewhat reticent on the subject, saying, "I thought that was rather premature that that got out there. I thought it was supposed to be part of this Q&A that I did with [Variety] that was going to run closer to the movie [Zack & Miri] but he pulled that part out and turned it into an item. It's just something I've been kind of piecing together since I was working on Zack and Miri."

On December 4, 2009, Smith indicated on his Twitter feed that he would like to do a third Clerks film, though not until he is in "mid-to-late 40s."

Secret Stash

Smith owns and operates Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey, a comic book store largely dedicated to merchandise related to his films and comics. The current location is its second. The store was moved to a defunct ice cream parlor on Broad St. after Smith sold the Monmouth St. property. The New Jersey location is managed by Smith's long time friend Walt Flanagan, who appears frequently in Smith's films. A second Secret Stash in the Westwood section of Los Angeles was opened in September 2004 and was managed by long-time associate Bryan Johnson, who has appeared in Smith's films as Steve-Dave. Smith had announced that he would close after his lease expired and Johnson wanted to resign, but eventually relocated to Laser Blazer, a DVD store in Los Angeles. In January 2009 the West Coast Store closed, leaving the east coast store as Smith's only operating store.

On the Internet

Smith has a website, The View Askewniverse, which opened in late 1995. He also has an online blog, "My Boring-Ass Life", the contents of which were published in a book by the same name. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back's fictional website MoviePoopShoot.com became real in 2002. It became Quick Stop Entertainment and was the home of SModcast until it was sold and Smodcast moved to a dedicated website Smodcast.com, which also carries the other Smodcast network podcasts in early 2010.

SModcast

Main article: SModcast

On February 5, 2007, Smith and Scott Mosier began SModcast (Smith-Mosier podcast), a regular comedy podcast. There have been several episodes with guest stars filling in for Scott Mosier, these include Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Jason Mewes, Walt Flanagan, Malcolm Ingram, Bryan Johnson, his mother, Grace, and Smith's daughter, Harley Quinn Smith, for the Father's Day episode.

Incidents and controversies

2010 Southwest Airlines incident

On February 13, 2010, Kevin Smith was on board a Southwest Airlines flight in Oakland bound for Burbank when he was removed from the plane, allegedly over concerns he was too obese to fly safely. Per Smith, he was able to put both armrests down in accordance with Southwest Airlines policy, and both passengers on either side did not object to his presence. Smith was then removed from the flight after being told he was a safety concern. After being booked on a later flight and being offered a $100 Southwest Airlines voucher, which he turned down, Smith lashed out at Southwest Airlines on his Twitter account.

Southwest Airlines representatives later released two statements regarding the incident via their blog. In the first statement, Southwest claimed that Mr. Smith "has been known to (...) purchase two Southwest seats" and cited its "Customer of Size" policy which requires that customers who cannot put their armrests down purchase two seats. In his podcast, Mr. Smith stated that he regularly purchased two seats, and had done so the previous week, because he preferred not having to sit next to anyone, not due to his size. In releasing this statement, Southwest disclosed Smith's personal travel details without his permission. The first statement also claimed that the flight captain has personally determined that Smith was too large to fly. In its second statement, Southwest contradicted this claim, stating that the captain had not singled out Smith.

Due to Southwest Airlines' inconsistent statements about what happened aboard the aircraft and Smith's repeated assertion that he was in compliance with Southwest's "Customer of Size" policy, it is not known precisely why Southwest's crew chose to remove Smith from the aircraft.

Smith later released an entire episode of SModcast devoted to the subject, giving a lengthy description of the incident, in which he claimed that he had been able to lower the armrests completely and comfortably and claimed to have been repeatedly lied to by airline personnel. He also referred to the airline as the "Greyhound of the Air" and vowed to never fly the airline again.

In his podcast, Smith stated that on his return flight a large female passenger was told to ask him if it was all right that she was sitting next to an empty seat he had bought between them, and it was suggested by Southwest staffers that she may need to purchase an additional seat due to her size, even though she had been placed next to an already-purchased empty seat. She was also the subject of an episode of SModcast.

Smith also released 24 video statements on YouTube further describing the incident.

Cop Out controversy

Kevin Smith thinks critics should have had to pay to see "Cop Out." But Kev, then they would REALLY have hated it.

— Critic Roger Ebert, responding to Smith

In response to the critical drubbing his 2010 film Cop Out received, Kevin Smith lashed out at the community of film critics on his Twitter account saying, "Writing a nasty review for Cop Out is akin to bullying a retarded kid. All you’ve done is make fun of something that wasn't doing you any harm and wanted only to give some cats some fun laughs." Smith also implied on Twitter that he may charge critics for advance screenings of his films, a service which has typically been provided free; this subsequently ignited a strong response from some critics condemning his stance as "dishonest" and "disingenuous".

Red State

In January 2011, Smith premiered his latest film, Red State, a horror film inspired by the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. The premier drew protests from a half-dozen members of the church, along with many more who counter-protested Westboro members. Smith has decided to embark on a nationwide tour with the film.

Various appearances

In July 2005, at a Q & A in Vancouver, Smith was awarded an honorary degree from the Vancouver Film School, where Smith was a student for four months before dropping out. Smith also has a street named after him in Paulsboro, New Jersey (where he filmed Jersey Girl), "Kevin Smith Way." The road leads to Paulsboro High School.

Smith's longest Q&A session took place April 2, 2005, at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey. The sold-out event was over seven hours long, took place from 8 pm through 3 am (which due to daylight saving time, was actually 4 am). Following the Q&A, he opened Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash for a meet-and-greet with the numerous remaining audience members, which ended around 6:30 am. Smith then hopped a plane and did another Q&A at the Raue Center For The Arts in Crystal Lake, Illinois, that night. Planned for two hours, it lasted just over five hours, ending a little after 1 am Central time.

On June 17, 2009 Smith played a sold out appearance at Carnegie Hall.

Filmography

Main article: Kevin Smith filmography

Recognition

Main article: List of recognition for Kevin Smith

Bibliography

Books

Books by Smith include:

• Silent Bob Speaks
• My Boring Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith
• Shootin' the Sh*t with Kevin Smith

Comics

Comics work includes:

• Daredevil: Guardian Devil (with Joe Quesada, Marvel Comics, 1998–1999)
• Green Arrow: Quiver (with Phil Hester, DC Comics, 2001–2002)
• Green Arrow: The Sound of Violence (with Phil Hester, DC Comics, 2002)
• Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do (with Terry Dodson, Marvel Comics, 2002, 2005–2006)
• Batman: Cacophony (with Walt Flanagan, DC Comics, 2008–2009)
• Batman: The Widening Gyre (with Walt Flanagan, DC Comics, 2009–2010)
• Green Hornet (with Jonathan Lau, Dynamite Entertainment, 2010)

Introductions written for Trade Paperbacks Include:

• Hitman: 10,000 Bullets (by Garth Ennis, DC Comics, 1996)
• Preacher: Until the End of the World (by Garth Ennis, Vertigo Comics, 1995)

External links

• Template:Wikiaskew
• View Askew Productions
• Smith's blog
• Kevin Smith at IMDb
• Kevin Smith at AllMovie
• Kevin Smith on Charlie Rose