Kevin Smith is a comedian, director, and actor who has produced some cult classics like Clerks, Mall Rats, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. After surviving a widow maker of a heart attack he was prompted to create a film that encompassed his whole life’s career in one film. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot finishes up the story of two background characters in Kevin Smith’s cinematic universe while also being a love letter to his friends and family.
When did that idea, let’s go back and revisit how we got here. How did we get here?
Is that how you got pushback from the studios? Remake reboot.
Kevin Smith: We started at Clerks 3 five years ago. I was like, “I’m gonna make Clerks 3” and then we couldn’t make Clerks 3 cause one of the cats didn’t want to do it. And in retrospect, thank God, because the movie is very bleak and obsessed with death. It was before I had “The Heart Attack”. Every heart attack I’m like, I don’t want to write about death ever. So it was real middle life. Like if Clerks was me and my twenties and Clerks 2 was me in my thirties and Clerks 3 was middle age and dying. And so we didn’t wind up making that movie, and it fell apart like at the last second a month before we were supposed to go to Philly to start shooting. So one of the locations, key locations for it was a mall and we had this mall secured. So I was like, you know what man, let’s do Mall Rats two. Can’t do Clerks 3 let’s do Mall Rats 2. And so we were going to try and do that, but I got some bad information on that from agent. I said, I want to do Mall Rats 2, how do we do it? And he goes, well, Universal has it, He goes, there’s three ways to do it. Either Universal wants to make it and fully finance. I can’t imagine that in the age of Fast and Furious. Then you co-finance with universal. That means you can put up half, they could put up half.
And I was like, “I know I can find money if there’s 10 that I said, what’s third way?” And he’s like, “Or they just give back to you and you just go make it yourself.” I was like, you’re kidding me. I’d rather do that. I’ll go raise the money. I don’t need like Universal like they don’t want this movie and stuff. I was like “So you’re saying under no conditions do I not get to make this movie? And he’s like, “Yeah, totally. And I was like, right on. So I wrote it and got all the cast together and sit and then found out that he was wrong. And he told me one day I had to submit the script to Universal. I was like, why? And he’s like they have to make sure that, you know, you don’t say anything bad about Universal in it. And I was like, okay, fair enough. Go ahead. And then like two days later he goes,” I got some bad news.” And I was like, “what is it?” And he goes, “Universal just told me they’re a catalog company.” And I was like, “What does that mean?” He’s like, “they consider themselves a library and they have never once given up one of their properties ever in the history of Universal” So they’re not going to start now. So I was like, all right, so there’s two ways in which this movie gets made, not three. And he goes in, “The problem is that they don’t want to make the movie.” And I was like, man, so I don’t begrudge them not wanting to make the movie. That’s fine. But I thought I was going to make the movie without him. I couldn’t, they owned it sit. So I was like dammit. So as frustrated, twice need to make something I wanted to make and you know, I’m Kinda used to like amending, doing what I want to do.
You know, sometimes maybe I’ll go, there’s nobody gives a fck, but you do what you want to do at the end of the day. So twice the word from doing simple things like making Clerks 3 or Mall Rats 2 with all the players wanting to be involved seems simple and yet obstacles. So I was like, you know what? We own Jay Silent and Bob, you know, me and Jay. So I would have to ask anybody for permission. I know he wants to make one, cause he’s been asking me for years, for years he’d be like, “What are we gonna make another Jay and Silent Bob? I’d be like, I can’t believe we made one and got away with that, count your fcking blessings and stuff. So I knew I had a willing participant in them. I knew I had a willing participant in and I knew that I didn’t have to rely on somebody else’s permission or I didn’t need somebody to go along with the idea and sit. I was like, you may bow against the world. fck it. Let’s do it. So I started thinking about Jay and Silent Bob Movie. Now Jay had become a dad and he’s been a dad for about four years at this point and Logan is four and change. And you know, Mewes is my best friend in the world and he’s million dollar heart, but a nickel head, his worst fcking enemy. And back in the day, the notion of this cat being in charge of somebody’s life, you know, anybody’s, let alone a fcking small child was laughable. Like you’d be the last he can’t take care of himself. Why would you ever put him in charge of the kid? And then Jason and Jordan had Logan and I’d always thought Mewes was put on this earth to like be Jay and movies cause that’s all he was good at. And then all of a sudden you realize now he was born to be somebody’s dad. Dude never knew his dad and he had a real fraught relationship with a mother that used him as a bag man to deliver drugs and pick up money in our little town and sit. He got arrested at age nine by the cops and sting operation that kept him in jail at age nine overnight until Jason’s mother would turn herself in, cause they knew that she was the fcking culprit. So she sat there for a day thinking about it. How to get around around it. Jason Sat in jail at age nine for like a day. So he’s at a pretty, a difficult childhood. And I think that’s what informs his parenting. So he was not an irresponsible parent. He literally turned out to be the world’s best dad. And I include myself in that equation, my own father. And that equation, it was suddenly, I was so disappointed that I had had a kid first before him because I would have learned so much if he had gone first. He was so beautiful with the kid. Like, you know, I, I thought I had a real great relationship with my kid when she was little. But, you know, at a certain level it’s like I would always tell Jen and I was like, she, she loves you. She thinks you hung the moon until she figures out what I do for a living. And then that’s gonna flip. And it did eventually. But I, you know, I was a parent and as a kid and stuff, and I use my relationship with my parents as a model. Jason had no model to go off. So instead he created this relationship, this kid where he is legitimately interested in child, every aspect of her life. He finds her fascinating. He thinks like she’s the best thing he’s ever done. He’s absolutely fcking right. So he spends every waking moment with the kid. Like some people will say helicopters or snow plows. It’s not that he just legitimately enjoys this human being who happened to come out of his balls. So I said to him at one point, I was just like, this is the movie. Like nobody like seeing you be Super Dad all these years is a mind fck for me and I’m so happy for him but I’m like, I know you best in life and I never would have called this. So like the idea of Jay having a kid, that’d be fun, you know. So we started kind of from that space and you know, he would’ve been fine if I was just like, you know in this movie you’re responsible for the neo holocaust, but like whatever, he trusts me. But instead I was like, let’s play on the dad thing because it’s who you are. Like all these movies are already snapshots of who we are in our lives at that point. And I was like, is who you are right now? Let’s go for it. And Man, Oh man, it was a great decision. Her casting the kid as his kid worked so f*cking well for us in terms of a performance from Jason. Cause if I cast anybody else opposite and they say I’m your daughter and heartbreaking things and they cry in front of them.
Jason’s not professionally trained actor by any stretch of the imagination. So Jason would just stare at them blankly and be like, what’s my line? You know, and sit like that. And we’d cut a scene out of it. But because it’s the little girl he saw since she was a kid, I mean he didn’t see her pop out the womb. I was there for that. But like you know when once they put a towel on her and my wife, I was like come in. So he saw that kid from the moment she was born practically and she carried around a pink elephant. Her all young life still has it that she called Yay Yay, which we never understood where she got the name from until we realized she was trying to say Jay, she loved this fcking guy and stuff. Known him her whole life, he loves her, her being in the scene and you know she’s Stella Adler kid so she can get emotional in the scene and s*it like that.
She took this cartoon of a movie very seriously. Like I said to my wife on day one of working with Harley, she’s like, “How Harley do?” And I was like, I honestly, “I thought she did great, but I think she’s in a completely different fcking movie.” I was like, we’re all making a fcking comedy and this one’s acting like really dramatic s*it. And so she acted opposite him and when she would get real, as you’ve seen, he got emotional. We were never going to get, I could have stabbed him with knives off camera, the scene and I wouldn’t have got what I got from them. Simple human reaction of him watching that girl who he has known his whole life crime and suddenly boom. And because of that movie comes something different. Like Scott Mosier who produced all my other movies and we do smog guests together, but not as the director and stuff.
He wasn’t involved in this. So he didn’t know the script, nothing like that. So I showed him the movie when it was all done And he goes, you know, he’s gone. I get what you want to do. He’s gone. You wanted to tell Joe and your joke was, what if I just fcking made the same movie again? And he’s like, and you could’ve gotten away with it because of the reboot nature and sit like that. And he’s like and it would’ve worked and it would’ve been fine. He’s gone. But, but a half hour into the movie, you showed me a movie that I had no idea I was going to see the movie that I wanted to see more than anything else, he’s gone. I had no idea I would want to see a movie about this f*cking knucklehead being a dad is gone, but now I can’t go back.
Like now, Jay and Silent Bob grew up for me and I’m like, that was kind of the point. Like I love those characters. They fcking gave me everything to give them a little taste of maturity, let them grow up, while still maintaining who they are. It’s the least I could have done for them in return. So the movie came from there and then a heart attack just made it all more arch, all way bigger because we were trying to make this movie before the heart attack. Then after the heart attack, you know I was, when I was on the fcking table, the doctor was like, you’re having a widowmaker. You know what that is? I was like, no. And he goes, Oh, let me tell you what it is. Your conflict guy, you’ll like this. He goes, um, you have a hundred percent occlusion in your lad as the artery goes across from your heart, a hundred percent blockage.
And he goes, that’s a widowmaker. I said, why? And he goes because 80% of the cases of 100% blockage, the patient always dies. He’s going to be you’re man the 20% because I’m good at my job and he disappeared into my crotch cause that’s how they save you. They puncture a hole in your groin and they go up your femoral and sit like that. And he saved my life and stuff. So while I was laying there, not knowing if he was going to save my life, cause dude, you know I’m all doped up and whatever they give you and my man gives me the information about 80 20 I’m not a math person but I, I was obsessed with those numbers because I was like there’s an 80% she hasn’t done. That’s bad. Right? Like which one would be a better number? Wait fcking Holy s*it.
Like there’s a better chance I’m not going to come through this. So I was like, you might die tonight. What do you think it, you know you spent your whole fcking life with your head up your ass looking at your head and heart and sit like that. What, what are you thinking in this exact moment in time? and I felt like at peace it wasn’t sitty. I wasn’t like Nah, I was just like, you know what? Like it makes sense. Like I didn’t need that. Well I guess and that’s it. My Dad had a bad heart. My Mom’s got a bad heart. I was like, it all kind of makes sense. I said I didn’t feel I wasn’t like mad or like, you know, fcking desperatly clinging to life cause I felt like everything kind of worked out. Like I sat there going like, well like yeah short, you’re 47 but like what more can you ask for?
You got fcking I had great parents. You had great brother and sister, you great friends, you fcking built this weird career that is uniquely fcking yours that nobody will ever try again. Then because of that career, you met this woman and then he fell in love and you’ve been with her for like 21 years and you made another human being had a great fcking kid. Like what more do you want? It’s just more of the same. If you’re fcking lucky. So like, you know what, if it’s done tonight, you’re good. Like just fcking be cool about it. Like pushback from the table won’t be the last asshole at the party was like, hey man, you got any soda left? Like just f*cking go. The only regret that I had though, because after I did that I was like, you know what? This is it. We’re going to find out what happens next.
Next thought I have is like if I do die tonight, the last movie I made was Yoga Hosers as a God damn it, it doesn’t somebody edit fcking nobody saw it and sit like that. I did too. I felt like though I was like, this would be good for yoga so I’ll have to reconsider it. So I said, man, we had only made Jay and Sound Bob Reboot. That would have been the one to go out on and sit. And so after I pulled through life to the doctor, say my fcking life, like suddenly we tripled the efforts to make the movie. We’d gotten close before the heart attack, but suddenly I was hell bent for leather. And within a year, one year after the heart attack, we were in production on the movie. The first day of production on the movie was the one year anniversary of the heart attack.
It’s a big fck you to the heart attack. It was like we’re gonna make the movie now come at me motherfcker. You know sit like I’m very jersey like that. I get angry at the heart attack something but I’m not really angry. They aren’t exact cause it really saved my life. Like honestly I was never gonna get in shape, get healthy. I went vegan. That changed everything. I scared cause I was like, I don’t want to die. So it made the movie so much more dramatic cause now it’s no longer like, hey, let’s make a Jay and Silent Bob Movie. I’m like this has to stand as a fcking testimony. Everything that I’ve ever sat down and thought in his life and people were like a Jay and Silent Bob Movie. And I was like, yes, we’re going to make it work. Work Somehow. So I wound up making this flag that like, you know, f*cking works I guess, hopefully as moving.
But it really does kind of go like, this was his entire fcking life. Like you’ve referenced all of his movies. You fcking reference the podcast. It’s fcking families in it. His daughter, his wife is fcking mothers in the movie with his brother. Like he put himself in it as a character, how gross. But he lived through a heart attack. So we’ll let him go. Hopefully like this is everything. Like if you watch that movie, if somebody was like, who is Kevin Smith? They’d be like, oh my God, just watch this. And if you’re even remotely relate to any of this, maybe you’ll like this guy, but if this is baffling to you, don’t waste your time. And so I felt like that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to make a masterpiece. Not like, like, this is the best movie ever made. Not at all.
I can’t do that. But the idea of a masterpiece was like, you know, the, the apprentice working under a master would eventually after years and years and years put forward their example of the work that they’d learned. This is my masterpiece. And I felt like that’s what reboot is. Reboot is my way of being. Like, this is everything I’ve learned, not just in 25 years of business, cause it’s been 25 years since clerks, but in now 49 years of life. And you know, it’s all couched and wrapped in an easily disposable stoner movie. And if you want to just see that movie, you can totally see that movie. But if you’re looking for a little something else, this movie is going to hit you with like what the kids called “the feels” because we have a deep bench of characters that go back 25 years.
And if you’re interacting with that movie and you know any of them, you’re interacting with it on a personal level because suddenly it’s not just like, oh, Chasing Amy, you go chasing Amy when I was dating her back when life was good, you know, it takes you to a fcking place. It’s this weird little nostalgia bomb that just goes off over and over and over again and hopefully reminds people of good times and sit like that. That came from the heart attack and also the cast. We never would’ve gotten that cast were not for the f*cking heart attack. Anytime you call up somebody like can you come play a lot of people?
Yeah, of course that yes. But some catch you’d be like, can you come down and shoot one hour with us? And they’d be like, yeah man, where are you? And I’m like, we’re in New Orleans. They’re like, oh, oh bro, I don’t, you know, I mean I don’t like, I want to do it but like I want to go all the way to New Orleans and then I would just be like, you do realize it almost died last year. They’d be like, all right, I’m f*cking cold. So you guilted a lot of people coming out made that heart attack work for us a little bit. Heart attack should get casting credit.
Can you talk about the push pull between ideas, references made to woke culture. Yeah. You know, we’ll be adding women and talking about diversity. Can you talk about the kind of push pull nature because it’s seems that sometimes like you embrace it. Sometimes you’re also like eh?
Kevin Smith: Yeah, I mean that, that to me was like, that’s what started the idea. It was like, oh, we can make fun of like how everybody is like, let’s redo it.
Let’s happen again. It’s going to have a Spider-Man just ended to do it again quick so they forget, you know, and it’s all brand new. So I felt like, all right, we can poke fun at that. Like the first one poked fun at like versioning Internet culture, which is now like the culture. Yeah. Like when we made the movie there were people like, Oh, I get that joke as I’m on the Internet. But now people are like, oh my God. Like that’s the Internet. That’s the world in general. So this, I knew I couldn’t do that because we’re all speaking the same language at this point. Yeah. So I felt like, all right, there’s a way in and the way in is like, we’re going to make fun of sequels and remakes and reboots while being all three at the same time. Let’s have our cake and eat it too. And No reimagining. Yes. Goddammit. It wasn’t until the movie was over that I was so mad. I realized, Oh f*ck, it’s a requel. And we never want to say that. We’d never want say it in the movie. I wish I had said that to you.
So you described this film as your victory does that I mean, you’re not going to continue over the films?
Kevin Smith: I think I always try to have my cake and eat it too by like, uh, doing it and pointing, add it to the right. That’s a thing, isn’t it? Um, yeah, that’s the, the nature I think of like when you try and entertain, you try and entertain a bunch of people that may not necessarily agree with everything that you had to say. And sometimes it works, sometimes it don’t. But I felt like it’s honest, like having, having Melissa be chronic is honest, honest number two, awesome. But it’s also like something that these two old men would be like, what? And even though they’re not even invested, like they don’t even care about this s*it. Um, but at the same time there have been left behind as the world’s kind of gone forward. So we get to make fish out of water are out of time, jokes or these old man jokes because of that and still get to like trade and woke humor as well.
And, and I’m sure like I remember we put up like one of, you know, I was putting up Instagram images throughout the whole shoot and then I’ve put up one of the girls, like the girl gang. And I was like, here’s the girl gang. Last time I had a girl guy, we had girl gang and this movie too, and Blah Blah Blah. And you know, some, there was a lot of, oh my God, this is great. And then there was some people who are just like, Ew don’t tell me that you were cowing to this f*cking quotas standard or something. And it’s like, I don’t know Bro, go look at all the other movies I made. There were always, I always, I always had women in it. I said, I like, it ain’t new for me, but it’s like, well we do that. The joke is in the cut but it’s in the credits and you watch all the way through the credits. But at one point like they’re talking and they both wind up like a part of his character. Jihad is talking to Harley’s character Millie and she’s defending Jay and like Harley goes, this conversation really does not pass the Bechtel test.
Your legacy..
Kevin Smith: No, I mean, no, I, I look now I just, the way I got to proceed at post heart attack, my father had two heart attacks and the second one took it. So I know I changed my life and I fcking job weight and I just saw my cardiologist two weeks ago and he was for my year and a half since the year and a half since our tech appointment checkup. And he was like, come back in a year. And I was like, well, not six months. He goes, you’re doing amazing, whatever you’re doing, keep doing it, blah, blah, blah. Your levels of great and your heart fcking, I see no lasting damage, blah blah. Um, that’s all good. But you know, my father got better at one point and then until he wasn’t, so, you know, with these things tend to, you know, mine’s genetic.
It wasn’t just like, well I was happy and now I’ve lost the weight. So on good forever, I’ve got some, you know, sitty genetics when it comes to my heart, my, my dad and my mom, I love them both. And then a lot of my life and fcking, they, they had huge hearts, but they were defective. And so they gave me one that’s a little weird as well. So you never know, you know? And they were kind of up front about that. Like, you know, early on after the procedure, just like you have to watch for the rest of your life because this is now a thing and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, all right, so now I feel like it sounds weird to send, I said it once in an interview and then my mom yelled, abandoned by each other. People give me s*it.
But I said like, I feel like I’m living on borrowed time because I was 80, 20 I supposed to die on that fcking table in the room. So now I’m just like, all right, like, and this sounds more of an, I don’t mean it to sound Morbid, cause I’m very, I love life and I’m not looking for death by any stretch of the imagination, but based on the facts given to me now, I proceed with everything in life going like, well, do you want to die doing this because you probably gonna die during this project. So now I’m like, I’m all right. Well, everything has a bit more important and dramatic weight because cause it has to stand for you when you’re dead. Like you know, honestly, I love fcking Yogos. There’s, I got Yoga Hosers there’s posters hanging up in my house, my kids in it. I love that f*cking movie. But like, you know, at the same time I get why people weren’t into it and stuff like that. And I didn’t want that to be…
I got a character question for your how dumb is too dumb for these characters. I think they are kind of philosophers in their own way. How did you hone their stupidity?
Kevin Smith: Yeah! Like I was like, Oh sit. And it would have been, it could have been because you know, there was a time where I was like, I don’t wanna just do this and do this and there was no plan. I had no plan for this sit. I just wanted to make clerks and then everything fcking happened and I’m like, Oh sit, this keeps working and stuff. It’s like finding a broken slot machine and just going back to it over and over again and sit like that. So I had no real plan. I have no real goals. There was never like be the best at your fcking line of work and win an Oscar. That made no sense and sit. Cause I knew I wasn’t nearly the best and I knew like I just, I ain’t in competition and sit, I don’t, you know, I’m just want to make my sit. So at the end of the day, you know, you just have these kinds of, now I look at it, go on like, all right, let me do this until I die. And then if that’s done I’ll start another project and I’ll do that until I die. So like I got the He-man gig and I didn’t get it by going like, look, I’m going to die. But like they don’t hire you for sit like that. But like once I got the Gig, you know, everyone was like, oh my lord, that’s like Netflix. And that made me happy cause I’m like hey I’m at the cool kids table and s*it. But at the same time they were like, you must be ecstatic. And I’m like, I’m happy to do this until I die.
And they’re like, that’s so morbid. But I’m like, it’s, it’s not like anymore. Like it used to be pre heart attack, but now I’m like, it’s a f*cking fact of life. So now I approach everything like that. I’m like, all right, do I want to do this until I die? Cause you might. Yes. And um, it’s not, I don’t mean it to sound emo or goth or like he started wearing black robes and trailer that I’m not very up with life and [inaudible] I was always doing that.
Well, I love the fact that you have a disabled woman of color in this meeting. This is very rare. It’s practically nonexistent.
Kevin Smith: Well it was always based on who he was when he was a kid and who he was when he was 16 and he’s like the smartest guy in the room. I’m the dumbest guy in the room. Like a street smart but like no real fcking intelligence whatsoever or something. So that’s who he was when he was a kid and that’s who the characters come based on. And Jay has since grown and you know, become like an incredibly responsible dad and sit like that and a great husband but still at as core as a guy that I’ve met years ago who’s just like, just like me, how do we not work? You know what I’m saying? Like we came from work worlds and sit and both of us have spent most of our lives trying to figure out how to not do that. He was a roofer and I worked in convenience stores and both of us were just like, how do we not fcking work? I’m lazier than him. Like he at least sees up on a roof, Bang and s*it together and whatnot.
I literally found the easiest job in the world. They’ll sit me on a cash register or eat at a convenience store or a video store and fcking like, just deal with people when they need sit and what not. And then the rest of the time I’m watching TV and then I wanted to find something even easier than that cause I was like, what’s, what’s easy? What’s working smarter? Not harder. And so it led us toward entertainment you know? And I always thought he was funny. Like he was never an actor’s, never trying to be in school plays or anything like that. But I just thought it was clever, a true American original and sit. I was like, I would always say long before I wanted to make a film I and B make a film, be a filmmaker. Long before I saw slacker on my 21st birthday, I would always say like, somebody should put you in a movie man. Like I just want to see if people think you’re as funny as we think. Like I know you’re funny. Like, cause we live here, we know you. But like when people in like New York think you’re funny, like maybe you’re just Jersey funny and yeah, Central Jersey. Not even south. So you know, one day I got a chance to do it where I was like, oh I’m going to put you I who knew it. I’m the guy who’s going to put you in a movie and stuff. And that character, like when clerks came out, nobody talked about that character. There’s one review, I think it was Leah Rosen and people magazine said, you want to find the rock that Jason Mewes crawled out from under and makes sure there’s nothing else like it underneath. And Jason brought me that review. He’s like, is that good? And I was like, that’s a rave man. So they never really talked about the characters. They were talking about like Dante and Randall the guys who were the clerks and stuff. And they would only ever reference Silent Bob to be the director plays a character who stands outside the store named Simon Bob. So I never realized like they were a non-factor through most of the clerk’s life from Sundance till I would say Mallrats. And then before Mallrats comes out, we have a screening in July, 1995, San Diego Comic Con Horton Plaza. We put the moon movie up in front of 250 people and at that festival, at the fcking comic con, it plays through the roof. Tom Pollock, who was the head of universal at the point, it’s like, we’re going to make a hundred million dollars. He was off by 98 but at Comic-con, imagine how that works. We play is, it’s all about the people than Comic-Con for heaven sakes
So we’re watching the movie and it was five minutes into it and maybe eight, maybe 10. James and Bob come into that movie and mind you, nobody had ever talked about these characters when Clerks was going on. They come on screen, you know, Brody says hatchet men and you cut to him Jay and knocking on the glass and then cut to a watch shot and he’s dancing. The audience erupted in familiarity, which was completely foreign to me. We’d only made one movie. That movie had only ever played on 50 art house screens. And to have these people go on like oh like I know these fckers blew my mind. And what had happened was clerks had went to home video and found its true audience. Like when it played in theaters it was, its audience was like critics, film critics cineastes Hi Brow Cause it only played in big city markets, college kids and sit like that.
It wasn’t until I went to on video that the real audience found that the people who are like I know a guy just like Jay is me, Jay is my sister, Jay is my dad, Jay is my uncle. Like that identity factor blew my hair back. Everybody knew Jay, everybody loved Jay cause they had a j in their lives. So in clerks he’s not really portrayed as stupid in mall rats. He is kind of like played for stupid in chasing Amy. That was me trying to make up for a, what I felt like was the cartoony portrayal of Jay and Silent Bob, which in 1996 so I’m 26 years old right before I make chasing Amy, I feel a sense of like I betrayed my characters and for what? For Mall Rats, like Oh my God, you know I’m Catholic. So I felt like Judas and Peter at the same time.
So the next movie Chasing Amy , they talk about like the comic book. They talk about blunt man and chronic, which is a reference really to mall rats and they criticize Blunt Man and Chronic as being like, that’s not like us at all running around. I’ll slap sticky and s*it saying what? And he’s like snootchie bootchies He’s like, who talks like that? That’s baby talk. So that was me trying to reclaim their dignity for what they were in the first movie. Then we make Dogma and Dogma is kind of the, honestly the best representation of the characters to date at that point. And probably maybe across the board now I’m reboot all that can better, but in dogma, like it’s there, the Greek chorus there Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Um, he’s street-smart but clearly not that bright. So he’s a mixture of his chasing Amy and Mall Rats versions of the character.
And then by the time we get to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, we’re back to a cartoon and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Only happens because people receive the characters so well in Dogma. But we got crucified. I got crisp about on dog love by the religious folks. And so after that experience and after death threats, I was like, I just want to make a movie where nobody ever gets mad at us. What can we do? And I was like, well everyone like Jay and Silent Bob, what if I just even met, even met like at the New York Film Festival, Matt Damon was like, Jason Mewes literally stole movie out from me and Ben and we are coming off of Good Will Hunting. He’s gone. That’s how good that dude is in that movie. So I was like, he’s right man. I’m like a whole movie about Jay and Silent Bob. And so I went for that and then they became more cartoony in the very slapstick running around.
But it’s ironic because in chasing Amy, they make fun of, I use blunt man and chronic to make fun of Mallrats to be like, no, that was a mistake. And yet Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Jay and Silent Bob reboot cannot exist if Blunt Man and Chronic is not a concept that’s introduced in Chasing Amy. Suddenly you’re like, Oh that comic book became a movie. Then the nearly 20 years later, like, Oh, that comic book movie became a reboot. You know, like something that I thought like the 25 year old or 26 year old me was just like, I’m going to disavow. This was literally building the fcking future without realizing it. So are the characters dumb? I mean, yeah, he still played as kind of the dumb blonde and I’m kind of portrayed as like Jimminy Cricket, he’s Pinocchio and I’m Jimminy Cricket. So he’s easily led astray and you know, little wooden headed and he’s got, you know, a dude who sits there and tries to keep in mind track. Like I loved their relationship and I really enjoyed it because think about it in reboot, I had the benefit, you know, when I make all those other movies, I’m making them as they’re happening and sit. And so, you know, really think about it too much or like this is what it is now. This is what it is now. We hadn’t made a Jay and Silent Bob movie in 17 years, 18 years at that point. And we hadn’t had them in a movie since Clerks 2 in 2006 so that was 12 years since that one. Sorry, my math is so I had the benefit of now 20 almost 25 years of looking back at those characters and being like, all right now what do you do with them? You know, and processing them and getting to criticize oneself. Like then the chasing Amy scene with a Ben and Joey, I get to criticize the movie and the way that Chasing Amy gets criticized now where people are just like, why is that movie made by a man?
Like why in the most interesting character is the woman and why is this guy grieved? How come he’s the hero fck this moment. So you know, in the scene you get to do stuff where you’re like, you know where Joey’s like or Alyssa is like, you know, it should have been made by anybody but as this white male and sit like that and you know, it’s, I only got to do that because of Jay and Silent Bob. Like I was never getting back to chasing Amy movie. Like nobody wants a Chasing Amy Sequel? Um, but to do eight minutes of it in the middle of another movie, that’s okay. People believe so. And it was nice that they afforded me the ability to do that. I love holding McNeil. I mean look, Ben afforded me the opportunity to do it by coming back and I loved that character.
Dante was the character that was closest to me because I used to work at quick stuff, but I hadn’t been daunting in 25 years. It’s been a long time since I was a minimum wager. So Holden is a character that I created years later and chasing Amy in 96 about two, three years after clerks and that character is very close to who I am because I’m telling my own story, my story with Joey and we’re just using, you know, Ben and Joey to tell the story. And so I’m, I relate to Holden, you know, all of Holden’s flaws were mine all of like holding at the end of chasing Amy, like where you think like, man, me, Amy’s might get his head around, he might grow up and s*it. That, that was me and stuff is all very biographical. So when Ben came back, it afforded me the ability to misken sense.
So fcking weird, but like to put me in the movie. We’re just crazy because whenever I’m not silent Bob, I’m Kevin Smith in the movie. Like I’m in every frame of this fcking movie, but I wasn’t in the movie. Me Personally. And Ben allowed me to do that because Holden is the closest to me. So through Holden I get to kind of take stock of my professional life and look back and speak, and that’s how I get to be in the movie. There’s a blind in the movie where he goes in break, breaks me up like all the time. I’ll try not to fcking get emotional where he goes. Um, he’s talking to them and he’s doing this big monologues, one page monologue, and he says, um, when I was, when he’s gone, um, the people hate the presence so much. They just want to retreat to the past and now suddenly all my old bullsit his back and he says, and some of that bulls*it meant the world to me when I was a kid.
That’s me. Like in the middle of this goofy fcking stoner movie. That’s probably the most honest I’ve ever been. Anything I’ve fcking ever made and sit. Everything he says for the next 12 seconds is the author laid bare and what he thinks about his entire fcking career and putting it through the prison. And then at the same time, it turns into the defense of like this why I cast my daughter in the movie. Because essentially that’s what all it does. It gives you a big speech about how it ain’t about him. It’s about the kid and s*it like that. Being able to play with that character was incredibly therapeutic because that allowed me to kind of go like, this is where I am in life. Here’s where Jay and Silent Bob are in life. Here’s where the fictional version of Kevin Smith is in life and clearly it’s a lie.
They’ve given them a big studio movie that never fcking happens, but I got to put through Holden like here’s where I am in life and anybody that pays real close attention to this sit, and there are definitely some people who are into this stuff like their religion pick up on that and they’ll see it when they see the movie. They’ll be like, oh my God, it’s him. He’s talking about himself and you know, that’s what I’ve done my whole career. They won’t be surprised. What I do for a living is talk about myself. I just in that scene with him is probably the most satisfying, not just because I was like, oh, I get to say a bunch of things in the movie about where I am in life. I got to say it with somebody who I built all that sit with like who I hadn’t spoken to in a long, long time. Me And Ben hadn’t spoken in years. I hadn’t even written them into the script because I didn’t think it was possible. I never, and I never reached out to be like, are we friends still? Cause I was afraid that he would be like no, it’s one thing to live in ignorance. Ignorance is bliss. And maybe think I’m like this guy likes me anymore. But to reach out and be like, do you like me anymore and have it confirmed. But if he was just like fck no and gave me a laundry list of reasons, then I have to carry this sit layer crucifix. So I just left well enough alone and never reached out. He stopped talking to me. I stopped talking to him and people would be like, are you guys live where everyone is? I started talking to Ben and I was like, after years like are you guys friends? What happened? I was like, I don’t think, I don’t know. I don’t know. We just stopped talking. So it all came together cause, uh, cause people like you, entertainment journalists, man, like Kevin McCarthy’s and guy does news very may, might’ve met him along the way, you know, he does entertainment journalism for new station Washington. So he’s the John Crib guy goes every place, you know, interviews, people and sit. Loves fcking movies, always happy, always talking about sit he loved, never sitting there sitting on other movies. Always just like, did you see this very excited like a kid for whatever reason. He’s always kind of liked our sit because he watched it when he was a kid growing up. Because of that. Whenever he goes to interview somebody that’s worked with me as well for some other project, he generally begins with a view of skew or Kevin Smith question.
So if you know, he’ll be interviewing Matt for something completely unrelated, like for Elysium And then he’ll be like, ah, hey man, when are you going to start goodwill hunting to hunting season, you know, and Matt does the mental math of goodwill oh Kevin, strike back. Ah Yes, when are we gonna do it? You know, and it’s a nice, you know, disarming moment and s*it and the person you’re talking to is like, oh I can, you know me beyond, you know, deep cuts. That’s another message. It says you’re not, they’re talking about a bourne identity or like Bro, remember that other movie that barely anyone remembers. So He’s real good. Like that always does it. For years, I’ve seen him do an interviews and there’s a Kevin Smith question always makes me go. So he did it for Ben with Ben in this interview for Ben.
Ben did for Triple Frontier Netflix movie each and somebody brought, tweeted at me and Jordan, Jason’s wife who runs our company produced the movie . Really the only reason the whole movie exists, she never gave up fail. Um, she shows me the coach, she’s like, did you see this? And I watched and I was like, ah, that’s nice. And she’s going, you have to call him. And I was like, why? Because the clip was Kevin. Kevin McCarthy says to Ben, um, hey, have they called you about reboot? Cause they’re shooting and Ben goes, now, no, and I’m free. But nobody’s called me yet. And so Jordan’s like, he wants you to call him. I was like, you’re that. She has some nice sit to say that junket. Like what is he supposed to say? fck Kevin Smith. He’s promoting a movie for Netflix. Like of course he’s going to say, Oh, why I wish they would Call man, because there’s no skin in that game.
Damn. And sit like that. I was like, I can call him. That’s embarrassing. You didn’t read that wrong. Then a week went by and I was like, you know, Muse kept badgering me too. And I was like, you’re just telling me this cause Jordan’s telling you that because they’re married. And he’s like, no, you should reach out to him, dude. Like I think that’s a sign. Like he didn’t have to say that sit. So then, I said, all right, I’m going to write him a tweet. And I wrote this tweet and then before I sent it, I told Jordan, I was like, I’m not s, I’m gonna send this. And she read it and she’s like, don’t put this in public. She’s going You haven’t spoken to him in years and you’re gonna like do this publicly. This is embarrassing. Like I was like, why is it embarrassing?
It’s like, because now you’re publicly shaming them maybe as like it’s not, I’m not doing that. You’re, maybe it’s red that way. She’s going to try one of your phone numbers. I was like, I don’t think any of them work there there from years ago. She’s like, just pick one. I picked one. And so I texted, hey this you, and then he wrote back, yeah, who this and then I wrote is this ba? And then he wrote, yes, this is your father. Which is a very Ben Affleck thing to say. And I knew it at that point it was him. Cause I was like, this could have been anybody. Right. And fcking just texting at a number of an old number I have, but him saying, I’m your father. I was like, sit, that sounds like that. And he goes, who is this? And I said, the conversation might end when I tell you they put a question mark and I wrote cas, there’s a second. And then he writes Kevin. I said, yeah. He goes, how the hell are you? And I was like, really great man. Like, um, I was just going to tweet this so I’m just gonna text it to you. And I texted him the message and it was something, it was like a going to be like, it was something like this. I f*cking wrote it down. his middle name is Geza. I said Geza. We’re having a blast in the past on Jay and Silent Bob reboot shooting. Sir, wish you were here, but instead of wishing, I’m just going to ask, you want to come play for a day? Sorry to do this publicly, but none of my old contacts for you probably work in our mutual agency. Didn’t want to get involved. I know I shouldn’t take that as a clear indication of where I stand in my pride and professionalism should prohibit this approach. But to paraphrase the sad old King in Conan and the barbarian, there comes a time when the jewels cease to sparkle and the gold loses its luster when the throne room becomes a prison. And all that’s left is a director’s love for the people who used to make pretend with. And I wrote, no worries that the answer is a hard no I more than understand, but this cinematic nostalgia fest we’re filming is making the missing you on set or seeing you at all. Quite frankly. So this is me holding me, holding up a boombox outside.
So I sent that and he didn’t write back. Now granted his chunky so took a second to read and sit. But I was, you know, that’s fcking terrifying set cause I was like your heart’s under sleeve now man. And not only am I like establishing contact with, first thing I’m doing is like, can you do me a favor? It was the worst kind of thing. So I clench my asshole, hit send and I f*cking wait. And, uh, he finally wrote back his response after four minutes, he wrote, it’s so telling that you still think of yourself as a king.
And he said, I would love to come play and I fcking cry. Broke down, cry, sent him a picture right away. And my wife was like, don’t send people pictures of you crying. That’s how you lose people from movies. So he said, where are you doing this? Where are you? I said, we’re in New Orleans. And he was like, oh, that’s far. Uh, I say, but can you do it? He goes, can you get me a flight down there? Can you get me a private flight down there? Scott can’t fly commercial. And I was like, our movies, so low budget. But honestly we do have money for a plane because we, at one point snoop was going to be in the movie and he wouldn’t be in the movie unless you got on a plane and sit. So we set aside fcking money and didn’t like a a deal in the movie, like a, what do they call that sit where you’re like, hey, this product’s in the movie, thank you as the word red in it.
So we did a product placement thing and then got the money for the jet to bring snoop in and then never from snoop again. So we were like, oh my God, we’ve got this jet just standing by and this dude just happens to go like, can you get me like a private plane? And I was like, I could never say this except from right now. Yes. I was like, yes, I can get you a private plane down to New Orleans. He said, I’ll do it in a heartbeat. He’s like, when do you need, when you need me? And I was like, oh my God, wait, what about this day? He said, great. I said, what am I going to do? So it might have you play cock knocker and it goes, all right. Then I hung up and that night I f*cking wrote and I was working on the scene.
And then I was like, he’s making the trip, like don’t waste it on fcking cock knocker Like if he’s willing to get on a plane to come to New Orleans, like go for broke. And so the next morning I texted him, I was like, hey man, like fck the pages I sent you, would you want to play Holden instead? And he wrote back like instantly he was a god. Yes, that’d be great. And I was like, because I can make it work because the whole movie predicated on blunt man and chronic and Holden invented the character and then we haven’t seen you yet in the movie. And like it’d be like, if I can put you at the con, it would make sense. He’s going, I would love to do that. So I was like, can we get Joey? And he’s like, yeah, you have to. So I reached out to Joey and I was like, hey man, what are you up to?
She was like, I was waiting for you to call. I see you’re making a movie. You want me to come out of a movie theater and say disgusting things again? That’s how she thought of her role. Jay and Silent Bob Strike back. So I said, no, I want to do a an eight page chasing Amy sequel in the middle of the movie. She goes, you can’t do that without Ben. I was like, Ben’s doing it. She goes, what? That’s how big of a deal it was. She was like, no, I thought you hadn’t totally talked to Ben and years. I said, I haven’t, but I reached out and he says he wants to do and he says they’ll play Holden. So I wrote the scene, I’m going to send it to .And so I sent it to her. Joey is the safe guardian of her character, um, and has been for, since we made chase gaming back 22 years ago.
So as someone who’s on the front lines with fans and stuff, she had one objection to the script. She goes, Kevin, um, I know you’re romantic at heart and that’s why in the scene you say that Holden and Alyssa got together, had sex and created a kid. She’s gone. But you don’t know how many people I meet who tell me how Alyssa Jones was the only thing that kept them from killing themselves in high school. The only tie to a world they had no idea about from like outside of f*cking Nebraska. She means something to a lot of people and she means something very specifically as who she is and she’s gone. Everyone hates that part of the movie. She’s gone. Like in terms of chasing Amy, she’s like, you can’t double down on it because you, because you’ve got a big heart. She’s gone like just make it an in vitro kid.
I was like, oh, that’ll work. Yeah, totally. And so then it fcking changed and stuff and so we all got together to do the scene and I was so curious as to which Ben would get off the plane. Last time I worked and he was on clerks two for like one scene. Ever since then he’s made big fcking movies. I became that guy, the director and so I figured, all right, well we’re going to get the director. You’ll have an idea about a shoot the scene because I sure don’t and instead I got the same guy I worked with the 96 which is crazy. Last time we worked together I was the guy that was like, you gotta do the dialogue as written, Blah Blah Blah. But that was like 2006 so ever since then like I’m a way different guy now and I’m more like man and say whatever you want because I’m going to get credit for it.
So I’ve worked, my work ethic has changed now I’m just like fck it, you don’t have to be on the page, get close and blah blah blah. If I need you to say something specific I’ll let you know but feel free to add live and stuff. And Ben came in like we did a blocking rehearsal and it was me and Joey and then and Jason and Joey and Jason have their sides in their hands cause you know that we’re about to do the scenes and eight page scene and these kids haven’t committed everything to memory. Ben Standing there, no sides. And I was like, you on my sides and he’s going, you need your sides. And I was like, sound, Bob doesn’t speak and he’s like, I’m needed, I’m good as a gap. He goes, hey, let’s try it. So we do our blocking rehearsal and you know it’s about 10 minutes scene because it was eight pages at that point and over the course of fcking 10 minutes, s*it, the first 30 seconds of him speaking, it became clear that the guy who came to work was the guy that I used to work with in 1996 the guy who like at one point I yelled at him and Joey and Jason because they were still on book and I called off a rehearsal.
I was like, and was, it wasn’t yelling Joey, where you told me the story recently and I was like, did I yell? She was like, you never yelled. You just acted like a disappointed dad. And she’s like, well, they were all like, nobody was off book. And I’m like, we’re shooting this movie in a week and you’re still on your scripts. Like we don’t need to rehearse today. Everyone go home and like memorize the scripts and Aflac like took it incredibly seriously cause he’d never seen me be like disappointed. And so he went to the dubbing house and memorize the entire script. So the next day of rehearsal he was off book. So he came to do reboot as that guy where he’s like, he, it was clear that he was like, this is what you like, right? Like we do every word that’s in the script and I, you know, when he was done, I was like, I love you, but that’s about the greatest gesture I think you could have made, but I don’t do that anymore.
I was like, I would’ve been happy to get 40% of what we had on those pages, man. But like you’re literally doing it word for word. He could have done that monologue that he gives us a page long from top to bottom. He could’ve done it backwards. I would jump in and be like, Ben, throw this line in after I got comfortable, because at the beginning I was like, I can’t fcking believe he’s here. Like I can’t fcking believe he’s here. And he knows all the dialing he’s playing Holden like this is actually happening. And then after like the first take, which like most of his performance is cut from the first take, I was like, I’m good. He’s like, we can do another one. And I was like, alright. And so I get comfy enough to be like, hey man, throw this. And I started gilding the lily throw this and throw this.
Then there’s really fascinating because like I’d be halfway through a monologue and I’d be like, Ooh man, I’m sorry to throw this in. And we’d be like, all right, he would go back to the top and restart and go all the way back. So I got so many bites at the apple because he kept resetting and it was just a fascinating process cause like resetting in the middle of a page, long monologue, especially when I’m like, I just need you to say this one line. But he was like, I’m going to do it the way it needs to be done. He treated it so far and it’s, he treated it so seriously bro. And it’s a Jay and Silent Bob Movie. But he seemed to sense like, you know that yeah, we’re Megan Jane’s Baba, we, but at the same time we’re not, we’re making this movie that’s meant to be like, this is Kevin’s whole f*cking life.
It’s Kevin’s biography more or less. So he came to play and gave us something beautiful. I mean, he said he’s gone. You didn’t make it hard, bro. He’s like, you gave me a bunch of cool sit to say. And that’s how I feel at this time in my life. I’ve got kids identify with this. So he’s like being able to say, you’re not the star anymore. You’re the stage. going, that’s fcking Cathartic. I could sell that. Cause that’s how I believe. That’s how I feel. So it was wonderful. And it came because Kevin McCarthy asked a fcking question at a junket. I told them I could not wait to see him. I knew this for months and I couldn’t fcking tell anybody. Finally see Kevin McCarthy at the Avengers Premiere downtown and f*cking up, he comes over, he’s like, oh, you can’t wait. He’s wearing like captain America jacket.
He’s like, I bet you can’t wait. And I said come here. And I grabbed him. I pulled to the side and fcking series of our exact guys like, I’m going to tell you a story in your chase. Your face is really gonna change, but we only got a few minutes to tell you this, but I need you to promise you can’t talk about this until I can tell you we can talk about this. And he’s like, all right, what is it? And I told him that whole fcking story and he just, his eyes fcking welled up like to be a guy who’s like, I’ve always liked those movies and then know that you’re responsible for what I was telling him at that point I was like, hands down. It’s the best scene I’ve ever been involved with in my life and I wouldn’t have been able to do it had you not asked him that fcking question and s*it like that.
I went so real on them. At the end of the fcking Avengers movie, I saw him again. He’s like, we just saw the greatest movie ever and I can’t stop thinking about what you’ve told me. Oh it was lovely man. So I told them, I was like, Bro, I’ve loved entertainment journalism my whole life. It’s why I do what I do. There was a time, there was no internet. The only way you can fcking interact with the sit you loved. It was like the arts and leisure section and sit like that. It’s always been a part of my life. I fcking watched entertainment tonight, every day of my young life cause I wanted to interact with that fcking world. And we didn’t live in an internet culture where I could just fcking tweet horrible things that a celebrity if I wanted to. There was no connection to it. So entertainment journalism was always the bridge. So much so that when I got a career, I’m the guy, I’m like a hockey player. You know? Like they say like journalist sports journalists will tell you like if you try to cover baseball, basketball, football, you can’t find a fcking athlete. They don’t want to be bothered. But you want to cover hockey. You can’t escape a fcking hockey player cause they’re there to sell the game. Like what do you need to know, man? That’s the way I’ve always been because that sit meant something to me and I wanted to see myself interacting with that fcking world so I had nothing but respect for it sit. So when he did that, I was like, Bro, after a lifetime of like first appreciating entertainment journalism as a fan and then interacting with it as a professional and sit like you delivered me, you delivered my fcking friend back.
Not only did you give me the best scene in the movie and sit like that and maybe like I guarantee you there’s some people see that movie and be like, that’s the only reason to see that fcking movie. Not only do you do that, you gave me my fcking friend back bro. Like just because you were like, hey man, have they called you from reboot? Just because you’re good at your job just because you find that like in order to be effective, friendly, and bring up stuff from the past, that little fcking throw away moment changed my life. Changed my movie for sure.
That’s impossible. Actually. I write about this right here. We, so.
Kevin Smith: I choose a bit of a Unicorn Yourself.
I was going to ask you, please feel free.
Kevin Smith: Can I tell you how it was going to be even more challenging.
Can I ask about working with a deaf performer and creating my character? Yeah. Anytime I see anybody with it that vaguely represents me in some form. I gotta ask.
Originally on the page, the character was also transgender. We could not find that particular person. So we had to let go of one thing. And so we were like, well, it’s, we’ve found actresses that are deaf and can do sign language. That’s the most important part of the character. Right. So at that point we were like, I guess we’ll let go of the transgender aspect of it.
Is this inclusivity something you want to continue doing?
Kevin Smith: Thank you for saying that too. Um, it were, I mean I loved it because that character was Silent Bob. So essentially Jay has Silent Bob and Millie has Soapy. So the whole movie, like I would watch her and delight because her and I were given the same performance, like she’s has to be big in order to communicate. And I was like, Oh my God, I’ve been doing it my whole career. So what was great though was none of us can speak sign language and Treshelle can read lips, but you know, like there’s a whole communication barrier. If you can’t speak ASL,Harley learn to speak ASL. Um, and her Treshelle became very close, but in advance and movie, she started taking classes because number one, she had to do some in the movie, but then her and Treshelle became friends. And so she was like, well, I want to be able to communicate with my friends.
So Treshelle had an interpreter who would be with us on set at all times. So essentially I would, uh, you’re at your shell, you’re the interpreter. So I’d be like, blah, blah, blah. I need you to do this. We’re doing this, we’re doing this. And then the interpreter would do ASL, communicated back. She would ask any questions, but she could generally get what I was saying about liberties and stuff. But if we needed to cue Treshelle in the middle of a scene, then we had to have the interpreter with an eyesight so that she knows, confused or tell her what the off-camera lines are and stuff. It was a really fascinating process and it didn’t slow anything down. You know what I’m saying? It wasn’t like, wow, the big complaint is like, well, we got to go in the movie business.
I’ll tell you who slowed us down the most was the piece of s*it who had to stop after every take and watch his performance. And that was me, you know, again, like the guy who and takes her no longer short in the movie business you used to be, you do a three minute take and then all right cut. And then you go look at the tick on playback. If you’re the guy in the movie as well and you’re like, all right, I want to tweak this, let’s do one more. And then you do another three minute tick and then you’re done. You fixed it and you move on. But now we live in the digital age where you’re like, I’m all right. Cut. And they’re like, we don’t have to. And you’re like, oh all right, like just reset this, this, you know, you’re not burning film.
They don’t give a fck. Oh fck. So then when you’re done with your take, it’s no longer three minutes. You’re watching a 20 minute take cause you’ve just been rolling for fcking 20 minutes and resetting within it and sit like that. So you’re watching multiple takes within a take, but you can’t move forward until you’ve watched it all. So Ron, the DP, you know, and um, got into it. Not in a bad way but with the AD ones. Cause the idea was like we gotta go and Ron’s like, do you hear anybody complaining? He’s going. Normally the studio’s breathing down your neck. The director’s breathing down your neck to get going. He’s going But the director is in the movie and he’s in every single shot of the movie. And in order for him to do his job, he has to go be in the movie and then we have to stop the movie so he can watch the movie so that we can go back to making the movie.
Like this is just, it just like this is where the ball lays, this is where I will play it. But in a world where nobody’s yelling, enjoy it and stuff like that. So Treshelle never slowed anything down. I slowed sit down. But it was a really fascinating part of the process because then you always had one more person involved helping you tell the story. And that’s all filmmaking is. You’re never fcking by yourself. That’s why I don’t take that a film by credit sit. Cause it’s like I didn’t do it by myself is a bunch of people. It takes a village and sit. And that became part of the village. It was really quite impressive.
I love to attribute to I Stan Lee in the film.
Kevin Smith: I mean, honestly, like, yeah, because the same way, it’s like I just don’t, like, I don’t, I don’t like, I like inclusivity because, and I don’t want this to sound altruistic. I’ll put it on the table. It’s good for business. You know what I’m saying? Like I can’t understand like, people who are like, now I’m gonna want that. Because why? Like you, if you see yourself on that screen, you’re gonna tell everybody. And I’m not just saying like, if you’re, if you’re, uh, see yourself represented by, like, if there’s an echo of personality, you passed it on to people now take it to the place where it’s like, hey, they have somebody speaking ASL on the movie. I speak ASL like that, that’s somebody’s going to see the movie was never going to go see that movie before. Just f*cking make sense. It’s the same way that like you go, hey cast Ben Affleck, he’ll bring some cast people that look like the world and the world shows up is what I’ve found.
I mean, granted I’m not speaking as a guy who’s like, I made a movie made on $1 million, but, and also like that’s, you know, I don’t know. I, my wife like early on was always kind of like, you need more women in your life and in your work. Like Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is produced by women line produced by women. Like I’m the only guy above the line, I think at that point. Um, but she said early on and she put it so logically, she was like, why wouldn’t you want court 51% of the audience? You know? And I was like, Oh, you’re absolutely right. You’re absolutely right. Um, so same thing, man, with like include everybody and you’d catch people who would never think twice about your s*it. You know what I’m saying? I’m like, I know I never had that conversation before where somebody was like, hey man, I appreciated you doing that.
And it’s weird cause I’ve been doing, particularly with the character, I’ve been trying to put it a deaf ASL speaking character into movies since busing in 1995 a script I wrote back then and I have no deaf people in my life. And maybe that’s why I don’t know. You know, generally speaking, everything in my movies comes from like my world and s*it and like, you know, my father was diabetic. It would make a lot of sense if I had diabetics in my movie, but to have somebody def in movies like I don’t know why, but that was just always like something I wanted. Maybe because I loved children or the Lesser God.
More: Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Trailer
Kevin Smith: Do you feel, let me ask you this, cause nobody’s seen the fcking movie, right? We never had test screenings or anything like that. So now it’s like I’m meeting people seeing the movie for the first time. I was always worried that that would play as, not insidious, but as calculated like, oh, he’s fcking going out on Stan because like even if you hate every frame of that movie, once he starts laughing, your life its touching, chill like that. So I weighed, I weighed that one hard because I wanted to include it so badly. He was mad. He was the character in the third act, he was, Kevin Smith was not the guy on stage. The Russians came to take out Stan Lee and so he was meant to be in the movie.
And then of course that didn’t go that way. So I kind of stepped in and picked up the slack and stuff, but I knew I had that interview, which I fcking loved because that was him. Like he literally is laughing. I didn’t got putting on a character. He was disarmed by how fcking silly he found the whole thing. And you literally see the real Stan Lee in that moment. So I knew I want to include it, but then I felt like some people would be like, that’s fcking sitty and calculated, dude, put the fcking poor dead man at the end of your movie and make us try to like you and sit.
Tickets for the October 15th & 17th nationwide release of JAY AND SILENT BOB
REBOOT are available at FathomEvents.com/Reboot.
