KS: I mean a little bit but the biggest burn I got was on JERSEY GIRL and even that wasn’t that expensive a movie. It was expensive for me at $35 million but that’s not even that much as far as studio filmmaking goes these days but I felt a little burned but that doesn’t infringe on making a big- budget comic book movie. What makes me not want to do that is in realizing “Shit, I don’t have it in me.” I just don’t have that mindset to spend like a week on a 2 minute action sequence and just sit there shooting day after day of pieces that will go into a scene. Its just not what I’m good at and not what I have much interest in doing. So, generally, I stay away from that stuff not because I’ve been burned but I just can’t do it-its not my thing. It would be like if someone said to me “Why don’t you get into cancer research?” I’m no good at that-I know nothing about cancer research.

AL: That’s interesting because you seem very truthful and honest about admitting your range of talent. So that’s not a problem with you but that seems to be a big problem in Hollywood.

KS: Or the internet. People will tell you “Well, you’re not pushing yourself hard enough” or “You should try other films” or “He keeps making the same movies” and its just like “Dude, I’m making movies. What do you want from me? If you don’t like seeing them-don’t go!” This is what I do. Why would you want to do something else? Because of the persona, because I was the dude from nowhere whose movie got picked up and I suddenly had a job in film, people look at you as a proxy of sorts. Well, they’re like “Shit, you’re just like me except the only difference is you did it.” That is true to a degree: I was very much like them and I’m still very much like them but at the same time, maybe their aspirations are greater than mine. I had no aspirations beyond the first CLERKS and then suddenly people were like “What do you want to do next?” and I said “All right, how about this? How about this?” I didn’t have a 5, 10, 15 year plan. So, I don’t know-for me-I don’t have a problem going “This is what I do and I’m happy with it.” I make a nice living off of what I do and I’ve got an audience. Why do I need more beyond that?

Director Kevin Smith has signed up to star in the US remake of hit British TV show Manchild, because he wants to become a better actor. Smith has written, directed and starred in Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back – and now wants to turn his attention solely to portraying a cynical divorcee in the Showtime comedy. He tells MTV, “It should be an interesting exercise that, if the show works as well as the script, will turn into a sweet side gig for me. At the very least, I’ll learn a thing or two about acting; at the most, I’ll have something to do four months out of every year.”