Red State is a film that writer/director Kevin Smith has been talking about making for some time. Unfortunately, he has been quite candid in describing his “political horror” film as “bleak. Beyond bleak, even. Remember how bleak Dark Knight was? This flick makes the bleakness level in that flick seem Beverly Hills Chihuahua bleak.”

So dark was Smith’s screenplay that his normal financial backers, Harvey Weinstein in the guise of the Weinstein Company, passed on funding the film. This forced Smith to look to producing the film independently, andearlier this year, he announced that he was hoping to begin filming sometime this summer. Now, a new interview has Smith stating that cameras will roll on the project next month -

Red State is what we’re shooting in August. It’s a political horror movie, essentially. We’re still casting right now, but I don’t want to cast anybody that anybody knows because that takes you right out of the flick. The idea is what’s going to sell the movie.

Hopefully, getting the film made and distributed won’t be as hard a fought battle as the one Smith has gone through to get to this point.