Director Smith happy to be back
By JEROME MAIDA — For the Daily News

Despite the demands on his time as a hot writer/actor/director – and best-selling comic book writer – Kevin Smith is happy to appear at Wizard World East for the second year in a row.

“I spent about a half a year in Philly [filming ‘Jersey Girl’] and I kind of grew to love it,” he said, “so it’s pretty easy to go back when asked, particularly when there’s something like a con.”

Many fans of Smith’s movies (”Clerks,” “Chasing Amy”) have also checked out his comic book work on titles like “Daredevil” and “Green Arrow.”

As a popular comic book writer and store owner Smith openly admits his love for the medium.

“Comics are thought of as kid stuff, but usually only by people who haven’t picked up a comic in the last 10 years,” he said. “Yeah, there are a few titles for kids…but they’re not really written for kids anymore. They deal with more adult themes, and some of the best writing out there is in comics.”

Smith is currently finishing a long-delayed comic book miniseries starring Daredevil and Spider-Man. He’s not sure what he’ll do after that.

But he does know where he’d go for a cheesesteak if he had to pick between Pat’s and Geno’s.

“I’d have to go with Pat’s,” he said. “but it’s not fair because I haven’t tested every cheesesteak place in Philly.”

Not that he hasn’t tried.

“When we were doing Roadside Attractions [on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”] we did one from Philly and part of it was ‘Looking for the Perfect Cheesesteak’ and…we went from place to place. We hit the big ones: Pat’s, Geno’s and this other one…and I had two cheesesteaks at each place in the span of two hours.

“That’s six cheesesteaks in two hours, and boy, I loved every minute of it!”

‘Silent Bob’ opens up about ‘Jersey Girl’
PHILADELPHIA — Award-winning writer and director Kevin Smith chuckled at the thought that a small road bears his name in Gloucester County.
“Kevin Smith Way,” Smith proclaimed in a special question-and-answer forum at the Pennsylvania Convention Center Saturday. “It’s the way everyone should live their lives.”
Smith was in town as a guest panelist for the three-day Wizard World comic book convention, where he took random questions from the audience, spoke about his upcoming movie “Jersey Girl” and relentlessly poked fun at the flick’s high-profile stars.
“Jersey Girl,” the much-hyped film starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, was filmed primarily in Philadelphia and Paulsboro over the summer and fall of 2002.
When shooting in Paulsboro wrapped in October, borough officials honored Smith by renaming Tyler Street Kevin Smith Way.
Paulsboro’s proximity to Philadelphia made it a prime choice to be a stand-in town for the North Jersey Highlands, Smith said.
“So that’s why we went to Paulsboro,” Smith said. “They were really, really nice to us there.”
“And it was the only town that would name a street after me,” Smith joked. “The road leads right into a school, which I thought was appropriate.”
Smith said the film – which is now slated for a February release – is a sharp departure from his other cult classics such as “Clerks,” “Mallrats,” “Chasing Amy” and “Dogma,” but that the latest film is his favorite by far. Smith said he was heavily involved in the editing process for the film, which wrapped shooting in early January.
“It’s dialogue-driven, but not as driven as other stuff,” Smith said. “Every movie I think starts to look better than the previous one.”
Two brief preview clips of the film were shown during the panel discussion Saturday. One scene featured Affleck and Lopez arguing before a trip to the Video Music Awards. A second clip showed Affleck humorously walking in on his movie-daughter flashing a neighborhood boy.
No Paulsboro backdrop in either of the scenes.
The film was scheduled for a November release, but was bumped to February to avoid competing with a third installment of “The Matrix” due out at that time.
Smith said the exact release date in February remains unknown.

WIZARD: Kevin Smith owns a comic book store. Who’d win if you two fought?
RVD: I could take Jay and Silent Bob on at the same time and kick their asses. And then steal their stash.