Antony Teofilo: You don’t do a lot of film work these days, but you have come back several times to work with Kevin Smith. What brings you back to Kevin’s projects so consistently?

George Carlin: In this case, it’s the length and size of the part. When Kevin put me in DOGMA, he wrote that part with me in mind. He wrote this with me in mind, so it was a natural step.

AT: Is Bart Trinke a challenging character? Does that help in the decision making process?

GC: There’s just more to do for me here than I have had to do in other movie parts, there’s more to do emotionally. The character isn’t particularly challenging, but it’s engaging to me. This role requires some attention.

‘Jersey Girl’ is Ben’s second starring role with Liv; the pair played young lovers in the big-budget ‘Armageddon’ back in 1998 as relative newcomers with something to prove in the Hollywood studio arena. The two stars have gone on to some major action and fantasy franchise films, and working on the modest ‘Jersey Girl’ proved quite rewarding.

“Being an elf for three years [on ‘Lord of the Rings’], playing a girl from Jersey was fun for me,” says Liv.

‘Jersey Girl’ also marks Ben’s fifth collaboration with pal Kevin Smith. He starred in 1997’s ‘Chasing Amy’ alongside JOEY LAUREN ADAMS and JASON LEE, had smaller roles in ‘Mallrats’ and ‘Dogma,’ and parodied himself with buddy MATT DAMON in ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.’

“It’s exciting to work with Kevin so many times and to see him reach and break new ground,” says Ben. “In some ways there’s continuity to it, by the mere fact that Kevin and I have worked together several times before. But, in other ways it’s a brand-new experience. It’s like taking a trip to a place you’ve never been with an old friend.”

I can’t compare it [to ‘Dogma’,] says Smith. “It looks like Mel Gibson’s movie is going to be successful. He has the support of all the people who hated ‘Dogma.’ Bill Donahue of the Catholic League was so soundly adverse to our picture, whereas he’s backing Mel on this one, going ‘every good Catholic should see this film.'”

Smith emphasized during the interview that he’s not seen the film yet, but was basing his opinions on where all the media’s attention seemed to be focusing. “[Gibson’s] way into fetishizing the death of Christ,” says Smith. “I know it’s important. It ain’t Jesus unless he dies and comes back three days later. But I like my Jesus as the guy who says nice things and parted very simple platitudes to save the day.”

Smith also touched on the excessive violence of the film. “I’m not into the whole kind of like ‘He died on the cross and he was butchered by the f***ing Romans and the Jews.’ I don’t know. That’s kind of porn, isn’t it? Porn for the religious right?”