While most of us are spending Labor Day soaking up the last moments of the summer and attending a cookout or three, director Kevin Smith has seen fit to use the day as a way of taking a little bit of time off from the post-production of his next flick, A Couple Of Dicks, and spend 24 hours answering fans questions submitted to him via twitter. We’re about a third of the way through things now,and Smith has answered many questions about A Couple Of Dicks, his work plans for after Dicks including the hockey movie Hit Somebody and the horror film Red State, his past films and comics work and some other, far sillier, topics. Here are some of the highlights of what has been said so far, broken into categories-
A Couple Of Dicks
“how much editing is done on DICKS?” In anticipation of today I worked all weekend. It’s now down to 2hrs even. Need 10 more.
“If not A COUPLE OF DICKS what will you title the movie?” I didn’t title it the first time. That’s up to WB/Platt/Cullens.
“Did you enjoy directing or acting with Bruce W more?” Way less responsibility just being an actor, but I’d say directing.
After Dicks
“Whats the plan after DICKS?” I think it’s time to HIT SOMEBODY.
“after Dicks, will u direct some1 elses script again, or go back to directing ur own?” Bi-curious. Might go bi-directual.
Hit Somebody
“would love to work on HIT SOMEBODY even as an intern. how would I go about sending an app?” Start with Michigan Film.
“Finished writing HIT SOMEBODY or is it a work in progress?” Haven’t started in earnest yet. Ton o’notes and last scene only
Red State
“What are the chances of Red State seeing the light of day” Looking better lately…
Clerks
“Mos: do you think you’ll ever co-direct/write together” Tried to get him to codirect CLERKS. Talked RANGER DANGER, too
Mallrats
“The third nipple in RATS: what did you make it out of? A fruit roll up?” It was, indeed, a fruit roll up.
“why wasn’t another RATS movie made??” At the time, most people seemed mad enough that one was made, let alone another.
“Are we going to get a Mallrats bluray?” That’s a Universal question, but I imagine. I don’t control my video rights.
Dogma
“Will there ever be a Dogma Extended Edition, with the Hell scene?” Was working on it with Sony, but I got distracted by ZACK.
“If one thing you could change about any of your movies besides ticket sales, what?” I’d make such a better DOGMA now.
Jersey Girl
“Long cut of JG: why’s studio not releasing it?” Still toxic, apparently. “Bennifer” fallout has half-life of thirty years.
Clerks II
“Emma got kind of a raw deal in C2. Clinginess aside, she loved Dante and got shit on. Elaborate?” Omelettes and eggs?
“Of the movies you’ve made, what was the most enjoyable for you” As established last week to much chagrin, CLERKS II.
“why did you choose the jackson 5 song for clerks 2?” Love that song. If you’re gonna go song-n-dance gay, what better way?
“Kaitlyn? Veronica? Thought they’d get a mention in C2″ Thought about it, but opted against. Maybe in a comic one day.
“one of your characters you would choose to be stuck on a desert island with?” Emma. If she’d fuck Dante, she’d fuck me.
Zack & Miri Make A Porno
“how you feel about walmart cutting out make a porno from zack & miri?” Bummer, but it didn’t change the flick at all.
Clerks: The Animated Series
Any chance of Clerks:Animated Series making a Family Guy style come back?” Ain’t heard nobody clamoring for it so far…
Filmmaking In General
“If someone forced you at gunpoint to remake someone else’s film, what film would you remake?” ARTHUR. Or 2 GIRLS 1 CUP.
“How much money do you think your projects have lost to piracy?” See, I think “How many more converts did I get from piracy?”
“Any regrets in choices in casting any of your movies?” Sure. And I’ll bet some of the cast has had director regrets with me.
“most painful thing you’ve cut from a film to please the MPAA?” Never hadda. 3 times I flipped a rating without a single cut.
“You prefer to hire actors known to you or search out fresh faces?” Don’t care how fresh a face is; I’m all about delivery.
“Ever think of doing direct to DVD given your success in that market? Or too much stigma attached?” It’s a strange……stigma, considering homevideo is, largely, how movies are seen. But all that work and no theatrical? Wouldn’t feel right
Comics
How much of your original movie script will be in “green hornet” comic?” All of it. It’s the script for the comic, too.
“Archie chose Veronica. Good call?” Typical: she’s from money. He’ll just slum it with Betty behind his rich wife’s back.
“Ur a huge DD fan. Fave story-arch?” Aside from http://tinyurl.com/ddkevbook (sell!) I loved the runs by Miller and.. (2/2) Bendis. Ann Nocenti did weird, sexy things to DD, too. But hands-down fave ish is BORN AGAIN chapter where Matt saves Karen. So good.
“Do you think storyboarding is a legit career for a frustrated comic artist?” In some cases, more profitable, too.
Although no release date has been announced for Kevin Smith’s latest comedy Zack And Miri Make A Porno, NewsAskew is reporting that it looks as if the film will hit DVD and BluRay on either February 3rd or the 10th.
One scooped reports to them that Blockbuster’s internal computers are reporting a February 10th release date for both the DVD and VBluRay editions of the film. However, the BluRay release of Smith’s Clerks II has just been moved from February 10 to the 3rd, leaving them, and myself, to wonder if the Weinstein Company will move Zack And Miri to the same date to entice buyers to pick both discs up at the same time.
Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) have a problem.
Platonic best friends since elementary school, the two find themselves in their mid-20s sharing an apartment and going nowhere fast. Their dead end jobs are not enough to pay their bills and as their utilities are slowly being turned off, they are in danger of being evicted from their shared apartment. But after the one-two punch of a high school class reunion and becoming the unwitting subjects of a popular embarrassing internet viral video, they realize that the only way to earn some money in this downturned economy is to go into the only recession-proof business- internet pornography.
Not unexpectedly at all, it seems that the Weinstein Company is having some problems placing advertising for the upcoming comedy Zack And Miri Make A Porno. Evidentally, for some people, even the word “porno” is a bad thing.
An article in today’s USA Today reports that the film company has received complaints about the film’s title and that several televisino stations and about 15 newspapers have refused to carry ads for the comedy about two platonic friends, Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, who decide that making a porn film may be their only way out of their mounting debt. Previously, director Kevin Smith had butted heads with the MPAA over the advertising for the film. Finally, in frustration, he submitted the stick figure drawings that are currently being used in the film’s advertising campaign.
But it seems as if that was still too much for some folks who feel threatened by mere words. According to the story, the Los Angeles Dodgers requested that Fox Sports drop the spots from the airing of their games following viewer complaints. One parent is quoted as being flustered by his young son asking what the word “porno” meant. The city of Philadelphia also felt the title was too inappropriate for the ad space in their bus stops. (I wonder how Pittsburgh, where Smith shot the film, will respond to the advertising.)
While I am not saying that we should thrust the concept of pornography into the faces of children, the fact that it exists shouldn’t be cause to send parents into a frenzy either. Usually, in dealing with things my 11-year old step-daughter might bring up that are over her head, my wife and I merely say that it is a “grown up thing” and we can discuss it when she is older. Seems like a fairly simple solution, and one that doesn’t make adults subject to the tyrrany of the sensibilities of children.
The thing I truely take exception to is the assertation from a professor at Wheelock College who stated that “posters at city bus stops send a message to children that working in the porn industry is an acceptable occupation.” Who is this person to decide what is an “acceptable” occupation? The pornography industry is grossing somewhere in the vacinity of $12 to $14 billion annually, exceeding the revenues of most major league sports or the intake of the major television networks combined. It seems that many Americans find porn consumtion completely acceptable. Yet oddly enough, as a society, we still want to stigmatize this exceedingly popular sector of the entertainment industry.
Watch for our review of Zack And Miri Make A Porno next week, when it opens on October 31.
Over at AintItCool this morning, writer Quint has a pretty good interview with writer/director Kevin Smith about his upcoming comedy Zack And Miri Make A Porno. It does get into spoiler territory, so if you’re trying to remain virgin for the film (pun intended), then you will probably want to give it a pass.
The two did get into a discussion about the status of his horror script, Red State, which Smith had actually planned on shooting before Zack And Miri, but postponed over funding issues. Smith is still having problems trying to find backers willing to put up the cash for the movie and contains some plot details for the film. As such, we’ve put the spoiler-filled quote at the other side of the link. Continue Reading
Here’s 11 pictures from Kevin Smith’s upcoming comedy Zack And Miri Make A Pornoto start your week off with. There’s already some strong advance buzz on the film, which, as a Kevin Smith fan, only excites me more. (No pun intended.) The pictures in the gallery below are fairly non-spoilerish, featuring various combinations of the main cast- Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes, Craig Robinson, Traci Lords, Katie Morgan and Ricky Mabe.
I think my favorite of the bunch is the one of the crew behind the camera getting ready to shoot one of the scenes for the amateur porno film that is the center of the comedy’s plot. Anyone who has worked on a low-to-no budget indie film will smile in recognition at the jerry-rigged lights and the microphone boom made out of a hockey stick.
Needlesstosay, Kevin Smith has had some trouble with the MPAA over his upcoming comedy Zack And Miri Make A Porno. The summation of these troubles, he has now hilariously summed in the poster art for the movie which hits theaters at the end of October.
Our frustration in getting an MPAA approval on the American poster led to last-resort ideas about showcasing dopey, simple images instead of risque pics of our leads – which, in turn, led to what’s now the official American poster for the flick. I like it a bunch. Simple and kinda ballsy. Should be up in theaters this weekend.
I have to say, this is a great poster. It rightly sums up the absolute ridiculousness of the MPAA’s nanny attitude.
Chalk up another victory in what appears to be a never ending battle between filmmaker Kevin Smith and the folks over at the Motion Pictures Association of America.
Smith’s latest film, Zack And Miri Make A Porno, has been awarded an R rating, after Smith and his producer Scott Mosier appealed the ratings board’s original NC-17 classification this past weekend. An NC-17 rated film would have faced challenges in finding theaters willing to screen it and newspapers willing to accept advertising for it. If Smith had not been able to get the rating overturned, he would probably have been forced to make further cuts to the film to get it to a contractually obligated R rating.
This marks the third time that Smith has been able to successfully appeal a rating given to one of his movies. His debut feature Clerks, originally received an NC-17 for language, while his dramedy Jersey Girl, originally was rated R by the MPAA. In each case, Smith was able to get the rating moved down one notch to R and PG-13 respectively.
Earlier this week we told you about the problems that Kevin Smith is having getting his new film Zack And Miri Make A Porno past the MPAA’s film rating board with anything less than an NC-17.
This weekend, Smith will take time out of his appearance schedule at the San Diego COmic Con to join producer Scott Mosier and go before the ratings board as part of the appeal process to get the film an R rating. This isn’t the first time that Smith has appealed a rating for one of his film, talking the board down from an NC-17 to an R for his debut film Clerks. It is unknown if there are any contractual obligations on Smith to deliver an R rated cut of the film to distributors the Weinstein Company or not.
Via Newsaskew. (Who credit Cinematical with finding the omission of Zack And Miri from the MPAA’s database even though we reported it hours before they did…)
While most of us are spending Labor Day soaking up the last moments of the summer and attending a cookout or three, director Kevin Smith has seen fit to use the day as a way of taking a little bit of time off from the post-production of his next flick, A Couple Of Dicks, and spend 24 hours answering fans questions submitted to him via twitter. We’re about a third of the way through things now,and Smith has answered many questions about A Couple Of Dicks, his work plans for after Dicks including the hockey movie Hit Somebody and the horror film Red State, his past films and comics work and some other, far sillier, topics. Here are some of the highlights of what has been said so far, broken into categories-
on either February 3rd or the 10th.
has just been moved from February 10 to the 3rd, leaving them, and myself, to wonder if the Weinstein Company will move Zack And Miri to the same date to entice buyers to pick both discs up at the same time.
