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.

Smith wins appeal for R rating for ‘Porno’

LOS ANGELES – Filmmaker Kevin Smith has won an appeal to lower the adults-only NC-17 rating for his comedy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” to an R rating.


Motion Picture Association of America spokeswoman Elizabeth Kaltman said Tuesday the rating was revised after the group’s appeals board viewed the movie.

The NC-17 rating would have prohibited anyone younger than 17 from seeing the movie. With an R rating, those under 17 can see it in the company of an adult.

“Zack and Miri,” due out Oct. 31 from the Weinstein Co., stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as best friends and roommates who try to make a homemade porn flick to dig themselves out of debt.

Congrats to Kevin, Scott, and the rest of the cast and crew on this victory — From what we’ve heard, the moments that they wanted to keep were great ones, and it’s fantastic news to hear that they’ll remain when the movie hits screens this October. Word has it that in appeal screenings, precedent can be cited, using similar “R”-rated movies as examples. No word yet on the tactics the guys employed to plead their case, but whatever the method, it’s the outcome we were all hoping to hear. “Zack And Miri Make a Porno”, rated R, in theaters everywhere October 31, 2008!

Capone: Talk about working with Elizabeth again. She’s such an underrated comic actress.

SR: I think so too. I think Kevin originally wrote the part of Rosario Dawson, and then she couldn’t do it for one reason or another. And I was kind of thrilled as soon as I heard that, and I said, “Hey, put Elizabeth Banks in it; she’s fucking hilarious.” No one has every put her in the big role in a big comedy, you know? And I thought that would be perfect for her. We’ve known each other for years, and there’s a lot of very awkward situations in the movie, and that’s very helpful when you really know the people. I know her husband; that helps [laughs].

Capone: It might not help him.

SR: Exactly. [laughs] But I think it turned out great. And there’s no one I would have rather done it with.

Capone: In just reading the one-line summary of what’s going on with ZACK AND MIRI, it combines two things that are very relevant and timely right now…

SR: Porn?

Capone: Amateur porn, for sure. And just people being broke. People are more broke than usual these days.

SR: Yeah, it’s true. Times are tough, gas prices, shit like that, especially…we were shooting in Pittsburgh, which economically is not doing that fantastically right now, and you could really see it. And it was cold as shit, so you think, “Wow, it sucks to be broke in L.A., I can imagine what it’s like in fucking Pittsburgh. It’s way worse. I knew eventually I would do a movie involving porn. [laughs]

Capone: This might be a stupid question, but is there a lot of nudity in it?

SR: Yeah, there’s nudity in it. Katie Morgan is in it. She doesn’t own clothes [laughs].

Check it out in full form over at Ain’t It Cool News! And of course, see Rogen on the big screen TOMORROW (Wednesday) in “Pineapple Express”. This interview covers everything from that film, to “Zack And Miri”, and well beyond.

SModcast 60: The Clone War


In which our heroes marvel over Pillow Babies, thwart an attack by Stalin’s man-apes, and face off over the love of a human Xerox.

Don’t miss SModcast, some of the very best entertainment the web has to offer, courtesy of View Askew Productions and our friends at cool stuff website ThinkGeek.

“Like Kevin Smith’s Clerks, Spaced captures perfectly where I was when I was in my mid-20s.”

The blog goes into detail on “Spaced” and its origins, and even reveals how a 3rd series of the popular program might have started. Worth reading, and of course DEFINITELY worth picking up a copy of from Laser Blazer online!

To celebrate this great day, Jay & SIlent Bob’s Secret Stash is having a BIG SALE! It’s not every day you can get discounts on some of the coolest swag on the web, so listen up — How about some select inaction figures for only THREE DOLLARS? Tons of tees at almost HALF PRICE? The Clerks II wristband marked down to just a DOLLAR?

Best of all, you can ALSO get these prices IN STORES – Ron from Laser Blazer tells us that he will indeed honor prices on all of these items, so if you’re on the west coast, the bargains get even better, as you don’t have to wait or incur any extra shipping cost. Stop into Stash West inside Laser Blazer and get all of the 38th Birthday sale stuff at these amazingly low prices.

Chat it up at the View Askew Forum and talk about the great deals you got. Nothing on the sale list costs more than 12 bucks! What a bargain. Also, a lot of this stuff may also be on clearance, and we probably won’t EVER get more. When they’re gone, that’s it. Buy ’em up now, don’t delay. They’ll never be priced lower and, more likely, never be available again.

There are also good bits on the current NC-17 rating and a few words on “Red State”. For those of you who follow the news here, none of this will be new information, but it’s still a very nice interview and well worth the read. Kevin does indeed confirm here that “Red State” is very close to acquiring funding, and that they WILL (if they have to) make snips to “Zack And Miri Make a Porno” to get that R-rating, depending on the results of next week’s Appeal screening. Here’s a couple snips:

Tell me about where you are with RED STATE.


KS: RED STATE, the Weinstein Company didn’t want to do it, didn’t want to finance it, which is the first flick we ever gave them that they didn’t want to finance. They were like, “We don’t get it.” It’s not strictly a horror film. It’s not an easy film to market. And it’s a challenging film, it’s a little different.


Capone: All I’ve heard about it is that it deals with fundamentalism.


KS: Yeah, yeah. So they passed on it, and I got it back. And then we went on to ZACK AND MIRI, so I hadn’t thought about it for a while. But once we got into post on ZACK AND MIRI, then I started getting back to work in terms of finding the money for RED STATE, and I think we’re getting very close to securing some independent financing for it.


Capone: Okay good. I’m hearing that you’ve currently got an NC-17 rating for ZACK AND MIRI from the MPAA after a couple of submission, and now you’re entering the appeal process. Where are you with that?


KS: I’ve seen some reports on it that make it out to be something more than it is. It’s just a simple case of …every time you make an R-rated comedy, chances are you’re going to butt up against what’s acceptable. So we knew going in chances were that they were going to flag he movie; it’s got the word PORNO in the title. So I submitted first cut–one hour, 45 minutes. And they said “This is NC-17,” and they gave me two specific areas to look at. I said okay, so I cut 12 minutes out of the movies, and that was after our first test screening, so most of that was stuff that was flat anyway, so I took that out. In that cut, we addressed their issues as well. We resubmitted it, and they said, “Well, you’re close but there are these two moments that you should focus on in terms of length.” One they wanted out completely–a 14-frame shot that they were like, “This can’t make it.” It wasn’t even a second long. And they were like, “Maybe you can work with the sounds in it or something.” So I did trims in the other section; there was a lot of thrusting they wanted taking out, and then the other section I worked with the sound, but left the shot in–it’s 14 frames, it’s not even a second! Let it run. They still said it was NC-17. I wasn’t frustrated, I wasn’t mad, I was just like “I feel like I’ve gone as far as I’m comfortable going; let’s take it to the next stage,” which is the appeals part of the process.


I’ve been through the appeals process before, once on CLERKS, where we got an NC-17, had an appeal screening, got it overturned to an R. And once on JERSEY GIRL, they gave us an R rating, and we tried working with them in terms of the cuts, but they felt that this conversation between Ben [Affleck] and Liv [Tyler] in the diner about masturbation, which was a really clinical conversation about it, was just beyond the pale for them. They felt it pushed into R-rated territory, which I found strange. So we said, let’s take it to the appeal part, had the appeals screening, did our dog-and-pony show where you get up and make your defense for the film, and the MPAA talked about why they feel it’s R. And they overturned that one without us having to make a cut. So that’s basically what we’re doing here. It’s not like it’s some great fight against censorship. I haven’t blogged about it, I’m not out there screaming “Oh my God, they’re violating my fucking civil liberties or my rights as an artist.” It’s just part of the process. And on August 4, we’ll screen again, I’ll show it to the appeals committee, I’ll get to make my case and cite precedent as to “These movies have done something similar.”


Capone: I’d heard that you were in the process of gathering your supporting material.


KS: We had to put together the examples. Because they used to not let you cite precedent; now you can. So we’ll do that, and the MPAA will make its case for why they think it is NC-17. And then the appeals committee will decide. You have to win by two-thirds majority, or something like that. But the simple fact is that if it doesn’t get the rating, if they still maintain an NC-17, then I’ve got to go in and take the notes, because contractually I have to deliver an R. And honestly, even if they were like, “Hey man, you can go out as an NC-17,” I just feel like it would set the movies up for disappointment because I don’t feel that it’s truly earned an NC-17. It feels like a hard R to me, but if I was going to see an NC-17 movie, I’d want to see something that I couldn’t see in an R-rated movie. But there’s nothing in this movie that I feel like is any further beyond he pale than I’ve seen in any other R-rated movie, even any other R-rated movie that we’ve done. But you know, sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t. With CLERKS II, I sweated that movie going to the MPAA because the donkey-fucking scene is going to get us an NC-17, and it didn’t. We submitted it, they gave it an R, and that was that. We got lucky then; this time, we didn’t get so lucky. Hopefully we’ll get the overturn, but if not, I’ll go in and trim until we get the R.

Check out the entire Capone/Kevin Smith interview over at Aint It Cool.