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Hear Kevin talk movies, comics and more at he View Askew Panel! See behind-the-scenes outtakes from Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back! Plus, additional Smith events to be announced!
Give him credit for one thing: Kevin Smith is true to his word. After giving Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada a bit part in his new flick, "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back," the fanboy filmmaker vowed he'd start "casting from the DC talent pool." And he did. Bob Schreck, Smith's editor on Green Arrow, has made a cameo appearance in the film, and "Batman Adventures" co-creator Paul Dini has also grabbed some face time in front of the camera.
"I was thrilled and delighted," said Dini. But it didn't come without it's minor difficulties. Dini had two lines, which he said he "rehearsed all weekend." But upon reaching the set, one of his lines was given to another actor. "Kevin felt kinda bad, so he said, 'Well, ad-lib something else.' We came up with something new on the spot. It was a hoot." Dini had a hoot in another way, too - working with "Star Wars" actor and longtime friend Mark Hamill, who does the voice of the Joker for Dini's "Batman" cartoons. Although specifications of Hamill's part are under wraps, Dini did mention that Hamill plays "a classic bad guy, just like the Joker."
And that ain't all. On day 40 of production, Smith got final approval for an actual Marvel Comics character to make a cameo appearance. No, it ain't Spider-man, whose rights are held by Sony. "But it's a character close to my heart," Smith said. "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" is due in theaters August 10.
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This week, we've got a special treat, a new look at the photo that appeared in Entertainment Weekly last Friday. You can see that they used totally different versions of the girls, turned Shannon the opposite direction, cropped, and stuck Jay & Bob in the background. The original shot is the first one above on your left, as it was shot by DP Jamie Anderson. It's amazing how much that the press can mess with an existing photo to make a new composition. Notice this photo contains a totally different shot of Ali, as well as the addition of Jen & Eliza. The other two shots above are new and from Scott Mosier. Thanks again to View Askew for providing these exclusive shots for your viewing pleasure.
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Less is more, as they say.
We're probably only looking at about 30 to 45 minutes of cut stuff, when the time comes for the DVD.
But, hey - let's not get ahead of ourselves.
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JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK
STARRING Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Shannon Elizabeth, Jason Lee, Ben Affleck
WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? The Director of Clerks closes up shop.
A scourge to catholics (DOGMA), Smith may soon irk yet another group with his fifth flick: his fans. With Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the indie auteur is retiring the cast of slackers and mallrats who have populated his films since 1994's Clerks. "I'm going to be 31 in August," Smith says. " I'd like to afford myself a shred of dignity before my kid's old enough to notice her old man's a walking, non-talking cartoon." Mewes is bummed to see it end: "I wanted to be doing Jay until I was 40." At least he'll go out with a semi-bang. "I've kissed on screen before," he says of his encounter with American Pie's Shannon Elizabeth, "but never any tongue action."
This Dimension comedy has the dubious duo trying to sabatoge a Miramax movie inspired by a comic book based on them. Backed by a $20 million dollar budget, Smith is promising slick visuals from Small Soldiers' cinematographer Jamie Anderson and 220 digital effects. Jokes Smith, who has perhaps moved his camera total of two feet in four films: "You can't mock hollywood with a static two-shot." (Aug 10)
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Anyway, this report reveals a few more sight gags and other secrets (this movie is PACKED with 'em!), as well as goes into some detail on the frustrations of a day that just doesn't go as planned. Good, interesting stuff. It's also revealed that they desire to get the film down to around 100 minutes of running time, but the last we'd heard it was coming in at well over 2 hours. It's going to be another challening edit for Kevin and Scott, as it's got to be hard to let some of this stuff go. At least it'll all return on the DVD, as it always does. Here's a clip of the write-up from today:
Aside from the dog, Jay was also a bit tardy to makeup this morning, which involved a 2-hour makeup job.
Scott and line producer, Laura Greenlee are on set to oversee the filming of the dog, while Kev is catching up on viewing some dailies, and 1st AD, Tim Bird works on directing the dog. Now Laura’s job is primarily to make sure that everything goes smoothly, timely and most importantly keeping the picture on schedule and under budget. So these little set backs don’t do much to help her, as things already seem to be running bit behind.
Once the dog’s back up, Laura calls Kevin from dailies to approve the dog’s movements and camera set up. Once Kev arrives and cameras roll on the dog, the mechanical eyes die and soon the head of the pooch begins to smoke ala ‘Scanners’. After closer examination, it’s learned that the wiring or battery has been fried.
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It’s basically a one shot deal that should be simple, but is one of those things that ends up taking like a dozen or so takes before completely satisfying Kev and the DP.
Brian looks extremely nervous and uncomfortable performing this particular scene, which has him restrained and tied down to a table, and even though he’s great in each one of his takes, its his co-stars in the shot that keep him doing take after take.
Brian toughed it out like a true sport and came out of the thing unharmed and unscathed, giving hilarious results each and every time. Though only one will make it in the film (if in the final cut at all), hopefully the alternates of this will make way onto the DVD because they had me and everyone else, laughing hysterically out loud.
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"I was sitting in a car opposite the Quik Stop the other day, and a woman shouted at me out of her car," said the portly director.
"She said, ‘Kevin you'd be a lot more famous if you lost 100 pounds.'"
He's still one of the most famous residents of Monmouth County, where he sets most of his movies - including his latest, "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back."
In this wild summer farce due out in August, he also pops up on screen as half of his now-famous grunge duo.
You have Smith and side Jason Mewes playing the goofy pair again and again in Smith's film, from "Clerks" (1994) to "Chasing Amy" to his most recent, "Dogma" (1999).
This time around, the cast also includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Will Ferrell, George Carlin, Shannon Elizabeth, and Smith's wife Jennifer and their 21-month-old daughter.
Jason Lee, who's one of several actors in the cast playing multiple parts in the film, is currently shooting Cameron Crowe's "Vanilla Sky," in California.
But out of loyalty to Smith - who discovered the former skateboard champion and gave him a scene-stealing role in Smith's second movie, "Mallrats" - Lee, who has gone on to star in films like "Almost Famous" and "Heartbreakers," flew into New Jersey just to do a two-minute scene at the comic book store, owned by Smith in real life.
[START SPOILER]
In this scene, Lee plays a wiseguy video addict, Brodie, who informs an incredulous Jay and Silent Bob that Miramax is making a movie about Bluntman and Chronic, comic-book superheroes based loosely on Jay and Bob.
The two stoners head to California and wreak havoc on the set - where their characters are being played by Jason Biggs and James Van Der Beek.
'Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back' is due for release in the USA on August 10.
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Carrie Fisher might have starred in one of the biggest movies of all time ('Star Wars' - for those of you living under a rock) but these days she's happier making cameos in movies.
[START SPOILER]
Her latest venture is Kevin Smith's new movie, 'Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back'. She tells Popcorn she plays a nun
in the movie, a role she says she's very "proud" of. Despite that the actress didn't enjoy the early starts
and is unlikely to actually watch the movie because she doesn't "like seeing myself, ever."
You won't be surprised to learn that Smith's inclusion of a religious figure in his movie doesn't herald a more subdued
outlook on God. Fisher explains her character is "very serious" but "there's a misunderstanding that is filthy."
Filming on the movie has been kept under tight wraps, but plot details have started to emerge. Smith and his pal Jason
Mewes take centre stage as Jay and Silent Bob. When the pair discover the 'Bluntman And Chronic' comic (based on their
lives) is being turned into a movie without any profit heading their way, they set out to destroy the production.
'Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back' is due for release in the USA on August 10.
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Last night, Kevin, Brian, & Jeff all were taking time between scenes and after filming to take photos, sign autographs, and talk to the sizeable crowd that gathered on this chilly New Jersey evening, and be a part of View Askew history. It was a pleasure and an honor to be on hand to watch Kevin & Scott film their final scenes of the Askewniverse in this historic location, as well as to hear that final call and applaud the end of filming. Congratulations to the cast and crew on a spectacular job. It was great coming back to the set again, and especially cool to see the end. August can't come soon enough.
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Reno's report takes us to Red Bank, New Jersey, where he gives us a short description of the goings-on at Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash, where filming took place for the day inside on Friday. Here's a preview, with a few small spoilers:
When lunch was called Smith, Mewes and Lee all came out and signed autographs and posed for pictures with some of the fans who were there. I took the opportunity to saddle up to the Secret Stash's window and peer in. On one wall is a giant blow up of a fake Variety article detailing Brodie's departure from the "Tonight Show" headlined "Brodie Bolts!". I also spoted some dolly tracks on the ground. That's right, it looks like there'll be camera moves in this one.
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We all knew Chris Rock was in this one, but did you know what his role is? He's the director of the Bluntman and Chronic movie, and the Kid tells us he has a great speech where he rails about how the white man has stolen from black culture for years. He goes on about how HE had the idea for Sesame Street and it was stolen from him - except his show was called NWP - Niggaz Wit Puppets.
Last week CHUD told you that Matt Damon was indeed playing Will Hunting in this movie - but the Kid has more details. It turns out that we visit the set of Good Will Hunting 2 (the logo for the movie has the O's replaced with sniper sites), and it is a recreation of the bar scene from the original. You remember the scene where Matt Damon meets Minnie Driver, and the preppy college kid is trying to put Ben Affleck down, and Will smacks him up with his knowledge? Well, the scene is here, and the Kid swears they got EVERYONE from that scene in the original back for this one (except Minnie Driver). This time, things are a little different, though - when the preppy guy asks Will if he wants to take this outside, Will whips out a gun and blows him away.
The Kid tells us that almost every scene in this movie references another movie in some way. There's even an ET scene - Jay and Bob are being chased by studio security guards. They have a monkey with them (Suzanne, from the end of Mallrats?). The two come upon a bike, put the monkey in the basket, throw a blanket over her, and fly off.
Finally, the Kid reports that everyone was having a great time - especially Kevin Smith, who he heard say that this would be his last Askewniverse film.. at least for a while. Hmmm....
[SPOILER END]
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As Faith, the vampire slayer-turned-rogue-killer with a demon-wannabe sugar daddy, Eliza Dushku bitch-slapped Buffy more than once, and the role also briefly turned her onto the fun side of undead arse-kicking. Dushku's played the daughter of both Robert De Niro and Arnold Schwarzenegger, wears leather pants so well cows are happy to go to cattle heaven for her, and is rapidly becoming Hollywood's new 'It' girl.
With four movies coming out this year, as well as a role in Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Dushku's future looks movie-star-teeth bright. It's testament to her abilities, then, that she has managed to shake off the stigma attached to child actors.
Having won a nationwide talent search at the tender age of 10, Dushku landed a role opposite Juliette Lewis in the otherwise forgettable That Night. She followed it up playing Leonardo DiCaprio's sister in This Boy's Life, which also featured De Niro as her sadistic stepfather. It was as big Arnie's tearaway teenage daughter in True Lies that she first stepped into the big league. "It was so much fun," she later said. "But it was also terrifying for my mother -- having to see her 12-year-old hanging 25 storeys above a savings bank with Arnold Schwarzenegger."
Entering the demon-infested world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was an eye-opener for Dushku, who hadn't seen a single episode of the show. "I showed up at the set for wardrobe fitting," she recalls of her first day, "and they were like, 'This is Nick, he plays Xander,' and I'm going, 'What's a Xander? Is he a demon?' They had to give me 30 tapes to fill up on." Although she's no longer a cast regular, Faith lives on in cameos, as well as in the spin-off series, Angel.
Free of any TV commitment, Dushku is making her mark on the big screen. Following a role in last year's Bring It On, she will appear in Soul Survivors with American Beauty's Wes Bentley. Then there's Taking on the Neighbourhood, and after that, she puts on her cheerleader's skirt again for The New Guy, before the film that should push her into the A-list, City By The Sea.
Rumours of a True Lies sequel are firming up, too, with Dushku keen to get back into action mode. "Jamie [Lee Curtis] actually called me up at home and said, 'Eliza, this is your mother. I just want you to know I'm telling them True Lies 2 has to be about you.' I was like, 'Go for it!'"
