…

ZAK: Rosario had no problems whatsoever. Rosario was like, “Oh, you guys are doing that?” And she jumps right in front of the camera. And Jay was kind of the saving grace. Jay loved that camera. Without Jay we wouldn’t have half the Train Wrecks we did. And you know, Brian and Jeff, and just everybody, was just outstanding.

…

QUICK STOP: The biggest misconception people might have about the documentary, compared to the Train Wrecks, is that the documentary is just a duplicate of what they saw in the Wrecks…

JOEY: Well, yeah. Everybody, just from reading stuff online and on the message boards and stuff, had the inclination that it was gonna be just a bunch of Train Wrecks pasted together. And we kinda let that fly. We’re like, “That’s cool that they’re gonna think that, because hopefully it’s gonna be a nice surprise when they see it’s something totally different.” We wanted to do something a little more in depth. Because if it was just gonna be pasted together Train Wrecks, why not just watch all the Train Wrecks back-to-back?

ZAK: We really wanted to give them… Joe and I were kinda there to see all this stuff that we put in the documentary. Even when we weren’t doing the documentary. Like, we start out basically with the end of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. We go into Jersey Girl. We go into Green Hornet. Because Clerks 2 was kinda being bounced around throughout that entire time. So we kinda wanted to say, “Look, this is when it really started to roll.” Because at one point Kevin closed the book on the View Askewniverse. Now he’s going back into it. And after working with these guys for the last five years, there was a lot of story there to be told, that we just didn’t want to deal with Train Wrecks. We wanted to actually get in there and do some stuff. Like the fact that Scott left. Scott was really having issues with being a producer, and there were other things in his life that he wanted to do, and it’s the exact opposite of Kevin. You know Kevin – that’s all he wanted to do, is make movies and write. So there was all this stuff in there that we really wanted to get into and show, and kinda show the relationship between Kevin & Scott, because Kevin takes a lot of the spotlight, but Scott’s really the one who helps push Kevin, and when Kevin is on the fence about a joke or on the fence about a story or something like that, Scott’s the one that he goes to. Scott is kinda the unsung creative partner in the entire thing.

ZAK: Out of the footage we shot, Joe and I figured we can probably do three more documentaries. Out of the stories, out of everything else, we could do three more documentaries. Like, we’ve already made jokes about, but one day it might be true, on the Clerks 2 10th anniversary DVD, doing an entirely new documentary out of the footage. Like, it’s totally possible. And it wouldn’t be a crappy documentary, either. It’d be really good. We just had to pick the stories that we felt were relevant at the time to telling the story. We’ve got so many others that we can go into. We can totally do another DVD just out of the footage that we have, as a supplemental, or as the one that stands alone five years from now. It’s a wellspring that I don’t think anybody has really thought about. And the other cool thing about the internet that I didn’t bring up, is you’re able to address stuff as it happens. If something happens at 11:00 that morning… this happened once or twice, where we wanted to get something on the net immediately. Kevin would say, “I want to put something on the net right now.” We would shoot his intro at 11:00, and by 4:00 I was uploading it to the server so that it could be up for 5:00 when people got home from work. That’s something that you don’t have with the newspaper. Something you don’t have with a regular article. It’s something that you can go all-out, boom, and it’s automatic. You can address something as it happens.

QUICK STOP: So I guess the big question would be to ask, what’s next?

JOEY: Well, we had some stuff going on where Kevin threw us this idea of shooting an in-depth documentary for the Chasing Amy 10th anniversary release. That’s kind of in a holding pattern right now for reasons we really shouldn’t even be talking about.

ZAK: We’ve got two projects with Kevin. This is the official one. We have two projects with Kevin that we would… actually more like three… that we’re talking about doing right now, but we’ve got to wait for things like money and contracts and all that kinda stuff, and then there’s a couple other people that we just started talking to, because they’re really pleased at the way the documentary’s turned out, and the Train Wrecks. So we’re trying to get it out there, and we’re trying to get it together. We just got our website up, that Ming from View Askew is helping us out with, and we’re trying to get that up and get that running.

JOEY: It’s a temporary site right now but Ming’s kinda diving into it pretty soon. He’s been real busy with all these screenings and whatnot.

ZAK: And then it’s basically putting together packages and trying to get in touch with filmmakers to say, “You got movies coming up – we can help you. And it’s not gonna cost you an arm and a leg, and you’re gonna be extremely pleased and happy with it at the end of it, and your movie will make more money because of it.”

QUICK STOP: What’s the URL again?

ZAK: Oh, it’s chopshopentertainment.com

“Back to the Well” trailer:
* Large (560 x 420 – QuickTime – 32.4 MB)
* Small (320 x 240 – QuickTime – 14.2 MB)

Download Clip #1 – “Rehearsals”:
* Large (560 x 420 – QuickTime – 19.22 MB)
* Small (320 x 240 – QuickTime – 8.51 MB)

Download Clip #2 – “Make Or Break”:
* Large (560 x 420 – QuickTime – 17.73 MB)
* Small (320 x 240 – QuickTime – 7.86 MB)

Download Clip #3 – “First Reactions”:
* Large (560 x 420 – QuickTime – 19.06 MB)
* Small (320 x 240 – QuickTime – 8.63 MB)

Though the stories aren’t as hilarious as those heard on the first collection, and there are some serious momentum killers in the audience, this set remains an easy way to find plenty of laughs, as Smith remains a raconteur par excellence. He’s one of the few people I could listen to speak for four hours, only to jump back and listen to him again, thanks to a very folksy manner and a genuine sense of humor. The DVDs look and sound very good, though the extras are slim compared to most Smith productions. Fans of the Jersey Boy will absolutely want to check this one out, and likely own it, as there are quite a few spins one could get out of it.

On our latest episode of DVD Talk Radio, DVD Talk Editor Geoffrey Kleinman sits down at talks with Kevin Smith about the DVD Release for Clerks II and An Evening With Kevin Smith II – Evening Harder. Kevin Smith talks about his experience with Clerks 2, why he’s so passionate about connecting and communicating with his fans and critics, a top secret Showtime Series and DVD collecting. Listen to our interview with Kevin Smith using our Online DVD Talk Radio Player or Download the complete interview with Kevin Smith (37 min 27MB).

I am a “Manchild”

So it looks like I’m gonna be doing a TV pilot…

Hollywood Reporter “Manchild” story.

But, oddly enough, it’s not a show I’ve created; it’s a show I’ve simply been cast in. And, like anything in life, there’s a story behind it.

A few weeks back, Brent Morely – one of the agents at Endeavor – called to say “There’s this Showtime pilot I want to send you to take a look at, because I think you’d dig the sensibility.”

Every few months, scripts get sent my way from various studios looking for a rewrite or comedic punch-up, but I haven’t done one since “Coyote Ugly” – probably because, after all my work on that script, they hired a director who, naturally, wanted to bring his writer aboard the project, and almost all of my stuff got shit-canned. Generally, the scripts just sit on a pile near my desk for close to a year before they hit the trash – which isn’t a statement on the scripts themselves as much as as statement about my lack of interest in rewrite gigs.

When it hit the pile, the “Manchild” script caught my eye because a) the script was very slim, and b) the cover letter said nothing about rewriting. I was directed to read with an eye toward the role of “Paul”.

An acting gig? Were they kidding? I’m not an actor.

So while Jen was sitting on the bedroom couch reading a book with Harley, I sat on the other end of the couch and started leafing through the “Manchild” script, curious as to why anyone would think of me in conjunction with this show.

Then, I laughed. Out loud (or “LOL’ed” in the parlance of this medium).

Jen’s head immediately snapped up from the kid’s book and she stared at me, agog.

“Really?!” she asked, stupefied.
“It was a pretty funny line,” I explained.

Her reaction was based on the fact that I rarely laugh at anything on the page. Sure, I can split my sides at something like “Arrested Development” or the latest Carlin album (or “Borat”, I’m promised; I haven’t seen it yet); but when it comes to scripts, it’s rare that I react aloud at all (even at my own shit).

So I go back to reading, and within a few minutes, I laugh aloud again.

And again.

And again.

It was a truly funny script. And the part they’d earmarked for me to look at was a really funny character in a script full of funny stuff.

So I called Agent Brent back and said “I’d do this, sir. In a heartbeat.”

I met with the show creators, Robb and Mark Cullen (”Lucky” and “Heist”), as well as Darren Starr (show producer) and Stephen Gyllenhaal (show director and father of Jake) a few days later, found them all to be good guys, and suddenly, we were off and running.

We shoot the pilot in December, after I finish this other, two-day acting gig on a feature. If Showtime digs the pilot, we go to series two months or so after that. With twelve eps a season, it means I’m out of the directing game (which should please some folks) for only about four months out of the year.

I don’t know how Showtime will position the show (if they pick it up), but it’ll be a nice addition to their schedule alongside “Weeds”. It’s frank, crude, honest and funny: kinda like the flicks I do, if all the characters had high-paying jobs. While it’s based on the BBC show of the same name, from what I understand (never having seen the original), the Cullens kept the premise and title and re-built everything else. The original was compared to “Sex and the City”, so it makes sense that Darren is involved.

The only daunting aspect is that I’m surrounded by real, honest-to-goodness actors (James Purefoy, John Corbett, Paul Hipp). Thankfully, I got my first taste of acting beside real actors (the Silent Bob stuff barely counts) in “Catch & Release” (in theaters this January), so I’ve already got a bit of experience feeling inferior all the time (shit – I’ve got a lifetime of experience in that department, to be honest).

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, and be proud as punch to be involved with one really insightful and fucking funny show.

To say I never imagined something like this for myself is a gross understatement; this gig really, really comes out of the blue for me. But when someone hands you something as engaging and hysterical as the pilot for “Manchild” and says “We’d like you to be a part of it”… Jesus, saying no isn’t an option.

Hopefully, y’all will tune-in when (and if) we go on air.

So I’ve been getting some queries as to the first two slots of my top eight, and why they’re there.

“Fuck: A Fuckumentary” is this really fun and informative doc by Steve Anderson that examines the etymology of the word… well, “fuck”. It’s playing now in big cities across the country and worth a watch if you’ve ever wondered how we collectively settled on the term for myriad uses. Also worth a watch just to see venerable newsman Sam Donaldson extol the word’s virtues.

“Netherbeast Incorporated” is a flick that’s in post-production right now. I know very little about it (a teaser trailer is available here), except that my boy Mewes is in it, and he asked me to put it in my Top 8 to drum up some Friends for it, well in advance of its theatrical release. If you love Jason Mewes (and if you’re reading this, how the fuck could you not?), hit up”Netherbeast Incorporated” with a Friend Request.

Also not represented in my Top 8 (I don’t think they have a MySpace page) is a flick that’s currently in theaters which could use your support.

“Come Early Morning” is the directorial debut of Joey Lauren Adams – she who essayed the role of Alyssa in “Chasing Amy” – that’s been receiving some really strong reviews, thanks in no small part to Ashely Judd’s performance (and Joey’s assured directing). In a world in which male directors outnumber female directors by a massive margin, give “Morning” a look-see and help kickstart a much-deserving chick filmmaker’s career.

And while I’m on the subject of hawking shit…

Buy TALES FROM THE CLERKS right HERE! It’s nearly as heavy as a phonebook (so it’ll prop open doors nicely) and is as awesome as it is thick (unlike my cock).

Earl Hickey, before he discovered the concept of karma and reformed his wicked ways, didn’t always do the smartest things. So it wasn’t exactly inspired for him, along with his brother Randy and their friend Ralph, to form a band, seeing as how they weren’t all that talented. However, that didn’t really concern them, as all they really wanted to get out of it was sex from some random, local girls, and in that respect, the band was a success (though that doesn’t work out as well for Earl, who ends up sleeping with Ralph’s considerably older mother instead). Their first show was Phish Tahko’s one and only performance, until the day Earl decides to make amends to Tom, the old man they’d originally picked as their lead singer, only to kick him out. For one night only, the reunited Phish Tahko once again rocks the socks off the Crab Shack, as they do a less than memorable, but certainly energetic, version of The Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein.” And yes, we are aware — as we’re sure the Earl producers are — that, as an instrumental piece, “Frankenstein” requires no lead singer.

In other TV news, it’s getting harder to put off adding Showtime to your cable: Michael C. Hall’s Dexter has already been granted a Season 2, and now Variety reports that David Duchovny will start in an untitled drama pilot about a charming character named Hank Moody, “a novelist trying to raise a kid on his own while battling an addiction to sex and drugs.” (If only Charlie Sheen didn’t have Two and a Half Men…)

The premium cable network has also signed Kevin Smith to its pilot of the British import Manchild, a title I’d only heard of because it starred Buffy’s Anthony Stewart Head on the BBC. Smith will be joined in his make-believe midlife crisis by Sex and the City’s John Corbett and Rome’s James Purefoy. (This is where I second my editor’s first thoughts: “a) Can he act? There’s a reason he played a guy named Silent Bob, and b) Smith’s middle-aged enough to be facing a midlife crisis? Damn, we’re old.”)

DRE: Oh you weren’t planning on directing?

Joey: No, I was never one of those people that thought “What I really want to do is direct.” It just never occurred to me and other people took the script seriously and believe in it before I did. The script did turn out to be a somewhat personal story and I tried really hard to portray the South in a very real way and respect the people there instead of caricaturizing them. It became that I didn’t trust anyone else to direct it and they weren’t going to get the directors I wanted like Michael Apted or Bruce Beresford. The directors they were talking were people I’d never heard of. I wanted to pick the music; I wanted to pick the locations, I wanted to be there when they edit it and that’s what a director does. So for a little while I was going to do both until I came to my senses and realized I don’t know enough about directing to do both.

DRE: You’ve worked with some great directors who have done similar films like Richard Linklater and Kevin Smith. Did you learn anything about this type of film from working with them?

Joey: Yeah, they definitely made it look easy. Rick and Kevin are both so laid back. You don’t see them lose it much. Unfortunately I probably learned more from the bad directors; because when things are going well you don’t really question it. Whereas if you’ve been in your trailer for eight hours, you have a tendency to walk out on set and go, “What the fuck is going on?” Then you start looking at the shot list and thinking “Why did the director decide to shoot that? If he would have shot this and this and this we would have been out of here by now.” Also the bad directors think they know everything and having been an actress, I was aware of every department on a film so I know the language. I know the teamsters are really important, which they don’t teach you in film school, but if you mess with the teamsters you don’t get your generator. Since I was aware of what I didn’t know and where my weaknesses lay, I surrounded myself with really talented people and turned to them often and said, “What do I do now?”