- We FINALLY have official confirmation of a Chasing Amy rental release date in the UK: SEPTEMBER 7th! So there you go, overseas fans…Get out there on the 7th and claim your copy!
- On a recent episode of the news magazine show “Chronicle”, there was a feature on the old Archie comics and their universal themes. As proof of the comic’s staying power, it then flashed the scene from Chasing Amy where Jason Lee and Dwight Ewell are discussing the dysfunctional relationships in the Archie comics. Kinda cool.
- Yep, that WAS Renée Humphrey on an old episode of The Wonder Years that played as part of a marathon this weekend.She played a girl with a large nose. The episode centered around her character.
Archive for August, 1998
Ben Affleck: Before Stardom
- Here’s a nifty piece that ran in the Indianapolis Star, concerning an old audiotaped interview with Ben that the author found in the bottom of a box. Check it out:
Tape captures Affleck pre-stardom
The Lost Ben Affleck Tape has surfaced. No, it’s not a videotape of the star of Good Will Hunting and Armageddon, all sweaty and caught in some steamy, sleazy sexual situation. It’s the cassette tape of my short interview with Affleck during filming of Going All the Way, two years ago this month in Indianapolis. Since Affleck’s comments didn’t quite fit into the story about that day’s, they were set aside. Weeks later, the production left town, and thecassette buried itself in the bottom of a box that was moved twice during office renovation.
Hey, These things happen.
Who would have guessed that less than two years, Affleck would be the co-winner of an Oscar for an original screenplay, and one of Hollywood’s hottest young stars? The hunky young actor was such a non-household name in August 1996 that he seemed a sure bet to ride in the next 500 Festival Parade. And who could have fathomed that Jeremy Davies, his pale, skinny co-star who ran down a Near Eastside alley in his underwear one chilly night (for the movie, of course) would be the outstanding player among the ensemble of soldiers in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan?
Aura was missing
Not this clueless movie critic. But then, neither actor emitted that palpable MOVIE STAR AURA that surrounds screen gods Mel Gibson and John Travolta like invisible fencing. The interview took place in the middle of Virginia Avenue in Fountain Square as Affleck, with a short haircut and a ‘50s shirt, sat waiting for director Mark Pellington to summon him for his scene. Here’s some of what the budding star- and very down-to-earth and friendly Affleck- had to say before he became the subject of countless magazine covers and endless sound bites.
On upcoming films:”I’m in a movie that’s coming out… called Cruise, they may have changed the name to Glory Daze (the name was changed, and Blockbuster Entertainment’s Guide to Movies and Videos 1999 indicates that it’s available on video. It received three out of five possible stars). “I just finished this movie called Chasing Amy; it’s really good, I really like it… I play a guy who falls in love with a lesbian.” His movie love life has improved quite a bit. He got to smooch with Liv Tyler in Armageddon.Had he been to Indianapolis before? “I had driven through a couple of times… driving by, you don’t get a sense of how cosmopolitan it is. It’s really quite a city. It reminds me of Boston, where I grew up, in a lot of ways…. “I’ve hit all the monuments, the malls, went to Dillinger’s grave- that cemetery’s beautiful. I had a great time at Victory Field … I thought, ifI lived here, I’d be there every day.”
Dead-on deal (Hey, Crown Hill Cemetery, bad-boy bank robber John Dillinger’s final resting place: Imagine using Affleck in your advertising campaigns. How about, “Actor/writer Ben Affleck, a screenplay Oscar winner, knows a thing or two about plots. He loved ours at Crown Hill Cemetery.”) One the Boston-Indiana connection: “I’m a huge Larry Bird fan. On the way through (Indiana), I stopped in French Lick. Went by Larry’s house, ran around town, asked people about him.”(Oooh. If you weren’t a movie star, I’d worry about those stalking tendencies.)
On moving and writing: “I’m moving to New York now for a change of pace, I’ve been in L.A. for a few years. I’m also a writer. Got a movie that’s at Miramax, working with them; they’re based in New York. I’m trying New York out.” Remember that one? Oh, yeah. That little Miramax movie, Good Will Hunting. It was written with his boyhood pal, Matt Damon, who was on that trip through French Lick asthey were driving west looking for work, according to a story in the September issue of Details. Nominated for best picture. Won a best original screenplay Oscar for Damon and Affleck.
On the cost of living: “This is inexpensive (in Indianapolis). I looked in the papers. In termsof real estate, it’s so much cheaper than L.A. or New York.” (Yes, and you won’t find yummy pork tenderloins the size of dinner plates in the City of Angels or the Big Apple, either.) On the screenplay for Going All the Way, in which he plays Gunner, the guy-who-gets-the-girls soldier back from the war: “The first time I read it, I really responded to it. It was a nice story, with integrity. It was funny, interesting, different. I didn’t even know it was a novel.”(Well, that’s OK. Some of the video stores around here don’t even know it’s a movie that was made here. Only two out of six video rental outlets contacted by telephone had copies. (But it shouldn’t be too hard to find Good Will Hunting.)
Mahfood’s Zombie Kid Refs…
- Our scooper was kind enough to send us a bunch of captures from Jim Mahfood’s Zombie Kid books. Issues 5 and 6 of Oni Double Feature contained a slew of View Askew references & cameos…Some easier to spot than others. Click HERE to take a look for yourself!
By the way, here’s a nifty drawing of Silent Bob that was done by Mahfood at the San Deigo Con!
Mallrats Airs On ABC!
- Well, unless you live in a hole somewhere (and probably even if you do), you’ve heard about or watched the Mallrats airing on ABC. That’s right: A Kevin Smith flick on network TV. Who’d have ever thought we’d see the day? Naturally, a good portion of the dialogue was butchered to make the flick network-friendly, but, in the process, we also caught a few short snippets of new stuff, a nice preview to what we’ll see in the Special Edition.
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SCENE 1 – TS asking Brandi to pretend she’s Superman revealing his secret to Lois in the beginning before kissing her and carryinger to the station wagon. |
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SCENE 2 – TS and Brodie parking the car in the morning and walking to the mall, where TS blames Brodie for his fallout with Brandi and Brodie giving his “nugget” of advice. |
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SCENE 3 – The dialogue about Svenning graduating “cum laude in ‘69” is replaced by Brodie asking him about how shiny the ring was and Svenning saying how he doesn’t have time to polish his ring. |
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SCENE 4 – Tricia asking La Fours to help her with her project as he’s looking at the rope Bob is hanging from. |
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SCENE 5 – Different footage of Shannon and Tricia in bed is used. It shows them just after the sex. This one had them after sex, laughing, and joking around |
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SCENE 6 – The cops coming in to arrest Svenning after the TV executives asks Brodie about hosting a television show. |
Edited Material…
- Wondering what changed? Did you catch it all? This doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface, after all, Mallrats isn’t exactly the movie that you’d have thought would EVER hit network TV. We’ve compiled a list from what we’ve heard and seen ourselves, it’s not complete, but it gives you an idea of some of the ridiculous things a network censor will have a character say or do to make a movie airable:
- Edited out the words fart, damn and hell
- “fart” becomes “vomit”; Brodie: “Did you ever vomit in front of her?”
- “goin’ down” becomes “foolin’ around”
- “slept with” becomes “spoke with”
- “sex” becomes “the session” (how p.c. can you get?)
- “boobs” becomes “body”
- “retarded” becomes “ecstatic”
- “retard” becomes “reject”
- The mysterious gray towel that appeared over Svenning’s ass at the beginning
- Trisha Jones’ “Speaking Sessions”
- Why was Jay so badly dubbed half the time? Whoever they hired to do it didn’t even sound like Jason Mewes! Although, it was kind of funny whenever Jay’s voice changed in half-sentence…
- kept cutting short the shot of Jay & Silent Bob’s “blueprints” for the demolition of the set so I could only catch a fleeting glimpse of the last pic of the two of them celebrating.
- Brodie saying (”… and when I’m relaxed, I get sick.”)
- “Rug Munchers” now just “Rugs”.
- Brodie’s “Holy Shit!” replaced with “Holy snot!”
- They cut out the Shannon Hamilton at Rahway Correctional Facility at the end.
- whole extra-minute (or so) of Svenning dancing after the security peeps hall Brodie and TS was too long
- “Fly fatass, fly!” was edited out along with “Boregasem” (Bored-on?)
- “All it took was a fat karate punch?”
- The first Ben-Doherty ass slap (I believe it was going up the escalator) was cut, the second (in the Foot Locker-type store) was kept in and the third (and oh boy, you’d better believe this gets me) by Doherty was also kept in. Benny’s only batting .500 on ass-slaps ladies and gentlemen, while Brenda bats 1.000
- Brandi talk about Julie Dwyer having the “biggest rear” in school
- No stink-palm
- Of course, all curses were dubbed over. The person they had dub over Jay’s lines sounded NOTHING like him. It was the worst of the bunch.
- The opening Cousin Walter monolouge was cut. Instead they played a remixed version of “Social” over the establishing shots of the mall. The other Cousin Walter story is cut altogether.
- The part where Shannon is beating up Brodie in the hallway: Shannon says, “I like to fuck girls in an uncomfortable place.” Then Brodie says, “Like in the back of a Volkswagen?” Well, in the ABC version, Shannon says, “I like to take girls on cheap dates.” Brodie says his line and the whole running joke is ruined. It made no sense.
- The bookstore scene where Jay and Silent Bob are reading. Silent Bob’s reading “Mike, Spike Slacker’s and Dykes”, they cut out the dykes part of the book.
- The second “Cousin Walter’ Scene was totally cut.
- Brenda refers to Willam as “jerk” instead of “dick”.
- “what sounds Bordie would make” was cut to just “That’s too personal” and the audience was laughing.
- The comics in the credits that had questionable material (”Buttman”, “Weapon seX”, “The Fantastic Two” and “The Man”) weren’t fully shown.
- During the Ivanna scenes, there were more shots of TS and Brodie. To hide the breasts, the shot was cropped so you can only see her head When Ivanna approaches Brodie a different angle, one that showed her from behind, was used.
- “At Universal Studios, Florida” was cut from text about what happened to TS and Brandi.
- Closing credits weren’t show with Jay and Silent Bob walking off. They were put on the side of the screen with commercials of ABC shows running on the other side. “Jay and Silent Bob will return in ‘Chasing Amy’” wasn’t shown at all.
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“Mallrats” airs August 29 from 9:00-11:00 p.m., ET Jeremy London (”Party of Five”) and Shannen Doherty (”Beverly Hills, 90210”) star in the hilarious comedy, “Mallrats,” following a group of friends through a day at their “home away from home” — the mall. In the follow-up film to director/writer/actor Kevin Smith’s popular debut feature, “Clerks,” T.S. Quint (London) and Brodie Bruce (Jason Lee) are two college-age friends, who both have been dumped by their respective girlfriends, Brandi (Clair Forlani) and Rene (Doherty), and seek solace at the temple of suburban commerce, the mall. They hatch a plan to win back their fed-up women with the help of their friends, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (director Kevin Smith), making for a day of comic misadventures. The cast of colorful characters also includes Academy Award-winner Ben Affleck (”Good Will Hunting,” “Armageddon”) and Stan Lee, the legendary creator of many Marvel comic book heroes. “Mallrats” is directed and the screenplay written by Kevin Smith. |
Commentary
- We promised we’d be back and…Sure enough…We are! We’ve got a few things to catch up on, most notably the item that everyone’s talking about lately…Mallrats’ showing on ABC last night. Also, some newsbites and various other items of interest, just enough to entertain you on a Sunday evening or a slow-starting Monday…Oh, and don’t forget to vote on this week’s topic (we’re sure ya won’t). Okay, let’s do this:
Commentary
- Well, we almost didn’t update today, but we didn’t want to worry you fine people, so we thought we’d drop in and say a few words. Nothing newsworthy to report today, really, and tomorrow we’re tied up with our annual summer gathering at our place, so DEFINITELY don’t expect a peep out of us then. We hope to be back Sunday and catch up on everything that’s going on. In the meantime, don’t forget to tune in for Mallrats on ABC tomorrow evening at 9:00 PM. Rumor has it that some extra footage may be inserted to fill some time, but we expect just a severely edited version of the theatrical release. Check out what ABC has to say about the flick HERE. See you in a couple…
View Askew NewsBites™
- Sounds like we’ve got a really nice treat on the way in a few days…A scooper sends us news that he’s gotten a hold of the Japanese Manga Chasing Amy comic. He says:
Remeber the Amy manga/comic novel I gave word of a few months back?
It’s in my hands.
I’ll make some scans before this weekend and send you the pics. Funny stuff. Of course, it’s all in Japanese which makes it completely unreadable to someone not versed in the language. But the art is cool. Wait’ll you get a load of the manga representations of Jay and Silent Bob. Hilarious.
- Zentertainment summed up Kevin’s big personal news and brought up thebig Mallrats TV showing this weekend. Should be fun!
On his VIEW ASKEW website, filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma) has announced he has become engaged to Jennifer Schwalbach, who wrote an article on him in USA TODAY this past spring, and the couple is expecting a baby in April. Smith’s MALLRATS makes its network debut this Saturday night at 9 on ABC, and it’s possible this edited version will feature some footage which didn’t make it into the theatrical release, but should all appear in the planned MALLRATS Special Edition DVD.
- Dark Horizons reports a few things that we mentioned on NA a couple daysago, but just to make sure you caught it:
Dogma: ViewAskew reports that the first cut of “Dogma” clocks in at 3hrs 30 mins, about 70 minutes more than the length that Kevin Smith is aiming for in the final cut. The sad news is that those 70 minutes are going to be cut from the film version, but the good part is that they’re likely to be restored in the laserdisc version. Next up, Miramax may thankfully be moving the release date up for the film – generalising it to be released in the Fall ’99 season, rather than specifying December as previously mentioned. Finally, congratulations are in order for Mr. Smith – he’s going to be a father!!! (well done). Thanks to ‘Mr. Black’.
- Another scooper caught a sneak of “Rounders” and wrote us up a quick, non-spoiler, capsule review:
Hey guys. I just saw a screening of ROUNDERS, so heres my quick review:
I enjoyed the movie. Solid performances by Damon and Norton. John Turturro , as always, is amazing. There were some times were Damon’s character reminded me of Will Hunting, but that aside, I liked the movie and recommend it. Its like a “The Hustler” for the 90s. Check it out.
- And finally, from the world of the bizarre:
I was watching MTV (why?) today, “Lunch with Jesse” to be exact, and Jesse had this rock band on, who I think used to be famous and still dressed like it was 1985, and they were at Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash in Red Bank. The lead singer f**ked the name up calling it Jay & Bob’s Silent Secret Stash even though they were right in front of the store with that big sign behind them. Anyway, they went in, played with a Hulk 2099 toy and checked out the Lady Death books. Nobody who works there was on the show, I didn’t see anyone but the band and Jesse in the whole store.
Hey, at least it gets the Stash some more of that precious publicity!
We’ll see ya next time, folks.
Commentary
- Once again, just newsbites today. In some random news, Alanis’s new CD (“Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie”) will be out on November 3rd. If it rocks as much as Jagged Little Pill, we’re in for some really nice tunes. Also, we’ve got Zentertainment’s story on Kevin’s engagement, and even though we usually try and shy away from the personal stuff, we’d like to personally congratulate Kevin & Jennifer and wish them many years of happiness. And now, the NewsBites…To mix things up a bit today, we’re gonna do things a bit different and let the scoopers speak for themselves:
View Askew NewsBites™
- Salma Hayek will be sitting on the guest chair of The View AND The Conan O’ Brian Show this Thursday…Tune in and witness her splendor…Perhaps she’ll bring up Dogma?
- A fan has started up a Kevin Smith “Club” at Yahoo. Apparently, the website allows virtual fan clubs to be set up.Here, you’ll find a posting area similar to the WWWBoard, and what appears to be an online chat area. If you’re looking to broaden your Kevin horizons and have the spare time (which we severely LACK), you may want to stop in and check it out.
- And finally, a quote to finish off the day:
“Ben was the man back then. He would sit on the bleachers and hold court — he was a real Hollywood star as far as we were concerned. We didn’t know that all he had done was an educational series on PBS.”
— Matt Damon on best friend Ben Affleck‘s reputation as an actor when they were growing up, in Details.
Daredevil #0 Online…
- Been waiting for your DareDevil fix? Well, wait no longer. At the Marvel Knights site, they’ve placed an Exlusive Online Daredevil #0 comicbook, written by Kevin and drawn by Joe and Jimmy, for your reading pleasure! Joey himself says:
Kevin’s first DD stuff should be up and running today. I saw the cyber comicjust before they finished all the small touches and it looked really good. I’ll give you all the exact info as soon as I get it, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was up and running today.
And he’s right. Enjoy!