- The weekend’s over, as is the biggest Comic-Con of the year — Kevin was a major factor at the event this year, with the big breaking news of his involvement with the new “Heroes” spinoff, details on a new “Chasing Amy” DVD, major love for “Reaper”, and more. Here’s a complete rundown of all of the Kev-centric happenings from this weekend:
- NBC has been kind enough to post beautifully shot video of their “Heroes” panel from the con. About 4 minutes into part three, Kevin’s introduction begins. This is the first moment that the world learned that Kevin will direct the first episode of “Heroes: Origins”. This is the new show from the “Heroes” creators which will run next season, introducing NEW Heroes, one of which we’ll be able to vote into the regular cast. We’re hopeful that Kevin might be given the opportunity to write some or all of his installment, too, though we’ll have to wait and see what comes of that. The show will start airing in April, following “Heroes” season two. For still photos of the cast, check out Superhero Hype.
- Kevin mentioned a planned start date for January 2008 for “Zack and Miri Make A Porno”. This would allow him to film around the coldest time of the year to suit the film’s winter theme. A shooting locale has not yet been confirmed.
- Instead of forcing folks to re-buy “Chasing Amy” on DVD, Criterion will release a new supplemental disc containing the new Q&A and some other goodies. We thought this one was pretty major so we’ve got a full story for it just below this one.
- Nisha Gopalan from EW has been doing a post on each of her days at Comic Con; Kevin made his appearance in Friday’s recap :
The day ended with what is now a Comic-Con ritual, the panel hosted by geek god Kevin Smith. In the main conference hall, Smith screened the full pilot episode he directed of the upcoming TV series Reaper (airing this fall Tuesdays at 9pm on The CW), and then brought a few cast members and the show’s creators onto the stage — to watch Kevin Smith answer questions that had nothing to do with the (quite well-received) show. Practically all of it was absolutely hysterical — and completely unprintable on a family blog. Suffice it to say, the audience learned far, far more about the sexual escapades of Smith’s new daschunds than they ever could’ve expected.
- Phasekitty wrote an excellent blog post on Kevin’s Comic Con Q&A for the Team Sugar blog (they have the Pop Sugar, Geek Sugar, etc. sites). There’s a full review of the Reaper re-shoot along with a re-cap of the talk. She also has some nicely snapped pics from the show.
- How about a look at some other press from around the web that discussed Kevin’s appearances…Shall we?
Finally, don’t miss Kevin’s own post/wrapup that he just released today where he runs down more major press outlets who had great things to say about his appearance as well as the hilarious “Reaper” pilot. Wow, we gotta make it to this next year, as Kevin urges. If anyone’s got more to say, something we missed, photos, or stories, we’d love to hear them — Or, share them via our comment system for the world to see.
Archive for July 30th, 2007
“Chasing Amy X” DVD Details!
- One of the top questions here at News Askew has always been “When’s Chasing Amy X coming out on DVD?” This tenth anniversary set was something that we just assumed would arrive much like Mallrats X did, with a jam-packed edition including the film as well as that Q&A we watched them film at Vulgarthon LA, along with some other stuff. Well, we have the answer for ya now, sorta. Once again, View Askew is blazing the trail and looking out for the fans, by allowing us to get all that great NEW stuff without having to buy the film all over again (no “double dipping” here). We think that IGN said it best:
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During his panel at the San Diego Comic-Con, Kevin Smith confirmed that a supplementary DVD will be released next year for his 1997 Spirit Award winning Chasing Amy. To keep the style of special edition versions of his movie going, Smith’s opus will get a special edition treatment, but rather than being packaged into a new “collectors edition” DVD set, a single disc will be released that is set to include a slew of extras to act as a counterpart to the Criterion Collection DVD released in 2000.
Set to be included with the new disc is a Chasing Amy documentary found on the web, a post-screening Q and A from a film festival as well as interviews and reflections from the cast and crew of the film.
Smith said to expect this new disc to be available sometime next summer.
So, there’s your answer. We’re sorry to say you’ll need to wait another year to see this stuff, but we’re sure it will be worth it — Criterion doesn’t mess around when it comes to their DVD work, and neither do Kevin and View Askew. It’ll be here before ya know it. As for a dual-disc set, at this point nothing’s been announced, so it looks like you’ll need to buy them seperately (if for some crazy reason you don’t already own it). We’ll let you know as we hear more.
Kev & Jen Present: SModcast #22!
- We’re constantly entertained and thrilled by SModcast, easily one of the most cleverly-produced, fun podcasts in all the land. This week, Jen Schwalbach returns in Mr. Mosier’s absense, and we’re treated to another fascinating round of husband/wife dialogue that you just wouldn’t expect to be made public — Yet, these two take to the mic so naturally that you just feel like the third person in the room, listening in on their discussions on past partners, upcoming events, and, of course, the joys of the San Diego Comic-Con. Kevin writes it up as such:
SModcast 22: Schwalcast
The return of the distaff, in which our heroes talk about the likelihood of running into former intimates at ComiCon, the bending of the space/time continuum in an effort to bed a younger version of your spouse, why divorce is not an option, inappropriate hugging of the famous, Marion Ravenwood: gender traitor, shame-shorts, insecurities both founded and unfounded, middle-aged proms, the world wide hairshirt, and Shecky.
SModcast remains the exclusive offering of our own Quick Stop Entertainment. It also remains FREE. Get on over there and download it now — Or, set your iTunes or MP3 client of choice to subscribe, and be among the first to hear SModocast week after week. Enjoy!
View Askew NewsBites™
- Congrats to Matt Damon who was just honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ah, we still remember the days of his brief appearances in the MTV shorts and “Chasing Amy”. Good on ya, Matt, you’ve come a long way. Here’s hoping we see Damon back in a future View Askew project some day, too. In the meantime, catch his critically-acclaimed turn in The Bourne Ultimatum in theaters this weekend.
- A brief “Dogma” mention comes up in AOL’s list of “The 77 Most Unforgettable Movie Songs” :
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75. Alanis Morissette, ‘Uninvited’ (‘City of Angels,’ 1998) One year after Alanis penned this heavenly, Oscar-worthy song for a syrupy film about angels, she was cast as God in Kevin Smith’s brilliantly blasphemous ‘Dogma.’ Coincidence? — M. Tye Comer
- Moviehole gives “The Shark Is Still Working” (Kevin has a “narrated by” credit) four out of five stars in this DVD review.
- Kevin gets a mention in the July 29th Austin American-Statesman in a question about Askew alum Claire Forlani. This scan comes from that newspaper.
- CBS sportsline.com has this article about Prince’s love of basketball, with an alternate history if he had become a basketball player. It quotes Kevin telling the story of filming in Paisly Park from “Evening”:
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Kevin “Silent Bob” Smith spends a half-hour of his An Evening With Kevin Smith DVD spilling some of the secret life of Prince he learned while filming a documentary at Paisley Park. The chunky filmmaker was obsessed with the funky hitmaker’s fashion sense. Why all the Shakespearean getups and high heels?
One of Prince’s assistants assured Smith that Prince wears warm-ups and sneakers when he plays basketball. Nothing hand-made. Typical store-bought stuff. From Nordstrom’s.
Norstrom’s sells stuff in Prince’s size? Smith asks. Yes, the assistant explains — in the boys department. “That is so (effin’) cute!” Smith marvels.
- Jason Lee gets a bit of vindication for his Emmy snub in EW’s “Yay Emmys, Boo Emmys” list :
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BOO, EMMYS!
Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl) doesn’t make the cut
Where’s Jason Lee? I understand there are only [a few] nominees per category, but [Lee and Lauren Graham] are the leads of long-running shows who consistently do GREAT jobs. —Dio_K
The nominations stink this year…. Jason Lee is about a 100 times funnier than [Charlie] Sheen. No wonder the ratings for the Emmys has been dropping, they have no clue as to what is good TV. —Tisa
