It’s about 10 past 5:00 on Saturday, November 2nd and an employee of the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY steps up to a microphone set up in the front of theatre 1. He pauses for a moment for the packed theatre to quiet before he makes his announcement. I hold my breath and brace myself to hear the words, ” Kevin Smith will not be able to be here tonight.” It takes me a second to realize this is not what he’s saying. Instead he is talking about the upcoming events at the theatre and I remember that this is Kevin Smith, not Jason Mewes we’re talking about here. I knew he’d never let us down (unlike Mewes). Meanwhile the announcer has finally gotten to tonight’s movie and is explaining that it is the first in a series the theatre will be presenting. The series is the “brain child” of N.Y. Times film critic Janet Maslin, and joins people in the film industry with some of their favorite films. Janet takes the mic to elaborate on the series and mentions that, among other people, Ben Affleck will be appearing at the Jacob Burns, date T.B.A.

Tonight we will be viewing A Man for All Seasons, one of Kevin Smith’s favorite movies, followed by a Q&A with Kevin. It was a little difficult sitting thru a movie that I have already seen, anticipating what was to come, but eventually I sat back and enjoyed the show. After all it is an excellent movie. I can see why Kevin would list it among his favorite films. By the way, the other four movies on Kevin’s top five list are: Do the Right Thing, Jaws, The last Temptation of Christ, and JFK.

Kevin wasn’t able to make it to the showing of the film, but arrived as it was ending and took a seat on stage with Janet. The two began to chat fairly casually about his favorite movies and the connections (or lack of) between those films and his own. They soon turned to the audience for questions encouraging the relaxed atmosphere. Kevin stayed for about an hour, answering questions and making us laugh, and laugh but then we had to clear the theatre for the next movie. A small crowd gathered around him as he tried to make his way out, but he didn’t go far. He actually stayed for almost another hour out on the sidewalk in front of the theatre signing autographs, answering questions and posing for pictures with everyone. Eventually the crowd dwindled, but he stayed and talked to every last person that approached him. He answered every last question, including all the “how do I get a part in one of your movies?” and “how do I break into the bizz?” questions, appearing less annoyed than I was that people still ask that stuff. And the worst questions of all, “Have you seen Mewes lately? Ugh! Finally, around 9:00 he and his wife, Jenn (who had arrived rather inconspicuously at some point) posed for one last picture together and then the two just walked away.

I am left completely in awe, I’m thinking: man, and I thought Brian O’Halloran was cool. Oh wait, Brian is very cool, but Kevin Smith is the man! He’s walking away and I just want to call out, “Thanks Kevin!” Thank you for making such incredible movies. Thank you for coming here tonight to hang with us. Thank you for being so freakin’ cool. Thank you. (My strong desire for Kevin, and everyone else, to not think I’m a psycho allows me to refrain from doing this, but just barely.) If anyone had any doubts about him (and I’ve read the boards) please take it from me that he is absolutely an amazing, genuine, and down to earth guy.

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Just wanted to let you know that Kevin was great last night.

It was an odd crowd however, half the audience was the normal saturday night crowd – pretentious film goers, Jacob Burns members etc…

The other half were Kevin Smith fans who were ready to see Kevin.

The woman I sat next to was actually twiddling (twiddling!) her thumbs! One girls’ question was: “Can I take a picture with you?” Another question was “On the topic of superheros… Is Batman your favorite super hero?”

Then there was Kevin himself – when he sat down on stage, he dropped his keys on the table which I thought was funny – did he drive himself up and get lost on the Saw Mill like I did?

His comments were fantastic about the film, which really is quite good. I especially love how he mixes in assf&$@ing and fart comments as part of a discussion about the finer points of filmmaking. His levity is why he is successful I think. I guess he wouldn’t be able to appear on Actors Studio any time soon with that potty mouth.

Thanks for the tip, I would have never found out otherwise!

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Just wanted to check in real quick. I was one of the MANY fans from here that got the chance to see a very cool movie and meet Kevin.

He was great, as usual. Jenn was there as well. I was just about to say hi to her when an elderly woman engaged her in conversation. I didn’t want to be rude.

Kevin talked a bit here & there about Jersey Girl. How great it looks and how well it’s coming along. You can tell that he’s really excited about this movie and how much in love with it he is. A girl in the audience spoke up about how she’s a 2nd year student at his former alma mater.

They talked about Man for All seasons, about how much Kevin enjoyed the film. Also that when he was about 13 he performed it with his class at Catholic school. Another person pointed out how they could see Dogma something like MFAS.

I can’t really remember much else. I’m still FLYING from him signing my comic. My friend who went with me took pics. He hasn’t sent them to me yet, but when he does, I’ll send them along if they are any good.