- Three nice shout-outs to Kevin in appear in the latest issue of UK movie mag “Total Film”. The article was addressing “30 Homages and Ripoffs”. Clerks, Clerks II, and J&SBSB all made the list for their awesome tributes to Star Wars and LOTR. Total Film loves us, so we’re sure they meant HOMAGE for all these. Check the scans above to see what they said.
- Sci-Fi wire reveals that the “Fanboys” release has actually been delayed to allow the addition of Kevin’s cameo. Here’s more:
Chris Marquette, who co-stars in the upcoming Star Wars-themed comedy Fanboys, told SCI FI Wire that the movie has been delayed to add a cameo with Kevin Smith and sound effects from the Star Wars films, which were authorized by George Lucas himself after he saw an early cut and approved. The homage to Star Wars fans now has an Aug. 17 release date.
“They showed it to so many people involved in Star Wars that we’ve gone back several times with additional scenes,” Marquette said in an interview while promoting his latest film, The Invisible. “Like, Kevin Smith had seen it, and [he] came in and was like, ‘Oh, man. I love it.’ So they let him write and direct one of his own scenes in it. So they added that in.” Smith is a well-known fan of Star Wars, having included allusions to the franchise in his films for years.
As for Star Wars creator Lucas, Marquette said that the post-production process was extended to incorporate new sound and special effects with the blessing of Lucas himself. (Principal photography was completed last year.) “George Lucas saw it and loved it and gave us all the sound effects for the original Star Wars movie,” Marquette said. “So they went back in and put in all these sound effects and everything and some cool special effects. It’s like everybody’s that seen it that’s sort of loved it has attached themselves in a way to make the movie better.”
In Fanboys, Marquette plays one of four guys who drive cross-country to Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch to fulfill a friend’s dying wish to see an advance screening of Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace. “It’s cool,” Marquette said. “It’s like a wacky comedy that’s got a really nice undertone of, like, friendship. It’s like a road-trip movie. It’s really nice, though. It was me, and they hired three other guys who are just insanely talented and really funny. So they just let us [have] sort of like a free-for-all improv, in a way.”
- An independent filmmaker – Gavin Booth, of Windsor Ontario Canada, has set out to meet his twelve idols. Bet you can guess who made the list — That’s right, Kevin! Visit his site for the details. Gavin’s goal is to meet each of the people on his list and personally thank them, as well as try to obtain some career advice.
- We’d like to toss some pluggage in the direction of a couple of new projects from the great JM Kenny, who you know from his outstanding work on several of Kevin’s best DVDs. JM’s got a couple free web-based shows that he’s working on, and if you know the quality of his work, you know these will both be worth your time — The first show is called “Hooked”. It appears on www.toyotafishing.com. It’s a 15 episode reality show following 5 of BASS fishing’s top anglers. The second show is entitled “Waiting2BDiscovered”. It’s a 15 episode show following a young Hip Hop artist who is trying to get signed. His name is Jonah. This show airs on www.livevideo.com and can also be accessed through www.waiting2Bdiscovered.com. Show JM some love and check out these free new programs — The guy’s been doing great work for View Askew for years.
- And finally today, in the weird news department — The Prince Charles Cinema in London evidently now has a toliet stall named in “honor” (or is that “honour”?) of Kevin. This comes in response to a joking complaint Kevin made during an appearance there where he said, “I don’t know, Quentin Tarantino has never turned up here and they name the bar after him, it’s my second visit and they haven’t even named a toilet after me”.
