• A new column has begun! Kevin has started his new exclusive column for Movie Poop Shoot, and yep, it’s going to cover the production of Jersey Girl! Much like “Developing The Monkey”, Kevin will break some big news in these columns, as well as share with all of us the trials and tribulations that is moviemaking. This week, your eyes will be glued to the screen as Kevin reveals why they’re shooting in Philly, a couple new casting tidbits, budget info, and that the new director of photography is none other than Oscar-winner Vilmos Zsigmond, who shot Close Encounters, The Deer Hunter, and more (Kev’s got a full list.) Here’s a select passage from this week’s entry:

Oddly enough, Jersey itself wasn’t really an option, based on how cost-prohibitive it would’ve been to shoot in Highlands (the shore town our new flick is largely set in). Highlands, unfortunately, falls outside the sixty mile radius of the “Zone” – a nebulous union parameter outside of which the show is forced to put up and pay per diem to every crew member who has to travel to set. Ultimately, this adds to the budget, and we can’t afford to spend the money there, as whatever green isn’t being spent on the de riguer coke and whores has to be allocated for making Philly and the surrounding areas look more like New Jersey.

By basing the production in Philly, we can take advantage of the wonderful crew base that’s been growing here, courtesy of M. Night Multi-Syllabic-Last-Name (the SIXTH SENSE guy), who, apparently, refuses to shoot anywhere but the Philadelphia area, and has made the Powers That Be enough bank to stand by the courage of his convictions. When a brother’s never made a flick that’s broken the thirty-million dollar glass ceiling, he doesn’t get to stomp his feet and say “We’re shooting the whole fucking movie in the real Highlands.” Well, he can, but he’ll wind up basing out of Philly anyway. Money talks, and motherfuckin’ Silent Bob walks.

Another beneficial aspect of Philly over Toronto is that we can simply cross the Ben Franklin bridge and actually shoot in the damn state the flick’s named for. The nearby town of Paulsboro will be playing the role of Highlands for most of the show, when Highlands isn’t able to play itself. For the purists (namely me), however, we’ve scheduled a few days of shooting in the real Highlands, as well as a few days in Manhattan – the city that also plays a crucial role in the flick.

But I’m not gonna lie: the biggest advantage to shooting in Philly is the Cheese Steaks. The whole fucking flick can go straight-to-video for all I care, so long as I get to chow down on Cheese Steaks for the next few months.

Read it all HERE. And watch here for News Askew’s Jersey Girl site, opening soon, and archving all of the diary entries for your viewing pleasure.

• 4 Color Review has a couple of reviews of Spidey/Black Cat #1. Check them out HERE and HERE.

• Here’s more info on that Comic Book Confidential DVD – The disc is being reissued with added features, a new transfer, and more on July 23. They tout an intro by Kevin as well. See Video ETA for more info on the disc, and check out the DVD art and a scan of the artist bios.

• And finally, speaking of DVDs, The following link has the “Michael Allred’s G-Men From Hell” DVD for sale as an “advanced offer before street date” for $22.98. The street date is actually the 23rd July – and to be honest if anyone wants it, and is willing to wait the few weeks for the official release, they can probably get it for a better price elswhere – www.dvdempire.com has the disc for a reasonable $13.99.

The feature movie is “G-Men From Hell” (2000) (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0221197) and was based on the Mike Allred comic-book of the same name. Allred is of course also the creator of Holden McNeil’s favorite comic-book, “Madman”. He also provided a piece of artwork for the Mallrats opening credits, one of the covers to the Jay & Silent Bob mini-series, all of the “Bluntman & Chronic”and “Chasing Amy” artwork used onscreen in Amy… oh, and appeared as himself at the beginning of Amy as well.

The disc also features Allred’s first movie, “Astroesque” (1996) (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0115582), as a bonus feature. This movie was written, directed, produced and composed by Allred. He acted in it too! Might be something cool to check out. Have a good weekend, folks.