Capone: The clip from ZACK AND MIRI that Kevin just showed are the first scenes I’ve seen from it. Tell me a little bit about Miri. What kind of person is she?

EB: Well, that clip was from our 10-year high school reunion. She’s an orphan, an aimless loser orphan. She works at a kiosk in the mall. She doesn’t have a lot of ambition. She and Zack are kind of stoners, and they just hang out. They don’t aspire to have anything and they don’t have anything, because they don’t now what they’re missing, or they do but it’s too depressing to think about it. She’s a really regular, small-town person, and that’s all she ever needed to be. She basically just wants to get through life. And she’s in love with Zack, and he doesn’t know it.

Capone: This film smells a bit like a romance under all this flesh peddling.

EB: It’s very romantic. I mean, it’s uber-romantic, this movie. It’s what sold me on the movie. It’s why I can’t believe the MPAA is giving us so much shit, because really the movie has so much heart. Meanwhile SAW 2 is about people cutting off each other’s limbs and blood gushing everywhere is an R. We make this big, heartfelt movie where people happen to fuck each other, and we get an NC-17. I mean, we don’t even show dick. We’re not really showing any penis.

Want more? Hit up Aint It Cool for the entire interview with Capone.

The fantastic G4 TV Feed caught wind of the news as well and used it in their daily wrap up segment yesterday.

Definitely cool to see the AP story we ran picked up by Variety as well, where it was a top item in their daily e-mailing.

Just to clarify, while we stated that there were no FURTHER cuts, it was never implied that the earlier cuts made were for ratings reasons. Kevin typically makes time-related cuts to his films after watching them with an audience, and this was no exception. The first and only rating the film received when submitted was an NC-17, but this was after Kevin had already trimmed the film on his own. There were NO CUTS made in an effort to reduce the rating, so the “R” rated film we’ll see will be the same that Kevin intended, and the same one that was originally hit with that NC-17. Hope that makes sense.

How does it feel to be receiving a lifetime achievement award at the Downbeach Film Festival?

It makes me feel like I’m closer to the end than the beginning — that’s weird. It’s nice though, always nice to get an award in Jersey.

And how does that feel for you, as a writer and a director, to be branching out into different genres?

It’ll be kind of interesting, thrilling on some level, where it’s like, “Wow, I’m working without a net on this one,” because at least with the other flicks, I can always fall back into the comedy, but this one not so much. It’ll be an eye-opener for me, that’s for sure. Maybe I’ll walk out of it going, “Oh my God, I can’t direct horror to save my life.”

You can read the whole interview at their site, though keep in mind it pre-dates the “Zack And Miri” appeal screening, so some stuff in there is a bit dated.

Some gems from “Clerks II” arrive this week, including screen used posters, a beer bottle that’s very classic and visible, and a few more awesome cardboard Mooby props. These are running out, folks, so if you want a piece of Mooby’s history off the walls, bid soon. Also, another chance to grab one of the few remaining “Dogma” cast shirts — A true classic so rare that we never even got our grubby hands on one.

As always, bid carefully, as the stuff that shows up is almost always the only item of its kind. Don’t let that piece of View Askew history get away. We always love seeing true fans and News Askew readers owning this stuff – So get on over to Auctions Askew and stake your claim!

Lionsgate Entertainment has struck a deal with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment to release several of Disney’s TV titles on DVD, starting this Fall. Among their first few releases will be Reaper – Season 1. It arrives in stores on November 4th, as a 5-DVD set with 18 episodes, plus exclusive bonus material. Total running time on this release, timed to debut near the second season broadcast start on The CW Network, is listed as 800 minutes, with a price of $39.98 SRP. The show stars Bret Harrison (The Loop), Ray Wise (Twin Peaks) and Missy Peregrym (Heroes). Package art isn’t available yet, nor details on the bonus material, but stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated!

If we hear more details, we’ll let ya know, of course.