- Once again we’re jet-setting our way to the west coast, this time for the very exciting Hollywood premiere of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back! We’ll be there to cover the event itself, the party afterwards, and all the other excitement. This will be the first time we screen the film, as we’ve been avoiding as many clips and spoilers as possible to give a first opinion on the final product. We’re quite excited to be joining the ranks of the big stars and players tomorrow, and promise a lot of coverage, pics, a review, and lots more upon our return. Updates might be slow for the next couple of days, as between jet lag, recovering from surgery, and a busy schedule out west, it’s gonna be rough. Keep the e-mails coming, and we’ll do our best to get everything caught up later this week. Before we run, here’s a second edition of NewsBites to bring everything up to date. Catch ya later, folks!
Archive for August 14th, 2001
View Askew NewsBites™
- A new interview with Kevin appeared at our favorite online movie site, Dark Horizons. Check it out:
Kevin Smith remains one of America’s most iconoclastic filmmakers, offering a somewhat skewed view of contemporary Americana, satirising pop culture at every turn. Those elements are more prevalent than ever in his hilarious new flick, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and this time, nothing is sacred. Paul Fischer talked to Smith recently.
After Kevin Smith took on what some critics felt, was a ponderously philosophical tone in Dogma, the director whom his fans know and love has bounced back in true irreverent style, with his satiric Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. It is clear when looking at the film, how much fun Smith had in poking fun at all aspects of American pop culture, a feat he happily admits having worked towards “from Clerks right through this movie.” Looking a bit paunchy and eagerly puffing on a cigarette, the recently married director admits that “the funniest aspect of doing this movie was constantly turning to the audience going: I can’t believe you’re still here; I can’t believe you’re still watching this.” What Smith revelled in, with this film, “was just criticising the movie as we went along. There was an earlier joke at one point during the movie where we were going to stop it cold, and invite a critic like Roger Ebert to come in and review the movie thus far, but I thought that was too precious.” Smith does laugh at himself, not only as we watch this film, but as he happily criticises what he has done, admitting, “that when I watch it I realise it’s me pulling myself for 90 minutes; a real homage which I hope people will at least people will chuckle through. It seems to work as the audiences seem to dig it.”
Smith’s latest New Jersey-set comedy has Jay and Silent Bob learning that a “Bluntman and Chronic” movie is being made featuring their comic book counterparts, drooling at the thought of fat movie cheques rolling in. But when the pair finds that there won’t be any royalties coming their way, they set out to sabotage the flick at all costs. The often stoned pair makes the cross-country trip from New Jersey to Hollywood and along the way they meet up with a quartet of sexy diamond thieves, an orang-utan, and up crashing their way on the Miramax studios sound stages with hysterical results, culminating in a Star Wars-style duel with Mark Hamill no less. “Working with him was pretty cool”, says this die-hard Star Wars fan. “Mind you, I was more a Darth Vader fan than a Luke Skywalker fan, which was why it was fun to fight him”, he says smilingly
Asked how Jay and Silent Bob have changed since their first appearance back in Clerks, and Smith happily concedes that they haven’t. “They haven’t grown or matured one bit”, Smith retorts. “They’ve grown FATTER, as I have, but they haven’t changed, which I think is what is charming about them.” Further defining their appeal, Kevin adds that “Jay is a creature of the Id, who has no filter as to what to say; he just says what’s on his mind. So what’s funny about the character is his lack of moral boundary. He says what he says without thinking of the repercussions, and I’m there to just roll my eyes.” Smith believes that Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back “is probably my least mature film to date”, an accomplishment, he says, he is very proud of. “We did two films back-to-back that dealt with weightier subjects [Chasing Amy and Dogma] so it was nice to make a movie that just had NO weighty subject matter to it whatsoever. Even the satire is below-the-belt.” Smith, who is a huge fan of the web, also pokes fun at the Internet “which I’m most proud of, going after the fucking armchair directors of the Internet, and even that is still low-blow stuff, not sharp satire, just satire which is dark and blunt.”
Satire, however, that is an antidote to his much-criticised and controversial Dogma. “After dealing with the controversy surrounding Dogma, not to mention the 400,000 pieces of hate mail and death threats, I really wanted to make a movie where the worst thing that could happen at the end of the day, was somebody would write on a web site that ‘Kevin Smith sucks cock’ and spell ‘cock’ wrong. That’s the worst that could happen on THIS movie, while Dogma was such a trial.” So much of a trial, that Miramax dumped the movie, but happily, the brothers Weinstein made up with Kevin, and with Jay and Silent Bob, Smith has taken pleasure in satirising the studio with some choice moments. “I think the reason I was able to get away with doing that, was payback; they felt bad about dumping Dogma, so they let me bash them a bit in THIS movie, and they were cool with it. I think their philosophy was: If anyone’s going to make fun of us, it might as well be one of our own.” Smith is unconcerned that the film’s plethora of inside jokes pertaining to Hollywood will not cross over to a broader audience. “It’s not like you’re sitting through The Player; this is a pretty broad comedy about Hollywood.”
Smith fans will be sad – or relieved- that Kevin is putting Jay and Silent Bob to rest. “If EVER there was a Silent Bob era, this is the end of it, to say the least. I might still continue to work on him in the comics, because that way, he’ll never age, not to mention stay the same weight.” So a new phase for Mr Smith continues, with a new film based on the Fletch private eye films, or an autobiographical comedy on fatherhood.
- Though it’s not really packed with a ton of NEW information, this article entitled “Therapy with Jay and Bob”, dsicusses the Dogma controversy and leads it into the creation of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. Thanks to canada.com for the article.
- The ‘Box Office America’ movie preview of J&SBSB that screened on UK TV turned out to present the most footage of the film on television so far. Most of Carrie Fisher’s scene (and its preconcept) were shown, the extended Affleck scene, and the extended fight scene. The show was very positive about the film, though we still have heard NOTHING about a release date for the film in the UK. Obviously demand is quite high, though we assume opening day may depend on how well the film fares here. We’ll keep you posted.
- Kevin will be on KROQ‘s morning show in Los Angeles tomorrow morning, premiere day, during the Kevin & Bean show.
- Pix Poster Cellar is now selling a fairly rare item: The video store one sheet for Clerks TCS: Uncensored! You can grab one for only $15 by clicking HERE.
- The Amazing Colossal Website have posted a review of the J&SBSB soundtrack. Check it out HERE.
- The Independent Film Channel will be airing Clerks on August 16th at 8:00 PM EST with the DVD commentary running along with the film. Be sure to tune it in if you’ve never heard this legendary track.
Advanced Screenings This Saturday CONFIRMED!
- Dimension Films will indeed hold a nationwide test screening of J&SBSB this Saturday…Many of your local theaters may have a test screening around 7-ish this Saturday night, where you can see the film followed by another flick for FREE! Times and shows vary, of course, so check your listings or contact your local theater to ask about it. Again, there is NO NEED to e-mail us about these Saturday shows, if you’d like to share the info with others though, feel free to use the talkbacks. Have fun!
Nationwide Sneak Preview This Saturday?
- More Sneak Preview opportunities…Could Dimension be doing a nationwide sneak peek at the film this weekend? We’re not sure. It’s quite possible though. Check with your local theater. A lot of times, these things aren’t advertised, but it’s your chance to see the film a week early and then stay to see another flick afterwards for free. We heard about a couple already, and assume there will be a LOT more. If you hear of them, please post them in the talkbacks for this story instead of mailing them in, there’s no way we’ll be able to keep track of them all!
The two we heard about today: Keresotes Northwest Cinema in Muncie, Indiana (Ya can’t help but think of ‘The Hudsucker Proxy’ when ya hear that) will be having a J&SBSB sneak peek this Saturday at 7:30 PM. ALso, a local theatre in Columbia, MD, will screen the flick on Saturday the 18th as well. Good luck folks, this could be the chance to catch the movie an entire week early! This is likely the decision that Dimension made to get word of mouth going, instead of the Wednesday opening.
Austin Premiere: Talk Back!
- The film’s big Austin, Texas premiere happened last night, with Kevin and Scott flying in to show the film to an audience for the first time with credits intact! Sounds like a fine time was had by all, and that Kevin again delivered another marathon Q&A session afterwards. Feel free to use the talkbacks to post your own reports, here’s one that came in to us this morning:
The Austin premiere of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back went off like gangbusters. Kevin came out and introduced the movie. He stated that though the Austin premiere was officially a regional premiere, it was the first screening shown of the movie in its final cut with credits. The crowd response to the movie was incredibly positive. I know that I probably missed some of the jokes due to my own and everyone else’s laughter. The Q&A following the showing was great. Kevin treated us to a 2 hour Q&A. One of the standout anecdotes was one about Mewes’ first day of rehearsal on the set of Dogma. Kevin and Jason Lee were rehearsing Azrael’s lines when there was a knock at the set door. Kevin answered the door to Mewes dressed only in a read waiters jacket and holding a silver serving platter. Mewes then asked Kevin if “anyone had ordered sausage.” All in all the experience was great and if the screening was any indication, J&SBSB will be a big box office hit for ViewAskew.
A final note; Don’t forget to STAY THROUGH THE CREDITS when you see J&SBSB!
J&SBSB Promotional Updates!
- We’ll be doing our best to keep that promotions chart at the top of the site up to date with the latest appearances happening on radio and television. Please note that today’s update includes some new stuff as well as some changes to other airdates. Here’s a rundown:
- The Reel Comedy J&SBSB special on Comedy Central has been moved to Thursday, August 16th, at 7:30 PM. This is bound to be one of the best promotional specials for the film, so be sure to catch it.
- Access Hollywood will supposedly be running a small story on Kevin tonight, focused on the whole Tim Burton/POTA thing, but likely will mention the new film as well.
- Chris Rock is scheduled to be on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC) on August 21st.
- Will Ferrell will appear on Craig Kilborn (CBS) on August 22nd. Ferrell was also scheduled to appear on Fox News Live this morning to promote J&SBSB. If anyone caught a capture of it, let us know! We found out about this a little too late to catch it.
View Askew NewsBites™
- A local Vancouver, BC local radio station here is giving away advanced screening passes to a Thursday showing of J&SBSB.Check out their site HERE for more information on how you can win.
- Jay Mewes appears in a new film made by “High Times” magazine called “Pot Luck”. A fan submitted a review of the film to AICN, which you can read HERE.
- Coming Attractions has set up new pages for Kevin’s next untitled film, which will star Ben Affleck and focus on fatherhood. We’ll have a lot more on this new project after all the J&SBSB dust settles.
- In the August 20th issue of Newsweek, Kevin is quoted (oddly enough) in an article on the fascination with female navel:
That’s right, they’re all fun to look at. There’s also the tease factor. “The reason we’re so navel-retentive,” says Kevin Smith, creator of the smart, sex-obesessed comedies “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy”, “is because we know it’s a stone’s throw away from the real goods, and that sends the imagination racing.
You can check out the entire piece HERE.
- Here’s the artwork for the upcoming J&SBSB score soundtrack CD, due for release from Varese Srabande on September 11th.