Writer-director Richard Kelly, who made his feature debut with indie pic “Donnie Darko,” has written and will direct the comedy-musical thriller “Southland Tales” for Cherry Road Films.

Pic takes place in 2008 during a three-day Los Angeles heat wave leading up to a massive July 4 holiday celebration.

Seann William Scott is in negotiations to star in the project, set to begin shooting in July. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Lee, Janeane Garofalo, Tim Blake Nelson, Amy Poehler, Kevin Smith and Ali Larter are also in negotiations to join the cast.

The filmmakers are in discussions with Moby to contribute new music to the pic.

“This will only be a musical in a post-modern sense of the word in that it is a hybrid of several genres,” said Kelly. “There will be some dancing and singing, but it will be incorporated into the story in very logical scenarios as well as fantasy dream environments.”

Sean McKittrick will produce under the Darko Entertainment banner along with Cherry Road principals Kendall Morgan and CEO Bo Hyde. Pic is being produced outside of Cherry Road’s first look deal with Warner Independent Pictures.

Cherry Road Films produced Lions Gate’s forthcoming ensemble comedy “Eulogy,” directed by Michael Clancy and starring Ray Romano, Hank Azaria, Zooey Deschanel and Huck Botko. Shingle signed a two-year deal with Warner Independent Pictures, establishing a co-production and development fund covering eight to 10 projects a year in October. (As reported by VARIETY)

Those who worship at the altar of Jay and Silent Bob are likely to find the gentle sweetness of Jersey Girl more than a little nauseating. But anyone who has long admired Smith’s undeniable knack for dialogue, and just wished he would cut it out with the fanboy comic-book nonsense already, should be pleasantly surprised by the many strengths of his latest offering.

Perhaps most surprisingly, this could be the film that saves Ben Affleck’s nosediving career. That is, if anyone is willing to see a movie tainted by the lingering horror of Bennifer. While Jennifer Lopez does appear in Jersey Girl, her role is both brief and painless. Smith wasn’t lying when he stressed in multiple recent interviews that this movie is a far cry from “Gigli 2: Bennifer Strikes Back.” The central love story of Jersey Girl is between Affleck’s character and his daughter.

…

Smith, too, shows a new, and entirely welcome, side of himself with Jersey Girl. The filmmaker who once claimed he’d never be capable of making a serious movie that spanned actual seasons has made the first widely appealing film of his career. He has done so without abandoning his trademark sense of humor. The Jay and Silent Bob fans may weep, but for pretty much everyone else, there’s cause to rejoice.

[FULL STORY]

MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE (***) – “Kevin Smith trades cynicism for sweetness in ‘Jersey Girl'”

Kevin Smith refuses to include the standard director’s label — “A Kevin Smith Film” — in the opening credits of his movies. He believes that a movie is the work of an entire film crew and that it would be pompous to take all the credit.

That attitude is commendable, but it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to put his name on top of “Jersey Girl.” In fact, the movie is so out of keeping with his other work that he might even have considered sticking in a reminder every 15 minutes or so: “Hey, folks, this is a Kevin Smith film. Really.”

The guy who gave us the irreverent “Dogma,” the druggie comedy “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and the cheeky “Clerks” turns over a completely new leaf with “Jersey Girl,” a heart-on-its-sleeve, tear-in-the-eye comic drama that — and who thought we ever would say this about a Kevin Smith film? — is downright sweet.

[FULL STORY]

MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE (***) – “Kevin Smith trades cynicism for sweetness in ‘Jersey Girl'”

Kevin Smith refuses to include the standard director’s label — “A Kevin Smith Film” — in the opening credits of his movies. He believes that a movie is the work of an entire film crew and that it would be pompous to take all the credit.

That attitude is commendable, but it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to put his name on top of “Jersey Girl.” In fact, the movie is so out of keeping with his other work that he might even have considered sticking in a reminder every 15 minutes or so: “Hey, folks, this is a Kevin Smith film. Really.”

The guy who gave us the irreverent “Dogma,” the druggie comedy “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and the cheeky “Clerks” turns over a completely new leaf with “Jersey Girl,” a heart-on-its-sleeve, tear-in-the-eye comic drama that — and who thought we ever would say this about a Kevin Smith film? — is downright sweet.

[FULL STORY]

…During production in the fall of 2002, everyone assumed that “Jersey Girl” would be a Ben-Jen (or “Bennifer”) movie. That was fine with Smith back then.

“When we were in production, we were happy to have them assume that,” he said. “They were both huge, and that doesn’t hurt. But also, and chiefly, I didn’t want anyone to know that she dies. It was going to be a great sucker punch, a real great gut punch for the audience.”

Even in a post-“Gigli” world, when Lopez’s presence in the movie has been minimized in promotional materials, Smith would still prefer that no one know her fate in the movie. But the Internet has other ideas.

“It would have been nice as a great surprise,” he said. “It’s very tough to keep anything secret and surprise an audience in the age of the Internet.

“Unfortunately, in the Information Age, people are all too happy to know everything about a movie before they even get in there. Then it really leaves just the mystery of the execution to be revealed. Then it’s just people watching something on a technical basis.”

[FULL STORY]

MOVIES.COM – “Riding to the Airport With Kevin Smith” (Interview)

Q: What’s the most enjoyable thing about making films?

A: I love writing. And I love editing — that’s my second favorite part of the job, because those are the two moments where like it’s all on my shoulders, and I’m the only one who could f–k it up, really. That’s before you let other people into the mix. The third thing is just talking — man, I love doing Q&A. Obviously, I love to get up on stage and answer questions. Kind of hurl the message into the void and see who responds.

[FULL STORY]

ASSOCIATED PRESS – “Carlin lives out his dream of being an actor”

…”Jersey Girl,” however, was a more serious project for both Carlin and Smith, the story of a small New Jersey family, death, parenthood and responsibility all wrapped up in jokes — although less dirty this time.

“It’s a major departure in a lot of ways for me. This has confrontation and sweetness and caring and just working guy stuff,” he said.

Smith said he knew Carlin could be a serious actor.

“He’s got this wonderful gravitas to him. He’s been around,” the director said at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas. “He’s a very frank, very honest person but just has this wonderful face that belies a well-lived life.”

[FULL STORY]

MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE – “Fatherhood — and being a son — brings out the softy in cynic Kevin Smith”

…With a price tag of $35 million, “Jersey Girl” is Smith’s biggest-budget film to date. But he said that the number is deceptive: The working budget was a more modest $21 million after deducting the $14 million that went to Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, who plays the soon-to-be-dead wife.

“We struck this deal pre-‘Gigli,’ ” he joked of the Affleck-Lopez bomb. “I think they should cut me a refund check.”

Although the movie marks a departure from Smith’s earlier movies, it doesn’t signal a major change in course. Rather, it’s a one-time deal motivated by his observations about parenthood and children. Or, at least, a once-in-a-long-time deal.

“This movie says everything I have to say on the subject,” he said. “My daughter’s only 4. Maybe when she becomes a teenager, I’ll have a lot more to say.”

[FULL STORY]

VANCOUVER GLOBE AND MAIL – “Kevin Smith, uncensored”

…Smith shrugs off suggestions that Jersey Girl represents any kind of maturation. “They said I grew up with Chasing Amy. You can’t grow up twice.”

His only conscious change in direction was an effort to produce a good-looking film. After years of reading reviews criticizing his visual shortcomings, he hired Vilmos Zsigmond, the star cinematographer of such films as McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Close Encounter of the Third Kind and The Deer Hunter.

“Even Affleck said, “I can’t believe I look good in one of your movies. What a switch. For a change I don’t look like I’ve just been hit with a shovel.”

[FULL STORY]

SEATTLE PI – “A moment with Kevin Smith, Film Director”

Q: It was recently announced that your next film is a big budget action movie based on comic book hero the Green Hornet.

A: It should be fun. I’ve been a longtime comic book reader and I’ve written for DC and Marvel Comics. This a chance to put one up on the big screen. To some degree, it’s also a little scary because it’s well out of my realm of experience.

Q: You’ve had complete control over your previous films. What kind of compromises do you face making such a high profile project?

A: I’m going in knowing that I’m making a mainstream film. Clearly I wasn’t hired because I’m a fantastic visual stylist. I was hired to flesh it out, make it interesting dialogue-wise and character-wise. So that’s what I bring to the table. I just want to make a really good comic book movie.

[FULL STORY]

REDANDBLACK.COM – “Kevin Smith talks to the lil’ people about his movie”

…”Jersey Girl” marks Affleck’s fifth collaboration with Smith, after appearing in four of the five films in Smith’s “Jersey Trilogy” series.

“He’s unaware of the sort of dual nature of (his life),” Affleck said in the film’s production notes. “On the one hand his job is fun and glamorous and sexy, and on the other hand totally irrelevant to anything substantial in the real world. So, it takes this really significant relationship with his child to make him reevaluate his life.”

Left with a newborn daughter and without a job, Ollie is forced to move back in with his father Bart, played by comedian George Carlin.

“This is the most he’s ever been in a movie outside of a phone booth,” Smith said, referring to Carlin’s role as Rufus in “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.”

[FULL STORY]