Are you intimidated by the fact that the Green Hornet movie is in your hands?

Absolutely. This is by far bigger and more expensive than any movie I’ve ever done. That’s definitely a little scary. Harvey Weinstein was great in kind of pushing me into that role. I didn’t want the job at first, thought it was way too much responsibility; just too much on my shoulders. Weinstein talked me into writing an outline for what my Hornet movie would be like, took one look at it and said this is exactly what we’re looking for. You’re doing the Green Hornet movie.

So Jason Lee is all set to play the next Fletch, right?

If I have my say, absolutely. Miramax is looking in another direction than that of Lee for the Fletch role but I’m hoping that “Green Hornet” does really well so then I can just say it’s Lee or nobody.

[FULL STORY]

KANSAS CITY STAR – “Puppies & Potty Mouths”

…”God willing, this will be Ben’s comeback picture. He’s certainly done a good job of deflating the whole ‘Gigli’ thing — like going on Leno and reading the film’s bad reviews out loud,” he said.

“I’ll always want to work with him. After five movies together he really knows how to deliver the dialogue I write. He’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met and he’s really smart. I cast him as my proxy … wishful thinking! If only I was that smart, funny and good looking.”

And if “Jersey Girl” tanks?

“I’ve gotten to this place where if they don’t like this one, they’ll like the next one. I’m pretty Zen about it.”

[FULL STORY]

FILM FEVER – Interview

So, no referencing the last five films in Green Hornet?

“No, I think there will be no Jay and Silent Bob in the next movie,” he said. “I’m going to put (Jason) Mewes (who plays Jay in Smith’s previous four films) in for sure. I told him this before I went out on the press tour. I told him, ‘Dude, I am putting you in the Green Hornet.’ He was like, ‘Í knew it, and you want me to play the Hornet.’ I know the lure of the familiar is calling him. April 6th will mark his one-year of being off of drugs. He has not drank at all and has been really clean, which is surely one of the signs of the apocalypse.”

…

“I just write Ben, and that’s it,” Smith said. “In Jersey Girl and the other four Smith films he has been in. Throw him in a movie running around trying to save the world and jumping off of buildings. That’s Ben jamming into a script not written for him.

“But me, I write for Ben. I write for his voice and write what goes on in real life. He is a really charming, warm, funny guy. You would like to hang out with him; he plays it really well because that is who he really is.”

[FULL STORY]