Jason Lee

Versatile actor Jason Lee on the downfall of MTV, desperate skater kids and the New York-actor-guy look

Q: As an actor or a professional skateboarder, what’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you with a fan?

A: It happened when I was a skateboarder. When you tour the country, you see a lot of skater kids who go to demonstrations. These kids usually want you to give them stuff, and one kid said, “give me a skateboard and I’ll let you sleep with my girlfriend.”

Q: Did you sleep with her?

A: No, and I didn’t give him the skateboard. I got a kick out of it though. This guy was so desperate to get his hands on a skateboard without having to pay for one. And his girlfriend was right there.

Q: Changing the subject, is there anything you’ve ever worn that you’d be mortified to wear now?

A: When I was younger, I’d wear the pegged-in, baggy Jimmy’z pants with the weird designs on them in those fluorescent ’80’s colors. And I’d wear a purple Jimmy’z beret that would go off to one side, and bicycle gloves.

Q: What’s your style now?

A: I wear a lot of Diesel jeans. A lot of T-shirts. A lot of Clarks shoes. I wear those new New Balance sneakers, and I got some funky BW sports sneakers from Germany at American Rag that apparently Helmut Lang has now. I don’t wear suits, but I’m not “slob guy” either.

Q: What’s the sexiest thing you’ve ever seen a woman wear?

A: My wife used to wear this tight blue velvet dress, like the one in Blue Velvet. She usually doesn’t wear stuff like that, so it was awesome.

Q: I hear you’re just as enthusiastic about your cars.

A: I’m such a car nut. All my cars are silver. I have an SUV I drive every day, the new Honda S2000 sports car that they just came out with and a Suburban to tow around my 1972 BMW 2002 race car.

Q: Where do you race an antique like that?

A: There are these vintage auto-racing associations I’m going to start racing in. It’s cool because it’s not about mullets and Bud Light. You race against other guys in Mini Coopers and old MGs and Austin Healys; guys who are really into these old vintage British cars and race them just for the fun of it.

Q: Do things get ugly if you sideswipe another guy’s Austin Healy?

A: Well, then you’re kind of screwed, but there are ways to fix it. And because there’s no money at stake, people aren’t that competitive.

Q: Have you ever gotten in an accident?

A: Not in my race car, but I’ve had many skateboarding. I’ve snapped my wrist in half, sliced open my shin and sprained both my ankles many times. Once, I fractured my pelvis. I was goofing around on this ramp-it was only five feet high-and my board hit the top and stuck, and I slammed onto the ground. I landed right on my pelvis.

Q: Based on your experience with Cameron Crowe’s new movie about a 1970’s rock band, what kind of rocker would you be?

A: Well, I actually play music with my friends in the studio at my house. It’s really experimental electronic music. We did this one song with a heavy beat and this dark organ music. Then we added the pope talking in Latin and these women moaning, which we sampled from a porno we rented.

Q: Who is the coolest rocker out there?

A: Beck. I think he and Bjork are the two most influential musicians we have now, in that they’re bringing what they’re doing to the mainstream. Which is amazing because right now mainstream is ‘N Sync and the Backstreet Boys.

Q: So you’re not a Britney Spears worshipper?A: Music right now is horrible. People are losing their standards. I mean, Britney Spears hosed Saturday Night Live! All those fuckers on that show make fun of people like her, but they booked her anyway to boost their ratings.

Q: What do you think of the jokers over at MTV?

A: I hate MTV. They’ve been responsible for ruining music on so many levels. Their philosophy is, “We’re a big corporate company now and we never play videos and we do stupid fucking shows that have nothing to do with music.” The channel is called Music Television. MTV realized most Americans don’t care about Bjork and those kinds of bands. Most people want to hear jock music that pumps them up when they’re getting drunk at some party trying to rape some girl. I can say that because I went to high school in Orange County, CA. The jock dated the head cheerleader. He drove the Iroc-Z28 and she drove the cutesy little white Volkswagen Rabbit and I was the dirty skater who’d get picked on and used to make people laugh.

Q: What’s the most embarrassing fashion trend in Hollywood right now?

A: The worst is the actor-guy look. You know, with the suit with the shirt underneath with, like, four buttons undone and the collar and the cuffs outside of the suit jacket. That look actually made a comeback because Sean Penn popularized it, and then it became this New York-actor-guy look. It’s one thing to work as an actor, but it’s another to constantly dress like it and act like it, with the cigarettes and everything. In the end, though, it’s fashion. And there are trends in fashion, so people want to wear what everyone else is wearing, but I don’t really buy into it. I’m satisfied with my small closet of T-shirts and thrift store clothes and jeans.

I had the pleasure of seeing ALMOST FAMOUS last Thursday…here in Alabama of all places (who says we’re behind the times). I won’t give away much, but look for great performances all around…..and Lee rules. He actually has a few very Banky/Brodie type moments in scenes backstage and on a plane. I would’ve liked to see more of him onstage as lead singer, or more of him in the film period, but you take whatcha can get. You DO want to go see this one folks. And if they ever make another Jesus movie….Lee is the man.

PHIL ROBINSON MAY DIRECT THE SUM OF ALL FEARS FOR PARAMOUNT

Negotiations are under way for Phil Alden Robinson to direct Paramount’s The Sum of All Fears, based on the Tom Clancy novel of the same name. With a script by Paul Attanasio and Akiva Goldsman, and produced by Mace Neufeld and Bob Rehme, the picture is about a terrorist plot to blow up a Superbowl game with a nuclear bomb. Robinson directed Field of Dreams and Sneakers, then took a break from Hollywood before briefly becoming involved with, then dropping, Kevin Costner’s Thirteen Days. Slated for release in 2001, Sum will replace Harrison Ford with Ben Affleck in the ongoing Jack Ryan role. After some on-again, off-again reports in mid-summer, it was finally confirmed in early August that the young actor would indeed step into Ford’s formidable shoes. Question is will the new Jack Ryan have what it takes to stop World War III?

Kevin Recording The Commentary		Kevin, Joe and Jimmy’s Signatures		Signature Page
Daredevil #0 Screenshot		Introduction Screen		Main Screen
The Marvel Knights Crew		Recording The Commentary		Front Cover Of The Book
CD Label		Back Cover Of The Book

DAREDEVIL VISIONARIES (Graphitti Designs Limited Hardcover Edition)

The first thing you should know about this book is that it costs $80 and there are only 2,500 copies in existence (make that 2,499 – because my copy will never leave my possession!). For that very reason I won’t spend too much time reviewing the actual story – because let’s face it if you haven’t already read, and subsequently fallen in love with, the story collected in the book you probably aren’t going to shell out the $80 (unless you’re a bigger Smith fan than I am – and I seriously doubt that!!!).

So the book essentially reprints Kevin Smith’s “Guardian Devil” storyline that was originally printed in Daredevil (Vol.2)#’s 1-8. The nice thing about this book is that the eight issues are very self-contained and although Marvel have now picked up various plot points and are expanding on them the actual “Guardian Devil” storyline sits very nicely as a stand alone piece with a beginning, a middle and an end (which, in my experience, is a rarity in comics). The actual storylineis a tale of Daredevil’s struggle with his faith when he is left to care for a baby who he is told will grow up to be the antichrist. Along the way we are treated to appearances by a host of other Marvel characters (including Black Widow, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, Kingpin, Bullseye, and others) but not once do you feel that they are merely pointless guest-appearances as each one serves to carry the narrative along. The twist in the tale comes in the finale when it is revealed that the Villain behind everything is Mysterio who has effectively tried to destroy Daredevil’s life as his swan-song before he dies. Daredevil however refuses to follow Mysterio’s plan by not killing him in a moment of rage and the third-rate super-villain is forced to kill himself. The actual story shows that Kevin can show a more serious nature and tackle more emotional subjects than he had with his previous comics (much like he did with his film Chasing Amy) and it’s also historically important as the story arc that got people reading Daredevil again!

So anyway, as I’ve already said, if you’re contemplating buying this book odds are that you’ve already read the story so why should you buy this collection? Well first off it’s a hardcover (and personally I’m a sucker for hardcover comic collections!), secondly it’s signed by Kevin Smith and the two artists who brought Kev’s words to life, Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, and last (but definitely not least!) it comes packaged with a “Daredevil Digital Adventures” CD-ROM that you can only get with this version of the book. Personally I would have bought this book anyway if this CD hadn’t been included but I think that it’s inclusion in the package justifies the high price-tag.

On the CD you’ll find an interactive, web-browser based, package that houses over 2 hours of commentary from Smith, Quesada & Palmiotti, complete scripts from all eight issues, original penciled pages (before Palmiotti traced over them!!!), the Daredevil #0 cyber-comic, Wizard Magazine’s Daredevil #½ and a whole host of sketches, reference photos and other relevant pictures.

Of course the most interesting thing is listening to Smith, Quesada and Palmiotti talking about the project and in true DVD commentary style the group end up making fun of each other and swearing (although all swear words are “bleeped” out!). But in their serious moments the group discuss everything from plot-lines carried over from Frank Miller’s legendary run on the book to the religious elements of Smith’s story and his-take on the fan’s reactions to “Guardian Devil”. The way the disc is set out each issue has it’s own section (including an introduction section and an extras section) and each piece of the commentary is placed in the relevant section and labeled so as to make it easier to go back and just listen to a specific bit. The only bad thing I could say about the commentary is that they seem to rush through the last few issues (you even hear someone enter the room a few times towards the end and Smith telling them that they’ll be a few more minutes!). As you listen to each section of commentary there is a specific set of pictures relevant to what’s being said – ranging from sketches of scenes to pictures from other comics that are referenced. Of course once you’ve looked at the pictures you can flick over to the script of that particular issue or the penciled pages section – all whilst still listening to the commentary.

Once you’ve worked your way through all eight of the issue sections there is an extras section which contains even more cool stuff! First up is Daredevil #½ (which was originally available as a mail-in premium from Wizard Magazine) which is basically a text piece written by Smith documenting Mysterio’s meeting with the Kingpin, which was briefly mentioned in Daredevil #7, accompanied by splash-page illustrations. The way it’s presented on the disc doesn’t do justice to the way it was originally printed in the comic (in fact I would have preferred to see it reprinted in the hardcover book in it’s original form alongside the regular issues) but that’s a minor quibble and at least they went to the effort to include it. Following that is the #0 cyber-comic which shows us Daredevil discovering that Karen Page has left him – this was originally only available on the web and last time I tried to view it at Marvel’s site it didn’t seem to work anymore. Of course News Askew has screen captures of it but it has to be viewed in it’s full animated glory to get the full effect – and as far as I am aware the disc is the only place it is now available! The extras section also contains information on the mini trade-paperback (including Kev’s intro and Quesada and Palmiotti’s afterwords) and also info on the recording session of the audio commentary.

All in all I think the disc is an amazing compliment to the book and even though there are about 2 hours worth of commentary tracks on the disc it took me three hours just to work my way through everything. If you combine that with the 2 hours it took me to read the book itself your looking at a reasonable investment for your $80 and it’s a book that I personally will read over and over again. In fact the book now takes pride of place on my book shelf next to my Chasing Dogma hardcover (and hopefully will be joined by the Clerks hardcover when that arrives) and I hope that Kevin Smith continues to write stories that warrants these deluxe editions – however expensive they may be!