• “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” gets its UK terrestrial premiere on BBC2 this Sunday (25 March) @ 11.15pm. As with all BBC programming – no ads & no edits!
• You can enjoy Joey Lauren Adam’s writing and directing debut, “Come Early Morning” in your living room NOW. The DVD for the film was released Tuesday, and should be available for sale online or at your local DVD store. The film was cited as a winner by critcs for Adams’ work behind and star Ashley Judd’s work in front of the camera.
• The BFI Lesbian and Gay Film Festival is showing Malcolm Ingram’s acclaimed View Askew-produced documentary “Small Town, Gay Bar”. You can catch it at the NFT Southbank in London on the dates March 31st (11:50) and April 4th (20:00). Prices are £8.60, concs £6.25 / matinee tickets for 16-18-year-olds £4.00.

• Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier return for another episode of the now NUMBER FIVE RANKED PODCAST ON THE NET (according to the mighty iTunes), SModcast! In just five episodes, this is quite a feat and one to be incredibly proud of. This is one podcast that’s certainly spreading across the globe, and rightfully so — The honest matter-of-factness these guys display week after week continues to entertain like no other ‘cast out there. A lot of folks keep asking us if the show will ever be used for View Askew type scoopage, stories and news — To that the answer is a “no” for MOST of the time, though you never know when the guys might drop in a hint of what’s to come, or tell a tale of Askew’s past, among all the other general random fun. That’s the beauty of the show.

The rundown for this week’s offering, which brings the ‘cast count to SIX:

SModcast continues to offer up the FREE entertainment week after week, available for instant download for anyone with an internet connection and the skills to find it over at Quick Stop Entertainment. Enjoy this once-again insightful, entertaining, and funny episode.

• The great Brandon Hardesty once again channels multiple roles in another spot-on View Askew re-enactment. The guy’s got some great acting chops to mimic these performances so well, as well as some dang close sound and editing work, to boot. Check out his take on a famous scene from “Clerks” over at the ‘Tube.
• What’s this? A new book? Cool! Amazon.com always sneaks pre-order info for books up WAY early, and this time’s no exception. They’ve got a page up for the new “My Boring Ass Life: The Uncensored Diary of Kevin Smith” with a September 25, 2007 release date on there. As always, wait for our own Stash to have copies of this, as Kevin will happily sign each and every one, we’re sure. And you know a book’s TONS better (and more collectible) once it’s signed by the author himself. We’ll have Stash pre-order info for ya as soon as it’s available. We’re guessing this is the book that will collect some of the best and most memorable blog postings.
• Want to do a friend of Askew a solid? Sophia Venable, wife of often-Askew composer Jim Venable, is currently participating in the “Dancing with the Stars” road trip, and WON the Los Angeles leg! As she continues on her quest to win the show, you can VOTE and watch videos of her performance HERE. Go watch Soph cut a rug and show some love with your votes!!

• Some specs and art have leaked for the DVD arrival of “Catch and Release”, set to arrive on the 8th of May. DVDActive has the scoop which reveals that the disc will be light on extras (just two audio commentaries) but both fullscreen and widescreen versions of the film. We’ll be shocked if Kevin’s not on at least one of the commentary tracks. Here’s the report:

Title: Catch & Release
Starring: Jennifer Garner
Released: 8th May 2007
SRP: $28.95

Further Details: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced romantic comedy Catch & Release which stars Jennifer Garner, Juliette Lewis, Kevin Smith, and Timothy Olyphant. The film will be available to own from the 8th May, and should retail at around $28.95. The disc will carry both anamorphic widescreen, and full screen presentations – along with English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround tracks. The only extra material will be two audio commentaries (participants to be confirmed) and preview trailers. A Blu-ray release will also be available for $38.96.

• Very cool news today — The makers of a new documentary on the impact and legacy of “Jaws” confirm that Kevin has filmed an interview for the project. This courtesy their official “The Shark is Still Working” site :

The doc is currently in the hands of Universal Pictures as they seek distribution. If you wanna see it, take a sec to sign the online petition. We’ll let you know if we hear more.

• Catch of clip of Kevin’s character at this Yahoo Movies page of clips for the new TMNT flick.
• Fans Thaahum and Mattt Potter have done some nice musical and video tributes to View Askew in the past. We want to throw a quick plug for them for Thaahum’s new song for the upcomming Adam Rifkin film, “Homo Erectus”. You can catch a trailer that Mattt cut to it that can be seen over at YouTube. Also learn more about Taahum on music site “Pulse Rated”. Congrats, guys.
• And here’s a fun one to end out the day — Bullz-eye.com is currently running a “Bad Ass” bracket, where one of the branches is matching Maximus (of “Gladitor”) against Kevin and Scott’s beloved Dalton in “Road House”. Sorry to say, it seems Dalton’s throat-ripping technique just doesn’t have it against Maximus, as he’s currently only holding 9% of the vote!

• According to his latest blog, Kevin loves this “short effin version” of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, which takes the film and cuts it down, basically, to the mother of all words (mostly uttered by Jay). Ironically, our favorite portions of this edit are the little extra bits (aside from that big F) that the editor sneaks in. Kevin says:

Watch for yourself via YouTube or Break.com.

• Is the “Reaper” pilot still happening? You betcha! Kevin has this brief statement to offer up from mid-week:

We’ll keep you posted on this exciting development, the first thing that Kevin’s directed (but not written!).

• Chris Rock’s “Inside the Actor’s Studio” airs tonight on Bravo — If you missed it, well worth the watch! Check your local listings for times, as this whole early daylight savings thing has us all frazzled.
• We got a late scoop today that Jeff Anderson was on the Playboy morning show on Sirius Satellite Radio again this morning. We haven’t heard from Jeff so we don’t know if this is a rerun on a new episode. If anyone has any further details, let us know.

• In addition to really disturbing clip Kevin posted up a link to in his latest blog, he also reveals that BOTH London Q&A sessions (April 3rd and 5th) have sold out. Thanks to all of the fans in London for being incredibly supportive. Congrats to all who snagged tix. We know you’ll all have a total blast on either (or both) nights. As we always say, buy early! Hope no one got left out in the cold on this one. If you’re attending, we certainly look forward to your reports next month. Drop us a line.

• Special correspondant Chris Graves tells us he’ll be checking in from time to time with some exclusive Q&A from some past members of the View Askewniverse. The first one he sent on is with Barret Hackney, who played the lead Stygian Triplet in “Dogma”. Check it out:

  
  AN INTERVIEW WITH BARRET HACKNEY

  BY CHRIS GRAVES

  1. For those who do not know, what is your background and how were you introduced to the world of View Askew and Kevin Smith?

  My name is Barret Hackney and I played the head stygian triplit in Dogma. I first met Kevin at the callback for the role.

  2. Any memorable moments during the filming of Dogma behind the scenes for you?

  One that sticks out for me is on the last day of filming in Asbury Park. The boardwalk scene that opens the movie was the last scene we shot. Anyway, we where ready to roll at 6 am and we had the boardwalk framed up for a wide shot and then an old man with a cain and a pipe wobbled on to the set. This AD went to go and tell the old man to move and when he asked him nicely to please move, the old man said “what the hell for?” and the AD said “we are filming a movie and you are in the shot”. The man raised up his cain and yelled “A movie! I don’t give a shit about a movie! I walk here every day, and I ain’t gonna stop for a damn movie!” Then we had to hold the filming for about 45 minutes until he wobbled out of frame. I thought that was funny.

  3. What were your thoughts of Kevin Smith as a director and the direction he was giving you?

  I hadn’t worked with too many high profile directors at that point of my life, but now that I’ve been a working actor for about twelve years I can say he was a great director. I thought he was laid back and professional at the same time. He knew how to relate to an actor and get what he wanted out of an actors’ character. He was always excited about his work and art, that in itself is inspiring to everyone around.

  4. Did you always want to be an actor? Any formal training?

  I’ve been dabbling in acting and modeling since I was five but I started to get paid for theater when I was sixteen. I have trained at Point Park University, Stone Street Studios ( New York University ) and the Stella Adler Studio ( New York University ).

  5. Do you still get recognized for your role in the film? And was it surreal being around celebrities, especially since Ben Affleck and Matt Damon had won their academy awards during the shoot?

  When the film first came out people would recognize me all the time, now if I meet someone they usually say “You look familiar, but I cant tell from where.” I was raised around alot of actors so I just look at actors, famous or not, as people doing there job, but it was a good learning experience to work with such accomplished actors.

  6. Did you get to know Jason Mewes during filming?

  Yep, Jason was a good guy. He seemed very committed to his role.

  7. What was it like working along side Jason Lee?

  Jason Lee was the man. He is one of my favorite actors and a really genuinely cool guy. He had a monologue that got cut from the film, but after he did it everyone’s jaw was on the floor, even the camera men! Everyone was so stunned that they rolled film for like a minute untill Jason looked up and laughed because no one had said cut.

  8. What was your reaction to the whole controversy the film gained? Was it scary after a while with all the death threats people involved with the film were getting?

  I think that was caused by ignorance so I didn’t pay much attention to all that nonsense. I do remember after the Pittsburgh Premier at the REX, we came out and there were about fifty catholic protesters outside the theater all knelt down not asking God to forgive us (forgiveness being a corner stone of Christianity) but asking God to damn us. I had to laugh because none of these people had even seen the movie.

  9. You were in the “Night Of The Living Dead” spin off “Children Of The Living Dead”. Anything interesting about that shoot?

  It’s a cheesy B movie but I did get to work with Tom Savini so that was cool.

  10. Do you have any new projects coming up?

  I have several, I played Dan in “The Screening”, a movie that was directed by Cameron Romero, George Romero’s son. I also played Joseph in “Smart People” with Dennis Quade and Sarah Jessica Parker. There is a trailer for an indi I starred in on Youtube under REX trailer, and I just got cast in the first TV series filmed entirely in Pittsburgh called “Kill Pit” to be aired on Spike TV.

  11. What is your favorite View Askew/Kevin Smith flick (Dogma excluded)?

  “Clerks”, because of the raw humor and the black and white kept the right context for the plot and dialogue. I think that film is amazingly funny and well done.

  12. And finally, do you still keep in contact with anyone from View Askew? And did yo stay in touch with your Stygian brothers?

  Not really, Kevin does most of his stuff on the west coast I think and I work on the east coast. I did go to View Askew in Redbank, NJ the summer after we shot Dogma and me and my brother got to hang out with Kevin while he edited Dogma.

  Major kudos to Chris for some good questions, and thanks to Barret for those great answers! Some stories we’ve never heard told before there, and that’s certainly saying something. Thanks, guys.