Clerks II's Recent Activity

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Title: Clerks II
Year: 2006
Director: Kevin Smith
Plot: You can take the clerks out of the Quick Stop, but you just can't take the Quick Stop out of the clerks as Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randall (Jeff Anderson) prove in this long-awaited sequel to Kevin Smith's breakthrough comedy. Years after we last saw them, Dante is still toiling behind the counter at a New Jersey convenience store and Randall is still annoying customers at the video shop next door -- or at least they are until a fire burns down the strip mall, forcing Dante and Randall to look for work. Times are tough, and the guys find themselves embracing the ultimate indignity as they take jobs at Mooby's, a fast-food outlet where the burgers are advertised as "udderly delicious." While Randall's snarky attitude toward the public remains unchanged, Dante is trying to make the best of the situation as he plans to marry his fiancée, Emma (Jennifer Schwalbach Smith), and move to Florida. However, Dante's plans are complicated when he falls for Becky (Rosario Dawson), a funny and tart-tongued woman who happens to be his boss at Mooby's. Lurking about in the background, as always, are Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith), who for good or ill have changed even less with the passage of time than Dante and Randall. Clerks II also features Wanda Sykes, Ethan Suplee, and Trevor Fehrman, with cameo appearances from Kevin Smith regulars Ben Affleck and Jason Lee. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 45
Number of Lists: 47
Number of blog posts: 14
Number of discussion threads: 3
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Sun, 22 Feb 2009 12:38:32 GMTClerks II2006Kevin SmithYou can take the clerks out of the Quick Stop, but you just can't take the Quick Stop out of the clerks as Dante (<a href="/players/P___200557/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Brian O'Halloran</a>) and Randall (<a href="/players/P___198624/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Jeff Anderson</a>) prove in this long-awaited sequel to <a href="/players/P___111916/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Kevin Smith</a>'s breakthrough comedy. Years after we last saw them, Dante is still toiling behind the counter at a New Jersey convenience store and Randall is still annoying customers at the video shop next door -- or at least they are until a fire burns down the strip mall, forcing Dante and Randall to look for work. Times are tough, and the guys find themselves embracing the ultimate indignity as they take jobs at Mooby's, a fast-food outlet where the burgers are advertised as "udderly delicious." While Randall's snarky attitude toward the public remains unchanged, Dante is trying to make the best of the situation as he plans to marry his fiancée, Emma (Jennifer Schwalbach Smith), and move to Florida. However, Dante's plans are complicated when he falls for Becky (<a href="/players/P___199028/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Rosario Dawson</a>), a funny and tart-tongued woman who happens to be his boss at Mooby's. Lurking about in the background, as always, are Jay (<a href="/players/P___200477/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Jason Mewes</a>) and Silent Bob (<a href="/players/P___111916/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Kevin Smith</a>), who for good or ill have changed even less with the passage of time than Dante and Randall. Clerks II also features <a href="/players/P___282981/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Wanda Sykes</a>, <a href="/players/P___200839/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Ethan Suplee</a>, and Trevor Fehrman, with cameo appearances from <a href="/players/P___111916/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Kevin Smith</a> regulars <a href="/players/P______426/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Ben Affleck</a> and <a href="/players/P___215686/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Jason Lee</a>. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide45Tag Target (>10)471433http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/u12564o472t.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Clerks_II/252883/default.aspxFilm Spout Post: Movie Journal: Clerks, Clerks 2 and Mallrats http://www.spout.com/blogs/christhilk/archive/2008/11/7/37099.aspx

Post By: ChrisThilk
Post To: ChrisThilk Blog
Post Date: 11/7/2008 10:01:28 PM
Body: I decided, prior to the release of Zack and Miri Make a Porno (which I’ve yet to see) to watch a few Kevin Smith flicks. But instead of doing them in the usual order (chronological by release) I decided to just watch both Clerks and Clerks 2 and then, because I had just been talking about it with FilmCouch’s Paul Moore, Mallrats. Can’t say as I got much new out of them, though this was also, I think, the first time I’d watched both Clerks movies back-to-back for some reason. Originally posted on:Chris Thilk
]]>Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:01:28 GMTChrisThilkChrisThilk Blog11/7/2008 10:01:28 PMI decided, prior to the release of Zack and Miri Make a Porno (which I’ve yet to see) to watch a few Kevin Smith flicks. But instead of doing them in the usual order (chronological by release) I decided to just watch both Clerks and Clerks 2 and then, because I had just been talking about it with FilmCouch’s Paul Moore, Mallrats. Can’t say as I got much new out of them, though this was also, I think, the first time I’d watched both Clerks movies back-to-back for some reason. Originally posted on:Chris Thilk Spout Post: Zack & Miri: A comedy with some balls http://www.spout.com/blogs/usesoap/archive/2008/11/3/36920.aspx

Post By: usesoap
Post To: usesoap Blog
Post Date: 11/3/2008 9:43:48 PM
Body: Kevin Smith has a right to be pretty bitter right now. For years, he's been blending raunch and romance with equal measure, to middling box office results. From his grungy little breakthrough, “Clerks,” in 1994, to the polished “Chasing Amy” to the not-as-bad-as-it's-rumored-to-be “Jersey Girl,” Smith has never shied from the messy sexual side of relationships in dialogue that some of the closest couples dare not discuss. Meanwhile, writer/director Judd Apatow snuck into the kingdom and stole the crown, basically covering the very same turf in films such as “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” Yet again, sex and sentimentality collide with generally hilarious, heartfelt results in his latest “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” which takes the standard romantic comedy and tarts it up with g-strings, thigh highs and body glitter. Apatow mainstay Seth Rogan plays Zack and “W.'s” Elizabeth Banks is his platonic roommate Miri, two 20-something slackers who are reminded at their 10-year high school reunion just how little they have to offer the world a decade after their departure. And if the hysterical humiliations they suffer during the reunion don't drive the point home to them, then the return to their dingy Monroeville, Pennsylvania apartment – where the heat, electricity and water have just been shut off – should do the trick. In an act of desperation they embark on the eponymous mission (in a plot very similar to last year's Jeff Bridges film, “The Amateurs”) in order to cough up the cash needed to keep them off the streets. As typical of a Kevin Smith comedy, the film comes from a very personal place and it's not long before the smut is swept up in sentimentality. Just as “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” was really a travelogue of his brush with mainstream Hollywood, “Zack and Miri” (as it's been advertised for our prurient television audiences) is Smith's love letter to making movies. It just happens that the movies in this feature typically end with a money shot. But just as Smith assembled the cast of “Clerks” with his pals from his Jersey neighborhood, Zack and Miri enlist a number of participants from their inner circle to help bring their bump-and-grind opus to life. Included in the cast are Smith standbys Jason Mewes (who boldly pulls a full monty and who always brings the funny) and original “Clerk” Jeff Anderson. Smith also has the smarts to include scene-stealing “Office” mate Craig Robinson, rehabbed porn princess Traci Lords and Katie Morgan, who you may remember from such memorable turns in “Big Bottom Sadie,” “Whore of the Rings” and “Busty Beauties 20” (and about 200 other similarly titled films...if you care to “research” them). Smith also nabbed Justin Long, another go-to laugh-getter, whose cameo in the film will forever erase any annoying Mac ad image you may have of him. It will come as little surprise that our two leads become romantically involved when called upon to perform their climactic scene (meant in every sense of the word). And the final act of the film deals with the awkwardness that can follow that moment where friends decide to take their relationship one step further (normally, though, it's not done in front of a handful of onlookers and a rolling video camera... unless you're a Hilton). And this is where Smith – and Apatow, and John Hughes, for that matter – typically falter. For the male leads, there are plenty of bulls-eye masculine observations, while leaving the women with very little room to move outside their scripted confines. It's not that Banks does not try, she radiates much the same way Rosario Dawson did in “Clerks II.” But Smith's more comfortable giving his gals equally foul-mouthed dialogue that makes them “just one of the guys,” and then turning them into jealous emotional Jello when more complex matters arise. The entire plot itself is based nowhere close to reality, even given the current Warhol-intuited “15 minutes of fame” culture in which we live, and Miri just seems way too together to fall for such a slovenly mess such as Zack, much less agree to let herself be filmed having sex with him to be mass marketed. And honestly, with porn so easily accessible online, do they really think their little homegrown DVD is going to be their financial salvation? But those minor grievances aside, “Zack and Miri” has just enough cheer to overcome its more flaccid moments. And if he can enlist a female writer for his next feature that could solidify his lady characters of his next film, Smith may be able to not only satisfy his audience throughout, but also provide them with, appropriately, a happy ending.
]]>Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:43:48 GMTusesoapusesoap Blog11/3/2008 9:43:48 PMKevin Smith has a right to be pretty bitter right now. For years, he's been blending raunch and romance with equal measure, to middling box office results. From his grungy little breakthrough, “Clerks,” in 1994, to the polished “Chasing Amy” to the not-as-bad-as-it's-rumored-to-be “Jersey Girl,” Smith has never shied from the messy sexual side of relationships in dialogue that some of the closest couples dare not discuss. Meanwhile, writer/director Judd Apatow snuck into the kingdom and stole the crown, basically covering the very same turf in films such as “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” Yet again, sex and sentimentality collide with generally hilarious, heartfelt results in his latest “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” which takes the standard romantic comedy and tarts it up with g-strings, thigh highs and body glitter. Apatow mainstay Seth Rogan plays Zack and “W.'s” Elizabeth Banks is his platonic roommate Miri, two 20-something slackers who are reminded at their 10-year high school reunion just how little they have to offer the world a decade after their departure. And if the hysterical humiliations they suffer during the reunion don't drive the point home to them, then the return to their dingy Monroeville, Pennsylvania apartment – where the heat, electricity and water have just been shut off – should do the trick. In an act of desperation they embark on the eponymous mission (in a plot very similar to last year's Jeff Bridges film, “The Amateurs”) in order to cough up the cash needed to keep them off the streets. As typical of a Kevin Smith comedy, the film comes from a very personal place and it's not long before the smut is swept up in sentimentality. Just as “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” was really a travelogue of his brush with mainstream Hollywood, “Zack and Miri” (as it's been advertised for our prurient television audiences) is Smith's love letter to making movies. It just happens that the movies in this feature typically end with a money shot. But just as Smith assembled the cast of “Clerks” with his pals from his Jersey neighborhood, Zack and Miri enlist a number of participants from their inner circle to help bring their bump-and-grind opus to life. Included in the cast are Smith standbys Jason Mewes (who boldly pulls a full monty and who always brings the funny) and original “Clerk” Jeff Anderson. Smith also has the smarts to include scene-stealing “Office” mate Craig Robinson, rehabbed porn princess Traci Lords and Katie Morgan, who you may remember from such memorable turns in “Big Bottom Sadie,” “Whore of the Rings” and “Busty Beauties 20” (and about 200 other similarly titled films...if you care to “research” them). Smith also nabbed Justin Long, another go-to laugh-getter, whose cameo in the film will forever erase any annoying Mac ad image you may have of him. It will come as little surprise that our two leads become romantically involved when called upon to perform their climactic scene (meant in every sense of the word). And the final act of the film deals with the awkwardness that can follow that moment where friends decide to take their relationship one step further (normally, though, it's not done in front of a handful of onlookers and a rolling video camera... unless you're a Hilton). And this is where Smith – and Apatow, and John Hughes, for that matter – typically falter. For the male leads, there are plenty of bulls-eye masculine observations, while leaving the women with very little room to move outside their scripted confines. It's not that Banks does not try, she radiates much the same way Rosario Dawson did in “Clerks II.” But Smith's more comfortable giving his gals equally foul-mouthed dialogue that makes them “just one of the guys,” and then turning them into jealous emotional Jello when more complex matters arise. The entire plot itself is based nowhere close to reality, even given the current Warhol-intuited “15 minutes of fame” culture in which we live, and Miri just seems way too together to fall for such a slovenly mess such as Zack, much less agree to let herself be filmed having sex with him to be mass marketed. And honestly, with porn so easily accessible online, do they really think their little homegrown DVD is going to be their financial salvation? But those minor grievances aside, “Zack and Miri” has just enough cheer to overcome its more flaccid moments. And if he can enlist a female writer for his next feature that could solidify his lady characters of his next film, Smith may be able to not only satisfy his audience throughout, but also provide them with, appropriately, a happy ending. Spout Post: Porno, Not Sex. Clip of the Day http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/10/15/36372.aspx

Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 10/15/2008 6:00:41 PM
Body: Seth Rogen & Elizabeth Banks In “This Is Not Sex” Directed By Tony Kaye from Mean Magazine on Vimeo. It’s a tired gag, but filmmaker Tony Kaye (American History X) has fun with the “it’s not what you think” shtick and manages to make it work better than normal. However, whether it’s actually thanks to him or to the ever-lovable Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen is unclear. What is clear, at least, is that this promotional video for Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno is probably too good for the feature film it’s linked to. Kaye is the one who should be releasing his eighth movie, while Smith should be the one making experimental non-commercials for him. The other thing I have to say about any promotional materials for Zack and Miri is this: more Darryl Robinson! That man is comedy gold, and while the poo in the toilet joke in the trailers is funny, it’s mostly Robinson’s bits that have me interested in this movie. And I hate the idea of wanting to see another Kevin Smith flick after Clerks II, so for anyone to make this seem appealing to me is worth his weight in gold. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:00:41 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com10/15/2008 6:00:41 PM Seth Rogen & Elizabeth Banks In “This Is Not Sex” Directed By Tony Kaye from Mean Magazine on Vimeo. It’s a tired gag, but filmmaker Tony Kaye (American History X) has fun with the “it’s not what you think” shtick and manages to make it work better than normal. However, whether it’s actually thanks to him or to the ever-lovable Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen is unclear. What is clear, at least, is that this promotional video for Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno is probably too good for the feature film it’s linked to. Kaye is the one who should be releasing his eighth movie, while Smith should be the one making experimental non-commercials for him. The other thing I have to say about any promotional materials for Zack and Miri is this: more Darryl Robinson! That man is comedy gold, and while the poo in the toilet joke in the trailers is funny, it’s mostly Robinson’s bits that have me interested in this movie. And I hate the idea of wanting to see another Kevin Smith flick after Clerks II, so for anyone to make this seem appealing to me is worth his weight in gold. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog Spout Post: Kevin Smith Interview, Zack & Miri Make a Porno, Fantastic Fest 2008 http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/21/35347.aspx

Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/21/2008 3:01:06 PM
Body: Kevin Smith has directed his most emotional film with a decidedly non-emotional title with Zack & Miri Make A Porno. Rife with penis and poop jokes, it’s not really a departure from his entire Askew-niverse, but the film does hit some emotional chords that Smith had only really hit before in Chasing Amy. Granted, I wasn’t a big fan of Clerks 2 (although I loved the original), but I found myself really liking Zack & Miri. In our in-depth interview, Kevin Smith talks about Jason Mewes’ penis and Ben Affleck’s reaction to it, dealing with the MPAA’s obsession with poop, and how this movie came together. He also talks a bit about his next project, Red State. Don your flak vests and kevlar helmets, because there’s quite a few f-bombs in here, as well as a slew of spoilers from Zack & Miri. How’s it going? It’s going well, sir, it’s going well. Did you come straight here from Toronto, or did you get to go home for awhile? No. After Toronto I went to Jersey, and we were based out of Jersey for about a week. I had things to do at the latest screening in Westchester for Janet Maslin and her theater group, and then I went to the IFP, Independent Film Week for the 15th anniversary for Clerks and a keynote. Then I did a Q&A, a college gig at South Carolina last night, and I got on a plane and came here. So, tomorrow I get to go home for the first time in two weeks. I’m really looking forward to it. So, did you get to see the movie yet? I did, I saw it yesterday in a press screening. Right on, thank you. How did it play with the small group? It was really small, like ten people. Harry Knowles seemed to love it. Did he? Right on! I mean when you see him laughing you’re like, “Oh, you know that’s going to be five more exclamation points in the header.” [laughs] It’s always frightening when you have a screening of a comedy for a very small group, because laughter is kind of infectious. When you’ve got 300 people laughing, people who were maybe on the fence who don’t like it will be more kind to it. They’re inclined to be more kind, because “Obviously, I’m missing something.” But if you get a small group and nobody is laughing, your all unified frontward, just like, “This sucks!” I’ve never sat through it with a full audience. I mean I guess I did at the test screenings, but I didn’t sit; I just kind of skulked in the back. At Toronto I just popped in for the key sequences. I’m like if the reunion sequence works, then the rest of the movie is going to work. If I ever get nervous I pop in on the first porno, and if that works I feel good. And then I’m like, “I got to see how the love story plays,” so I go back for their love-making scene, and then I check out until the end. This is probably your most emotional film. I mean it’s close to Chasing Amy, because that had some emotional moments, but this one was like this had like naked, open emotion in it. Was that the hardest part of it for you, or the porno part the hardest part? The porno part was definitely the hardest. The naked emotion stuff, I feel like we had in Chasing Amy, I feel like even in the last movie Clerks 2 they’re sitting between Dante and Randal in the jail scene, which is just emotionally devastating. You watch one dude who’s always confident, always a wise ass, like laid bare. That to me is like devastating, because that’s a dude completely unguarded. So doing a version, not a version of that, but doing a girl-boy type emotion that lay bare, that was easy. Shooting fake sex––that was definitely something I wasn’t ready for. Mercifully, the first scene we shot was Lester and Stacy, was Mewes and Katie Morgan. You couldn’t ask for two better people in the scene, your first sex scene to kick it off with. Because you have one person who sprang forth from the womb pretending to fuck everything in the room anyway, and you have someone else who’s day job is the adult film industry, and nothing you ask her to do in your movie will ever compare to like the lightest day in her day job so to speak. So I felt like I was in good hands. So I cleared the set, and just talked to those two for about 15 minutes, and we kind of mapped out everything. I was always like, “Is everyone comfortable with this?” They’re looking at me like, “What, are you insane? Of course we’re comfortable with this.” So once we got into it, it was fun and weird. You felt like you were really directing porn, because from the vantage point of the monitor he could have been in her for all we knew. I knew he wasn’t, but it just looked convincing. Yeah. Everyone was just kind of standing around and not like, “This is fucked up, isn’t it?” and like everyone is just kind of concentrating on their jobs. It just seemed like a porno set for some reason. So it kind of worked out, but that was the one I was most nervous about going into. Well, Jay in Clerks 2, he’s got that Silence of the Lambs scene. He looks pretty heroin thin and everything, and now he looks all buff. [laughs] Yeah. Did he buff up for this movie, or is that just what he looks like? I think that’s kind of what he looks like. What, you don’t see him naked all the time? I’ve seen that dude’s dick, more than I’ve seen my own to be honest with you. And in this movie, that’s the biggest I’ve ever seen his dick. Because in real life, it’s an average dick. When we were shooting that sequence and he comes out that door, like he was hanging low! I was just like, “Did Mewes sneak a prosthetic onto the set, because that doesn’t look like Mewes…” Maybe he got fluffed backstage or something. He was fluffing himself, sir. He was fucking tugging furiously. Although he’s fond of saying, “That wasn’t on its way up; I was on its way down,” and I was like, “I don’t want to know about that.” I had it confirmed too by Affleck. Affleck came over the house to watch the movie. He hadn’t read the script or anything, so he kind of went in fresh. The third thing he said about it after it was done, he was like “You realize Mewes was one pump away from being totally hard.” I was like, “Right!” He said, “Because his dick has never been that big.” I said, “I realize that.” I don’t know if it’s frightening that you guys know that much about Jason’s dick. It’s a sad commentary really, because either it means that he is way too comfortable in exposing himself, or that my gut is so big I haven’t seen my dick in years. So I’m just more familiar with his dick than my own by this point. Did he have to work on his porn faces? He nailed those. Dude, he has been that guy forever. In many ways even more so than Jay, in Jay and Silent Bob, he was born to play this role. It caters to all of his shrines: cluelessness, sweetness, utter filth and raunchy, pretend fucking. It was just so right up his alley. Yeah, it seems like he could pick up the porn and the business tomorrow if he needed to. Totally. So, you put Jeff Anderson in this film. How did that happen? Was that sort of natural? Did you always want to put him in, or did you just think “Hey, let’s stick Jeff in this role”? When I was writing it I was like, “I’m going to write this role, the Deacon role for Jeff,” just because I love working with Jeff. I thought he did a bang up on job on Clerks 2, but I just wanted to have him for the next flick as well. I was worried when I gave him the script that he would be like, “I don’t know, it’s kind of a small part comparatively,” but he was so elated to like not have to carry the movie. He was just like, “It’s going to be fun to just kick back and watch somebody else carry the movie, and just come in when I need to come in.” So, it kind of worked out. Yeah, he was good in that. I was reading in the notes how you were kind of really jazzed when Seth Rogen wanted to do this, and you hand delivered the script to his house, which you’d never done before. Then by a weird chain of events he had turned out to be a huge fan of yours, having grown up quoting Clerks and everything. Yeah, yeah. Could you imagine making this with someone else? I mean he seems to sell this film, him and Elizabeth both. Yeah, but him even more so than Elizabeth, because it was written expressly for him. At one point the Weinstein Company was just like, “What if he says no, who’s your backup?” I was like, “I have no backup. This is the only guy who can play this role. Let’s not let any negative thinking into this process. Let’s just all hope that he’s going to say yes, and do the right thing,” because he was the guy. I had been working on this idea about a movie set on the outskirts of the porn industry since ‘96, since we wrapped Chasing Amy. It’s gone through various permutations, but it wasn’t until I saw him in 40 Year Old Virgin that I was just like, “I’ve got to work with that guy. That guy is amazing! He sounds like one of my characters, ” and suddenly I was like, “Oh, my God! He’s the guy!” Then I built it around the notion of having him in the movie. So without him there is no Zach & Miri Make a Porno. Me, him and that flick are very tied together. I think if he’s said no I probably wouldn’t have made it, I’d have just made Red State instead. He said he brought in Elizabeth Banks, he suggested Justin Long, but you and Justin had been in Live Free Or Die Hard together. We did Die Hard together. Did that kind of happen because of Seth’s suggestion, or did you guys kind of know each other after working on it? I knew Justin after working with him, because we spent a week together on that flick, but never…the dude didn’t cross my mind for some reason when we were figuring out who to play Brandon. And Seth was just like, “What about Justin Long?” And I was like, “Oh, my god, yes. Justin Long.” I had a lot of moments like that. He brought in Craig Robinson, who played Delaney. Oh, yeah, he was great in this. Because I had written it for this dude Earthquake, who was in Clerks 2. And Seth was like, “That guy’s very funny, but I just worked with Craig Robinson on Pineapple Express and he was fantastic.” He’s just like, “Let him come in and read. If he sucks, don’t worry about it.” And he came in and he just kind of knocked it out of the park, so boom, he was there. Banks was––it was written originally for Rosario Dawson. I wanted Rosario to play Miri. But she wound up taking this role in Eagle Eye and the dates didn’t work any more, so she was committed to that. I couldn’t blame her, it’s a fucking Spielberg movie with Shia LaBeouf and whatnot, so why not? But we were going to be shooting in the fall and she could have done it, but then when we moved into January and March, she was committed to that, so it was all over. We were at ground zero and we started looking at actors’ availabilities of all the agencies to see who was going to be free from January to March. We narrowed it down to six possible names of chicks who might be interested in doing this movie. Because the material’s not for everybody. I’m sure we would get a lot of “no’s” is we went out into the world with it. So Banks alphabetically was at the top of the list. Seth comes over and we’re talking about a bunch of other stuff, and I was like, “Let’s talk about possible Miris. I’ve got a list here.” And he was like, “Elisabeth Banks is your first choice. She would be my first choice too. She’s amazing.” And I didn’t have the heart to tell him that alphabetically she was first. [laughs] But he was just like, “Oh my god, she was so good in 40 Year Old Virgin, and she made it so far in the Knocked Up auditions.” She was almost the chick in Knocked Up. So he was going, “I vote for Banks.” And I like her in Invincible, I like her in everything I’d seen her in. So I said, “Let me just see her whenever.” She came over to the house, read the script, and then we sat talking for like two hours, and I was like, “You are so it. The movie’s yours if you want to do it.” And thank god, because she’s hands down the best actress I’ve ever worked with. She really…I mean Miri kind of is the emotional sign and grounds the movie and makes it very real, makes it plausible for some reason. And she pulls it off is all. Because Banks is that good of an actress and that good of good of a comedienne on top of it. The whole process with the MPAA, with submitting it multiple times for approval, going through the approval process, did you guys originally submit like a really nasty cut thinking, “All right, we can cut it down based on we’ll put more in and they’ll ask for certain cuts…” Ow! You all right, man? Ow, ow, ow. Crap. My calf. Those are no fun. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Think happy thoughts. Charlie horse. Oh, those are not fun. No. Bad one, bad one, bad one. Ow! Ow, ow, ow. OK, it’s going now. Holy shit, that hurts. Oh, shit. Ow, ow, ow, ow. OK. Ow. I’m glad it’s not a seizure. That’d be weird. It’s like, “I’m going to have to shove something in Kevin Smith’s mouth, or he’ll just bite his own tongue off.” Hold on, just let it work itself out. Oh, shit. No, take your time. That’s one of those things where you really feel your age. Yeah. Oh, shit. Come on. Come on. I would just like to see what it looks like inside. I don’t even know what causes that. It’s like blood gets starved to one area or something? It literally feels like the muscle gets inverted around the bone. Like it feels like it shifts into a place it shouldn’t be. It’s some kind of weird muscle spasm, I guess. It usually happens to me in my sleep. I wake up in fucking agony. In pain like that? Oh, yeah. I think it’s about gone now. I’m sorry, what were we talking about? The whole MPAA thing. Did you guys submit harder cuts? What we did was we didn’t submit something where I was like, “Let’s give them the worst and see what happens.” We had an hour and forty five minute cut of the movie and we had just test screened it in Kansas City. We had a great test screening and scored really well. So I said, there’s stuff in the movie with now having seen it with 300 people at once, I hear is just not as good as the other stuff. Ow. Oh, shit, dude. Ow. It’s a bad day for the Smith calves. Hold on. Yeah, man, just the one. Let me just stretch it. Oh, shit. So I submitted the hour and forty five cut that we had test screened, knowing that I was going to take out at least 10 minutes, probably 12. So I said listen to this, that way if there is any problem, chances are I’m going to be addressing with the cuts I make anyway. At the very least I’ll be able to turn in another cut in three days, and they’ll think I did a massive amount of work on it. So we submitted the 1:45, and they immediately said it was a NC 17. So we waited a few days and submitted the shorter cut, which I think was 12 minutes shorter. And they said, “Wow, you’ve done a lot of great work, but there’s still the two scenes that you need to focus on. One is the first porno sequence with Lester and Stacey. And the other is the shit shot. The shit shot is never going to play in a R rated movie. It’s not going to work in an R rated movie.” And I was like, “Well, I’ve seen it play with an audience and I’m really hesitant to lose it. I just can’t. I’m married to the shot. It works like crazy.” And I’ve seen shit in other movies, so it’s not like it’s without precedent. And they were like, “Maybe you can work with some of the other elements involved. Like maybe if you bring the sound down on it. Maybe the sound is the problem.” And I’m like, “Really? It’s the egregious visual of shit hitting somebody’s face? Fake movie shit?” But I felt like I was on good ground, because it’s not even a second long. It’s 14 frames. And I felt like I think I can win this fight. So I did what they suggested, I submitted a version with the sound turned down and they were like, “No, no. It’s still not working.” And at that point I was like, “Look. Let’s just go to the appeals part of the process.” And they were totally content to do it. I put everything into the movie. I submitted like the perfect version of the movie for me. Like, this is everything I want. Because I’m like, if we’re going to get this second bite of the apple, let’s do it. If we win, let’s make sure it’s the movie that we really want out there. So they did the appeals process and they flipped it without us having to make any cuts. So it was kind of delightful, but still like a process that you didn’t really want to go through in the first place. No. Not that many times at least. No. And it’s not even the frequency or how many times we had to do it, it’s just like it’s kind of embarrassing. You don’t want to go out there in the world and be like, you know, they have a problem with the movie. You just don’t want to send anything out there in the world. It’s tough enough to open up a movie. It’s tough enough to make sure you’ve got good buzz and not bad buzz. And then deal with the reviews when they come out and shit like that. All that stuff’s difficult. Making a movie, all that stuff. But it’s a necessary part of the process. This part of the process, not really. Not everyone goes through it. In fact, after we won I said to Joan Graves, the woman that heads up the MPAA––who’s really lovely and I was very friendly with. I said, “Do you have another one of these today?” And she’s like, “We do maybe––maybe––10 of these a year.” 10 appeals? Yeah. And I’m like, “Really? It doesn’t happen that much?” And she’s like, “No, most people just do the cuts.” Wow. But I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t go for it. It’s worth it. At the very least, what are they going to do? Uphold the rating you already have? And the very most you could flip it, without having to cut anything. I was always shocked though, they focused on two things and I was just like, “Really? That?” The sex scene to me––and I argued it when I was doing the appeal thing––it’s just so cartoonish. It’s like a caricature of sex. It’s a caricature of a caricature of sex, because it’s porno sex. Porno sex is over the top to begin with. I don’t know anybody that does 26 positions in 10 minutes. But in order to make fun of it or lampoon it, you have to be bigger. But still, it was very much a cartoon and not meant to titillate. Clearly it was meant to draw laughs out of people. And the shit shot to me was so brief and clearly it’s movie shit and not real shit. To me it’s like, “Yeah it’s a gross out gag and maybe it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s not egregious, it’s not like this thing you have to protect children from.” The things that I thought they would hit us with, were there’s a shot in the strip club where one of the strippers, you flat out see the labia, man. Yeah, I did notice that. And if you look really closely, and I have because I have it on the Avid and I got frame by frame, you see a little bit of brown eye in there. That’s what Seth said. And I’m like, yeah, it’s definitely there. And I felt like that would be the thing that they would harp on. And because of that, when we were shooting it, we shot I think five takes of completely nude, and before that Scott Mosier was like, “I don’t know if we’re going to get this through. There are flat out pussy lips all over the shot.” And I was like, “All right. Let’s grab one of here in a G string. So we had that in our back pocket in case the MPAA came down on it. The other shot I thought that they could have tagged was Jason’s cock shot. Not because it’s just a shot of a dick, but that dick is so close to being fucking erect, it could very well be considered hard… What about the scrotum shot? That too. Are those really his balls? Those are his balls. Wow. But it’s backlit so you can’t see anything else. You don’t see a ring piece or anything. But I felt like that was the moment we could have gotten in trouble for. Because the rule is any erect penis will get you an NC 17. And I look at his cock in that shot, and I’m like I have had sex with a dick that engorged. Not all the way hard but almost there. [laughs] Right. If you’re going for a second or third round or something like that and you’re like, “I ain’t got much left, but I’ll try to work with this.” So to me, that’s classified as an erection, but they didn’t see it that way. I’m not saying the should rethink it by any stretch of the imagination, but if I was a member of the MPAA, those are the two things I would have went after. And I think if I was a member of the MPAA, I would have won the shit shot argument. Because when I stood up to defend the shit shot, I referenced other movies that had shit moments, like Trainspotting, where they ripped the sheet. Or American Pie 3, where Stiffler eats dogshit. And then I referenced Jackass with the fart helmet, where… Oh, yeah, that’s real shit. It’s real shit in that funnel! You can see it. And I said, “If they have real shit and the get an R, how come fake shit gets an NC 17?” But if I was Joan Graves I would have turned around and been like, “None of those shots you mentioned is in the midst of a sex act.” And that’s kind of what like sets our shot apart, but they just didn’t, for some reason, zero in on why it was questionable. Because it’s not just that it’s a simple shit shot. It’s coming from somewhere and it’s a sex act. So I think I could have won that one if I was on their side. We talked to Peter Sollett, who directed Nick and Norah in Toronto, and there’s a scene in his movie… have you seen his movie? Not yet. This actress is drunk, she drops her gum in the toilet. I heard about it. He said that was a pain in the ass dealing with the MPAA on that. Really, they brought that up? Yeah. They wanted to scale back and not see it, and just see her hand go out of frame. He said that whole process was a pain. They don’t tell you what to do, but they will make suggestions to work around things. That’s interesting. And on the shit shot they were like, “Look, just cut the shot, and be on somebody’s face and hear the sound. And then when you’re outside and you see him caked I shit, the audience will know what happened.” But I’m like, “It’s 14 frames, man.” 14 frames and it works like crazy. I don’t want to lose it. I know you’ve been busy with this movie, but have you had any time to see any of the summer films this summer, or see anything? I’m sure you saw Dark Knight. Yeah. I’ve seen mostly all the summer films. There are only two that I want to see that I didn’t get to see yet, and that was Wanted and Hancock. But I saw pretty much everything else. It was a good summer, man. It was bookended by wonderful comic book movies. Iron Man was great and then Dark Knight was great. Although it was weird, did you see that quote from Robert Downey, Jr. when he was talking about Dark Knight? Yeah. I mean, I’m certainly nobody’s career counselor, but I couldn’t believe that that dude said that. Because it’s like he came back in a big way with Iron Man, and everyone remembered how much they love Robert Downey, Jr. He knocked that role out of the park. He was sublime. Dark Knight comes out a couple of months later and it is universally beloved. Everyone takes it very personally, everyone defends that movie, everybody loves it, it did killer business, it may be one of the perfect Hollywood movies. One of the most perfect Hollywood movies ever made. It appeals to a bunch of different people on a bunch of different levels without being saccharine or sophomoric. It’s dark; it’s a bleak fucking picture. I never in a million years, even if I hated Dark Knight, I would not be the guy going online being like––or in any interview setting––being like, “I don’t like Dark Knight. Fuck Dark Knight.” Because, man, they would all turn on me so fucking quickly. So when I saw him make that quote I was just like, oh my god, dude. You’ve got to be very, very ballsy to say that. He was. It’s was a weird thing for him to say, but it doesn’t seem to have affected him. You mentioned Red State would have been your next film if this had not been. Are you on to that already now, or is that going to be next? We’re trying. The script’s done, and it’s been done for a year or more. Finding money for it has been fucking difficult. Bob and Harvey didn’t want to do it, so that kind of opened us to go out and raise financing. But it’s been tough. I get it. It’s not a very commercial film. It’s very bleak. It makes Dark Knight look like Strawberry Shortcake. There’s nobody to root for. Everyone dies. It just a series of bad choices made based on questionable morality throughout the film. No character for an audience member to latch onto. Right. So I get it. If it does any business at all it would be because it played well at festivals. It’s a total festival film. But if it had a little water cooler buzz coming out of the festival, maybe it does. I get why people aren’t racing to flip open their checkbooks. And I figure sooner or later the money will come. For some reason, the lack of confidence… financial confidence from anybody has just served to make me feel like I’m on the right track. Because these are cats that are like, hey, if I wanted to make a comedy, everyone would pony up but I get it. I’m working outside my comfort zone. I’m working in a genre that I’m certainly not proven in by any stretch of the imagination. With material that doesn’t lend itself to a Saw type opening or anything like that. So I can completely understand why people would be hesitant to cough up and for some reason it only makes me more confident that it’s the right thing to do next. It must make you want to do it more, to be out of the comfort zone. You’re pretty safe with the films you’ve been doing, then you try something totally different to stretch your legs. Most days I’ve never felt like a filmmaker. I just feel like a guy who writes movies and happens to direct what he writes. If I could make that movie and pull it off, like I would feel like maybe I am a filmmaker. But if it doesn’t work I’m just as content to go, “OK, I’m the dick and fart joke guy, and I’ll go back to doing that. But it’s worth a shot, you know? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:01:06 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/21/2008 3:01:06 PM Kevin Smith has directed his most emotional film with a decidedly non-emotional title with Zack & Miri Make A Porno. Rife with penis and poop jokes, it’s not really a departure from his entire Askew-niverse, but the film does hit some emotional chords that Smith had only really hit before in Chasing Amy. Granted, I wasn’t a big fan of Clerks 2 (although I loved the original), but I found myself really liking Zack & Miri. In our in-depth interview, Kevin Smith talks about Jason Mewes’ penis and Ben Affleck’s reaction to it, dealing with the MPAA’s obsession with poop, and how this movie came together. He also talks a bit about his next project, Red State. Don your flak vests and kevlar helmets, because there’s quite a few f-bombs in here, as well as a slew of spoilers from Zack & Miri. How’s it going? It’s going well, sir, it’s going well. Did you come straight here from Toronto, or did you get to go home for awhile? No. After Toronto I went to Jersey, and we were based out of Jersey for about a week. I had things to do at the latest screening in Westchester for Janet Maslin and her theater group, and then I went to the IFP, Independent Film Week for the 15th anniversary for Clerks and a keynote. Then I did a Q&A, a college gig at South Carolina last night, and I got on a plane and came here. So, tomorrow I get to go home for the first time in two weeks. I’m really looking forward to it. So, did you get to see the movie yet? I did, I saw it yesterday in a press screening. Right on, thank you. How did it play with the small group? It was really small, like ten people. Harry Knowles seemed to love it. Did he? Right on! I mean when you see him laughing you’re like, “Oh, you know that’s going to be five more exclamation points in the header.” [laughs] It’s always frightening when you have a screening of a comedy for a very small group, because laughter is kind of infectious. When you’ve got 300 people laughing, people who were maybe on the fence who don’t like it will be more kind to it. They’re inclined to be more kind, because “Obviously, I’m missing something.” But if you get a small group and nobody is laughing, your all unified frontward, just like, “This sucks!” I’ve never sat through it with a full audience. I mean I guess I did at the test screenings, but I didn’t sit; I just kind of skulked in the back. At Toronto I just popped in for the key sequences. I’m like if the reunion sequence works, then the rest of the movie is going to work. If I ever get nervous I pop in on the first porno, and if that works I feel good. And then I’m like, “I got to see how the love story plays,” so I go back for their love-making scene, and then I check out until the end. This is probably your most emotional film. I mean it’s close to Chasing Amy, because that had some emotional moments, but this one was like this had like naked, open emotion in it. Was that the hardest part of it for you, or the porno part the hardest part? The porno part was definitely the hardest. The naked emotion stuff, I feel like we had in Chasing Amy, I feel like even in the last movie Clerks 2 they’re sitting between Dante and Randal in the jail scene, which is just emotionally devastating. You watch one dude who’s always confident, always a wise ass, like laid bare. That to me is like devastating, because that’s a dude completely unguarded. So doing a version, not a version of that, but doing a girl-boy type emotion that lay bare, that was easy. Shooting fake sex––that was definitely something I wasn’t ready for. Mercifully, the first scene we shot was Lester and Stacy, was Mewes and Katie Morgan. You couldn’t ask for two better people in the scene, your first sex scene to kick it off with. Because you have one person who sprang forth from the womb pretending to fuck everything in the room anyway, and you have someone else who’s day job is the adult film industry, and nothing you ask her to do in your movie will ever compare to like the lightest day in her day job so to speak. So I felt like I was in good hands. So I cleared the set, and just talked to those two for about 15 minutes, and we kind of mapped out everything. I was always like, “Is everyone comfortable with this?” They’re looking at me like, “What, are you insane? Of course we’re comfortable with this.” So once we got into it, it was fun and weird. You felt like you were really directing porn, because from the vantage point of the monitor he could have been in her for all we knew. I knew he wasn’t, but it just looked convincing. Yeah. Everyone was just kind of standing around and not like, “This is fucked up, isn’t it?” and like everyone is just kind of concentrating on their jobs. It just seemed like a porno set for some reason. So it kind of worked out, but that was the one I was most nervous about going into. Well, Jay in Clerks 2, he’s got that Silence of the Lambs scene. He looks pretty heroin thin and everything, and now he looks all buff. [laughs] Yeah. Did he buff up for this movie, or is that just what he looks like? I think that’s kind of what he looks like. What, you don’t see him naked all the time? I’ve seen that dude’s dick, more than I’ve seen my own to be honest with you. And in this movie, that’s the biggest I’ve ever seen his dick. Because in real life, it’s an average dick. When we were shooting that sequence and he comes out that door, like he was hanging low! I was just like, “Did Mewes sneak a prosthetic onto the set, because that doesn’t look like Mewes…” Maybe he got fluffed backstage or something. He was fluffing himself, sir. He was fucking tugging furiously. Although he’s fond of saying, “That wasn’t on its way up; I was on its way down,” and I was like, “I don’t want to know about that.” I had it confirmed too by Affleck. Affleck came over the house to watch the movie. He hadn’t read the script or anything, so he kind of went in fresh. The third thing he said about it after it was done, he was like “You realize Mewes was one pump away from being totally hard.” I was like, “Right!” He said, “Because his dick has never been that big.” I said, “I realize that.” I don’t know if it’s frightening that you guys know that much about Jason’s dick. It’s a sad commentary really, because either it means that he is way too comfortable in exposing himself, or that my gut is so big I haven’t seen my dick in years. So I’m just more familiar with his dick than my own by this point. Did he have to work on his porn faces? He nailed those. Dude, he has been that guy forever. In many ways even more so than Jay, in Jay and Silent Bob, he was born to play this role. It caters to all of his shrines: cluelessness, sweetness, utter filth and raunchy, pretend fucking. It was just so right up his alley. Yeah, it seems like he could pick up the porn and the business tomorrow if he needed to. Totally. So, you put Jeff Anderson in this film. How did that happen? Was that sort of natural? Did you always want to put him in, or did you just think “Hey, let’s stick Jeff in this role”? When I was writing it I was like, “I’m going to write this role, the Deacon role for Jeff,” just because I love working with Jeff. I thought he did a bang up on job on Clerks 2, but I just wanted to have him for the next flick as well. I was worried when I gave him the script that he would be like, “I don’t know, it’s kind of a small part comparatively,” but he was so elated to like not have to carry the movie. He was just like, “It’s going to be fun to just kick back and watch somebody else carry the movie, and just come in when I need to come in.” So, it kind of worked out. Yeah, he was good in that. I was reading in the notes how you were kind of really jazzed when Seth Rogen wanted to do this, and you hand delivered the script to his house, which you’d never done before. Then by a weird chain of events he had turned out to be a huge fan of yours, having grown up quoting Clerks and everything. Yeah, yeah. Could you imagine making this with someone else? I mean he seems to sell this film, him and Elizabeth both. Yeah, but him even more so than Elizabeth, because it was written expressly for him. At one point the Weinstein Company was just like, “What if he says no, who’s your backup?” I was like, “I have no backup. This is the only guy who can play this role. Let’s not let any negative thinking into this process. Let’s just all hope that he’s going to say yes, and do the right thing,” because he was the guy. I had been working on this idea about a movie set on the outskirts of the porn industry since ‘96, since we wrapped Chasing Amy. It’s gone through various permutations, but it wasn’t until I saw him in 40 Year Old Virgin that I was just like, “I’ve got to work with that guy. That guy is amazing! He sounds like one of my characters, ” and suddenly I was like, “Oh, my God! He’s the guy!” Then I built it around the notion of having him in the movie. So without him there is no Zach & Miri Make a Porno. Me, him and that flick are very tied together. I think if he’s said no I probably wouldn’t have made it, I’d have just made Red State instead. He said he brought in Elizabeth Banks, he suggested Justin Long, but you and Justin had been in Live Free Or Die Hard together. We did Die Hard together. Did that kind of happen because of Seth’s suggestion, or did you guys kind of know each other after working on it? I knew Justin after working with him, because we spent a week together on that flick, but never…the dude didn’t cross my mind for some reason when we were figuring out who to play Brandon. And Seth was just like, “What about Justin Long?” And I was like, “Oh, my god, yes. Justin Long.” I had a lot of moments like that. He brought in Craig Robinson, who played Delaney. Oh, yeah, he was great in this. Because I had written it for this dude Earthquake, who was in Clerks 2. And Seth was like, “That guy’s very funny, but I just worked with Craig Robinson on Pineapple Express and he was fantastic.” He’s just like, “Let him come in and read. If he sucks, don’t worry about it.” And he came in and he just kind of knocked it out of the park, so boom, he was there. Banks was––it was written originally for Rosario Dawson. I wanted Rosario to play Miri. But she wound up taking this role in Eagle Eye and the dates didn’t work any more, so she was committed to that. I couldn’t blame her, it’s a fucking Spielberg movie with Shia LaBeouf and whatnot, so why not? But we were going to be shooting in the fall and she could have done it, but then when we moved into January and March, she was committed to that, so it was all over. We were at ground zero and we started looking at actors’ availabilities of all the agencies to see who was going to be free from January to March. We narrowed it down to six possible names of chicks who might be interested in doing this movie. Because the material’s not for everybody. I’m sure we would get a lot of “no’s” is we went out into the world with it. So Banks alphabetically was at the top of the list. Seth comes over and we’re talking about a bunch of other stuff, and I was like, “Let’s talk about possible Miris. I’ve got a list here.” And he was like, “Elisabeth Banks is your first choice. She would be my first choice too. She’s amazing.” And I didn’t have the heart to tell him that alphabetically she was first. [laughs] But he was just like, “Oh my god, she was so good in 40 Year Old Virgin, and she made it so far in the Knocked Up auditions.” She was almost the chick in Knocked Up. So he was going, “I vote for Banks.” And I like her in Invincible, I like her in everything I’d seen her in. So I said, “Let me just see her whenever.” She came over to the house, read the script, and then we sat talking for like two hours, and I was like, “You are so it. The movie’s yours if you want to do it.” And thank god, because she’s hands down the best actress I’ve ever worked with. She really…I mean Miri kind of is the emotional sign and grounds the movie and makes it very real, makes it plausible for some reason. And she pulls it off is all. Because Banks is that good of an actress and that good of good of a comedienne on top of it. The whole process with the MPAA, with submitting it multiple times for approval, going through the approval process, did you guys originally submit like a really nasty cut thinking, “All right, we can cut it down based on we’ll put more in and they’ll ask for certain cuts…” Ow! You all right, man? Ow, ow, ow. Crap. My calf. Those are no fun. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Think happy thoughts. Charlie horse. Oh, those are not fun. No. Bad one, bad one, bad one. Ow! Ow, ow, ow. OK, it’s going now. Holy shit, that hurts. Oh, shit. Ow, ow, ow, ow. OK. Ow. I’m glad it’s not a seizure. That’d be weird. It’s like, “I’m going to have to shove something in Kevin Smith’s mouth, or he’ll just bite his own tongue off.” Hold on, just let it work itself out. Oh, shit. No, take your time. That’s one of those things where you really feel your age. Yeah. Oh, shit. Come on. Come on. I would just like to see what it looks like inside. I don’t even know what causes that. It’s like blood gets starved to one area or something? It literally feels like the muscle gets inverted around the bone. Like it feels like it shifts into a place it shouldn’t be. It’s some kind of weird muscle spasm, I guess. It usually happens to me in my sleep. I wake up in fucking agony. In pain like that? Oh, yeah. I think it’s about gone now. I’m sorry, what were we talking about? The whole MPAA thing. Did you guys submit harder cuts? What we did was we didn’t submit something where I was like, “Let’s give them the worst and see what happens.” We had an hour and forty five minute cut of the movie and we had just test screened it in Kansas City. We had a great test screening and scored really well. So I said, there’s stuff in the movie with now having seen it with 300 people at once, I hear is just not as good as the other stuff. Ow. Oh, shit, dude. Ow. It’s a bad day for the Smith calves. Hold on. Yeah, man, just the one. Let me just stretch it. Oh, shit. So I submitted the hour and forty five cut that we had test screened, knowing that I was going to take out at least 10 minutes, probably 12. So I said listen to this, that way if there is any problem, chances are I’m going to be addressing with the cuts I make anyway. At the very least I’ll be able to turn in another cut in three days, and they’ll think I did a massive amount of work on it. So we submitted the 1:45, and they immediately said it was a NC 17. So we waited a few days and submitted the shorter cut, which I think was 12 minutes shorter. And they said, “Wow, you’ve done a lot of great work, but there’s still the two scenes that you need to focus on. One is the first porno sequence with Lester and Stacey. And the other is the shit shot. The shit shot is never going to play in a R rated movie. It’s not going to work in an R rated movie.” And I was like, “Well, I’ve seen it play with an audience and I’m really hesitant to lose it. I just can’t. I’m married to the shot. It works like crazy.” And I’ve seen shit in other movies, so it’s not like it’s without precedent. And they were like, “Maybe you can work with some of the other elements involved. Like maybe if you bring the sound down on it. Maybe the sound is the problem.” And I’m like, “Really? It’s the egregious visual of shit hitting somebody’s face? Fake movie shit?” But I felt like I was on good ground, because it’s not even a second long. It’s 14 frames. And I felt like I think I can win this fight. So I did what they suggested, I submitted a version with the sound turned down and they were like, “No, no. It’s still not working.” And at that point I was like, “Look. Let’s just go to the appeals part of the process.” And they were totally content to do it. I put everything into the movie. I submitted like the perfect version of the movie for me. Like, this is everything I want. Because I’m like, if we’re going to get this second bite of the apple, let’s do it. If we win, let’s make sure it’s the movie that we really want out there. So they did the appeals process and they flipped it without us having to make any cuts. So it was kind of delightful, but still like a process that you didn’t really want to go through in the first place. No. Not that many times at least. No. And it’s not even the frequency or how many times we had to do it, it’s just like it’s kind of embarrassing. You don’t want to go out there in the world and be like, you know, they have a problem with the movie. You just don’t want to send anything out there in the world. It’s tough enough to open up a movie. It’s tough enough to make sure you’ve got good buzz and not bad buzz. And then deal with the reviews when they come out and shit like that. All that stuff’s difficult. Making a movie, all that stuff. But it’s a necessary part of the process. This part of the process, not really. Not everyone goes through it. In fact, after we won I said to Joan Graves, the woman that heads up the MPAA––who’s really lovely and I was very friendly with. I said, “Do you have another one of these today?” And she’s like, “We do maybe––maybe––10 of these a year.” 10 appeals? Yeah. And I’m like, “Really? It doesn’t happen that much?” And she’s like, “No, most people just do the cuts.” Wow. But I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t go for it. It’s worth it. At the very least, what are they going to do? Uphold the rating you already have? And the very most you could flip it, without having to cut anything. I was always shocked though, they focused on two things and I was just like, “Really? That?” The sex scene to me––and I argued it when I was doing the appeal thing––it’s just so cartoonish. It’s like a caricature of sex. It’s a caricature of a caricature of sex, because it’s porno sex. Porno sex is over the top to begin with. I don’t know anybody that does 26 positions in 10 minutes. But in order to make fun of it or lampoon it, you have to be bigger. But still, it was very much a cartoon and not meant to titillate. Clearly it was meant to draw laughs out of people. And the shit shot to me was so brief and clearly it’s movie shit and not real shit. To me it’s like, “Yeah it’s a gross out gag and maybe it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s not egregious, it’s not like this thing you have to protect children from.” The things that I thought they would hit us with, were there’s a shot in the strip club where one of the strippers, you flat out see the labia, man. Yeah, I did notice that. And if you look really closely, and I have because I have it on the Avid and I got frame by frame, you see a little bit of brown eye in there. That’s what Seth said. And I’m like, yeah, it’s definitely there. And I felt like that would be the thing that they would harp on. And because of that, when we were shooting it, we shot I think five takes of completely nude, and before that Scott Mosier was like, “I don’t know if we’re going to get this through. There are flat out pussy lips all over the shot.” And I was like, “All right. Let’s grab one of here in a G string. So we had that in our back pocket in case the MPAA came down on it. The other shot I thought that they could have tagged was Jason’s cock shot. Not because it’s just a shot of a dick, but that dick is so close to being fucking erect, it could very well be considered hard… What about the scrotum shot? That too. Are those really his balls? Those are his balls. Wow. But it’s backlit so you can’t see anything else. You don’t see a ring piece or anything. But I felt like that was the moment we could have gotten in trouble for. Because the rule is any erect penis will get you an NC 17. And I look at his cock in that shot, and I’m like I have had sex with a dick that engorged. Not all the way hard but almost there. [laughs] Right. If you’re going for a second or third round or something like that and you’re like, “I ain’t got much left, but I’ll try to work with this.” So to me, that’s classified as an erection, but they didn’t see it that way. I’m not saying the should rethink it by any stretch of the imagination, but if I was a member of the MPAA, those are the two things I would have went after. And I think if I was a member of the MPAA, I would have won the shit shot argument. Because when I stood up to defend the shit shot, I referenced other movies that had shit moments, like Trainspotting, where they ripped the sheet. Or American Pie 3, where Stiffler eats dogshit. And then I referenced Jackass with the fart helmet, where… Oh, yeah, that’s real shit. It’s real shit in that funnel! You can see it. And I said, “If they have real shit and the get an R, how come fake shit gets an NC 17?” But if I was Joan Graves I would have turned around and been like, “None of those shots you mentioned is in the midst of a sex act.” And that’s kind of what like sets our shot apart, but they just didn’t, for some reason, zero in on why it was questionable. Because it’s not just that it’s a simple shit shot. It’s coming from somewhere and it’s a sex act. So I think I could have won that one if I was on their side. We talked to Peter Sollett, who directed Nick and Norah in Toronto, and there’s a scene in his movie… have you seen his movie? Not yet. This actress is drunk, she drops her gum in the toilet. I heard about it. He said that was a pain in the ass dealing with the MPAA on that. Really, they brought that up? Yeah. They wanted to scale back and not see it, and just see her hand go out of frame. He said that whole process was a pain. They don’t tell you what to do, but they will make suggestions to work around things. That’s interesting. And on the shit shot they were like, “Look, just cut the shot, and be on somebody’s face and hear the sound. And then when you’re outside and you see him caked I shit, the audience will know what happened.” But I’m like, “It’s 14 frames, man.” 14 frames and it works like crazy. I don’t want to lose it. I know you’ve been busy with this movie, but have you had any time to see any of the summer films this summer, or see anything? I’m sure you saw Dark Knight. Yeah. I’ve seen mostly all the summer films. There are only two that I want to see that I didn’t get to see yet, and that was Wanted and Hancock. But I saw pretty much everything else. It was a good summer, man. It was bookended by wonderful comic book movies. Iron Man was great and then Dark Knight was great. Although it was weird, did you see that quote from Robert Downey, Jr. when he was talking about Dark Knight? Yeah. I mean, I’m certainly nobody’s career counselor, but I couldn’t believe that that dude said that. Because it’s like he came back in a big way with Iron Man, and everyone remembered how much they love Robert Downey, Jr. He knocked that role out of the park. He was sublime. Dark Knight comes out a couple of months later and it is universally beloved. Everyone takes it very personally, everyone defends that movie, everybody loves it, it did killer business, it may be one of the perfect Hollywood movies. One of the most perfect Hollywood movies ever made. It appeals to a bunch of different people on a bunch of different levels without being saccharine or sophomoric. It’s dark; it’s a bleak fucking picture. I never in a million years, even if I hated Dark Knight, I would not be the guy going online being like––or in any interview setting––being like, “I don’t like Dark Knight. Fuck Dark Knight.” Because, man, they would all turn on me so fucking quickly. So when I saw him make that quote I was just like, oh my god, dude. You’ve got to be very, very ballsy to say that. He was. It’s was a weird thing for him to say, but it doesn’t seem to have affected him. You mentioned Red State would have been your next film if this had not been. Are you on to that already now, or is that going to be next? We’re trying. The script’s done, and it’s been done for a year or more. Finding money for it has been fucking difficult. Bob and Harvey didn’t want to do it, so that kind of opened us to go out and raise financing. But it’s been tough. I get it. It’s not a very commercial film. It’s very bleak. It makes Dark Knight look like Strawberry Shortcake. There’s nobody to root for. Everyone dies. It just a series of bad choices made based on questionable morality throughout the film. No character for an audience member to latch onto. Right. So I get it. If it does any business at all it would be because it played well at festivals. It’s a total festival film. But if it had a little water cooler buzz coming out of the festival, maybe it does. I get why people aren’t racing to flip open their checkbooks. And I figure sooner or later the money will come. For some reason, the lack of confidence… financial confidence from anybody has just served to make me feel like I’m on the right track. Because these are cats that are like, hey, if I wanted to make a comedy, everyone would pony up but I get it. I’m working outside my comfort zone. I’m working in a genre that I’m certainly not proven in by any stretch of the imagination. With material that doesn’t lend itself to a Saw type opening or anything like that. So I can completely understand why people would be hesitant to cough up and for some reason it only makes me more confident that it’s the right thing to do next. It must make you want to do it more, to be out of the comfort zone. You’re pretty safe with the films you’ve been doing, then you try something totally different to stretch your legs. Most days I’ve never felt like a filmmaker. I just feel like a guy who writes movies and happens to direct what he writes. If I could make that movie and pull it off, like I would feel like maybe I am a filmmaker. But if it doesn’t work I’m just as content to go, “OK, I’m the dick and fart joke guy, and I’ll go back to doing that. But it’s worth a shot, you know? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog Spout Post: Re:Weekly Theme for September 1: Work Sucks http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Re_Weekly_Theme_for_September_1_Work_Sucks/625/34630/1/ShowPost.aspx

Post By: unclefestering
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 9/1/2008 10:30:25 PM
Body: Uhh, yeah, Right... Well I'm gonna have to disagree with you about American Psycho, there, Peter. Jason Batemen loves his job. He gets to go into work anytime he wants. He spends his time reading magazines and listening to his walkman. While, I wouldn't find that fulfilling,he's not looking for fulfillment in his work. He's looking for that in his hobby. I would add Clerks 2 to the list since Dante and Randall realize that there are worse places to work at than the Quick Stop. Also, for the classic "I can't stand what I do for a living," you have to look waaaay back at Local Hero and Take This Job and Shove It. As a matter of fact, the 80s seem filled with movies about people with crappy jobs since I can also throw Gung Ho in. For women, there is Working Girl and Temps. Both look at women stuck in dreary dead end office jobs. Of course if you want to look at people who are the most dissatisfied with their jobs, how can you top Peter Finch's Howard Beale in Network? I hear that he's mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore!
]]>Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:30:25 GMTunclefesteringWeekly Theme9/1/2008 10:30:25 PMUhh, yeah, Right... Well I'm gonna have to disagree with you about American Psycho, there, Peter. Jason Batemen loves his job. He gets to go into work anytime he wants. He spends his time reading magazines and listening to his walkman. While, I wouldn't find that fulfilling,he's not looking for fulfillment in his work. He's looking for that in his hobby. I would add Clerks 2 to the list since Dante and Randall realize that there are worse places to work at than the Quick Stop. Also, for the classic "I can't stand what I do for a living," you have to look waaaay back at Local Hero and Take This Job and Shove It. As a matter of fact, the 80s seem filled with movies about people with crappy jobs since I can also throw Gung Ho in. For women, there is Working Girl and Temps. Both look at women stuck in dreary dead end office jobs. Of course if you want to look at people who are the most dissatisfied with their jobs, how can you top Peter Finch's Howard Beale in Network? I hear that he's mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore! Spout Post: Non-review review #3 http://www.spout.com/blogs/zularian/archive/2008/7/1/31991.aspx

Post By: Zularian
Post To: Zularian Blog
Post Date: 7/1/2008 7:22:09 PM
Body: I am feeling a bit grumpy at the moment so I am going to revisit the subject of my first post -- that of a director pilfering through their own material. There are a number of excellent examples of this but I am going to limit myself to two directors. The reason for this is that both of these men, Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith have had a very large impact on me. My current career path has been shaped largely by these directors which is why their transgressions pain me so. First, Mr. Smith. Once upon a time there was a directory who made a crappy (production-wise) little movie called Clerks. It is not a pretty movie nor is it an interesting-looking film. Clerks has very few merits except the fact that it is quite funny and original and it somehow manages to convey the joy and exuberence of it's creator. There is a quality to Clerks, a "I just wanted to make a movie" attitude that is infectious. This film feels to me to emboy the very spirit of Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941) when he decides that it would be fun to run a paper. Now we flash forward to 2007. Nevermind the fact that Mr. Smith has made only one movie since this first one that has not relied heavily on the strange universe he created or his two uninpsired characters, Jay and Silent Bob. Arguments can be made for Chasing Amy, Dogma and even Mallrats as being steps away from Clerks. What I want to talk about is Jersey Girl, how it did not do well and what came next. I very much enjoyed Jersey Girland I was proud of Mr. Smith for taking his work in a different direction. Would this film have done better with a different actor as the lead? Was it just poor timing that the world at large became sick of Mr. Affleck when this film was released? Who knows. What I do know is everyone other than Mr. Smith was not shocked when his fanbase, by and large, did not take to this movie. You mean the 30 year-old stoner didn't like this movie? How can this be? So then we arrive at Clerks 2. Say what you will about any other movie Mr. Smith has done, this one can be seen as nothing other than a retreat to a proven formula because his last attempt was stomped by everyone. To say that Clerks 2 made me sad in my heart is like saying that what is bad for Mexico is bad for Mexicans. Clerks 2 isn't just a rehashing of past material, it is one of those dreadful sequels where the main characters appear to have forgotten everything that has happened in the previous installment. The shining example of this is Dante being torn between two women (again) only this time he is involved with both of them. Poor Dante, apparently the lessons learned in the first movie were forgotten during the ten year period these poor sould were left on their own. Then we have Mr. Rodriguez. Once upon a time he was the ambitious young filmmaker who decided he could make a movie with a crew of one. And what a movie he made. Originally intended for the spanish home video market El Mariachi is a highly inventive and unusual film. Slightly campy but containing a big heart El Mariachi delivers as a comedy and action film. Apparently this movie did not make enough money or receive enough attention to dissuade Mr. Rodriguez and others when it came time for making his next movie.Desperado. (I am not forgetting the movie Road Racers here, I think the number of people who have seen this film is still very small) Somehow this movie was conceived as a sequel to Mariachi, which is odd because the lead actor has changed and because this film is now all about killing, explosions and drugs. Perhaps I am just a bit think and taking the whole matter too literally. Desperado works because the two lead actors are wonderful actors and play together nicely. The plot is a bit strange to me (again perhaps I am too literal) because the man who shoots the El's hand in the first movie is not the same man who does in Desperado. Couple that with dream sequences that contain the dreaded Mocho (the spelling may be wrong on this one) who I think has morphed somehow into the new bad guy (who now seems to have ties to our hero which he did not in Mariachi). All of this could be forgiven, in fact I think most viewers were fine with this oddness, until Once upon a Time in Mexico was released. To be very brief -- the movie is meant to be the fourth film in this series (the third was never made but the important bits are relayed to the audience through flashbacks and dreams). This time around our hero is not the only lead actor and to further add to the confusion actors who were in the first and second movie (and died) appear as different characters in this film. Mr. Rodriguez had just discovered the joys of HD before beginning this project and his work as a musician on Tarantino's Kill Bill movies led him to score this film as well. The idea, so the film's commentary says, was to make this move on an epic scale, much like another film with a similar title, Once upon a Time in the West. Since this entry is really meant to be a personal gripe I'll just get on with my grumble and end this entry. What makes this particular film (for those of you having a hard time keeping up I am refering to Once upon a Time in Mexico now) so disappointing to me is that much like Clerks 2 this movie felt like a retreat to safe ground. From the story, which admittedly departs from previous works of Mr. Rodriguez, to the low-budget feel of the movie I can't help but feel this picture was made because it was safe. What made both Clerks and El Mariachi such appealing films was that both of them involved a fair amount of risk to their creators and that this risk was reflected in the movie itself. These two films truly feel like independent films in the sense that there is little that is formulaic or predictable about them. I am tempted to start listing examples from both movies but chances are if you are reading this you can think of them already. I recognize the fact that both of these directors have been very successful and what they did for their first films would undoubtedly not work now. My frustration stems from them attempting to steal from these early films, but oddly enough, lifting the banal parts or simply ignoring crucial story elements and hoping that everyone will go along. If you read the reviews for the later films from both directors it seems as though this is what happened too...
]]>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:22:09 GMTZularianZularian Blog7/1/2008 7:22:09 PMI am feeling a bit grumpy at the moment so I am going to revisit the subject of my first post -- that of a director pilfering through their own material. There are a number of excellent examples of this but I am going to limit myself to two directors. The reason for this is that both of these men, Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith have had a very large impact on me. My current career path has been shaped largely by these directors which is why their transgressions pain me so. First, Mr. Smith. Once upon a time there was a directory who made a crappy (production-wise) little movie called Clerks. It is not a pretty movie nor is it an interesting-looking film. Clerks has very few merits except the fact that it is quite funny and original and it somehow manages to convey the joy and exuberence of it's creator. There is a quality to Clerks, a "I just wanted to make a movie" attitude that is infectious. This film feels to me to emboy the very spirit of Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941) when he decides that it would be fun to run a paper. Now we flash forward to 2007. Nevermind the fact that Mr. Smith has made only one movie since this first one that has not relied heavily on the strange universe he created or his two uninpsired characters, Jay and Silent Bob. Arguments can be made for Chasing Amy, Dogma and even Mallrats as being steps away from Clerks. What I want to talk about is Jersey Girl, how it did not do well and what came next. I very much enjoyed Jersey Girland I was proud of Mr. Smith for taking his work in a different direction. Would this film have done better with a different actor as the lead? Was it just poor timing that the world at large became sick of Mr. Affleck when this film was released? Who knows. What I do know is everyone other than Mr. Smith was not shocked when his fanbase, by and large, did not take to this movie. You mean the 30 year-old stoner didn't like this movie? How can this be? So then we arrive at Clerks 2. Say what you will about any other movie Mr. Smith has done, this one can be seen as nothing other than a retreat to a proven formula because his last attempt was stomped by everyone. To say that Clerks 2 made me sad in my heart is like saying that what is bad for Mexico is bad for Mexicans. Clerks 2 isn't just a rehashing of past material, it is one of those dreadful sequels where the main characters appear to have forgotten everything that has happened in the previous installment. The shining example of this is Dante being torn between two women (again) only this time he is involved with both of them. Poor Dante, apparently the lessons learned in the first movie were forgotten during the ten year period these poor sould were left on their own. Then we have Mr. Rodriguez. Once upon a time he was the ambitious young filmmaker who decided he could make a movie with a crew of one. And what a movie he made. Originally intended for the spanish home video market El Mariachi is a highly inventive and unusual film. Slightly campy but containing a big heart El Mariachi delivers as a comedy and action film. Apparently this movie did not make enough money or receive enough attention to dissuade Mr. Rodriguez and others when it came time for making his next movie.Desperado. (I am not forgetting the movie Road Racers here, I think the number of people who have seen this film is still very small) Somehow this movie was conceived as a sequel to Mariachi, which is odd because the lead actor has changed and because this film is now all about killing, explosions and drugs. Perhaps I am just a bit think and taking the whole matter too literally. Desperado works because the two lead actors are wonderful actors and play together nicely. The plot is a bit strange to me (again perhaps I am too literal) because the man who shoots the El's hand in the first movie is not the same man who does in Desperado. Couple that with dream sequences that contain the dreaded Mocho (the spelling may be wrong on this one) who I think has morphed somehow into the new bad guy (who now seems to have ties to our hero which he did not in Mariachi). All of this could be forgiven, in fact I think most viewers were fine with this oddness, until Once upon a Time in Mexico was released. To be very brief -- the movie is meant to be the fourth film in this series (the third was never made but the important bits are relayed to the audience through flashbacks and dreams). This time around our hero is not the only lead actor and to further add to the confusion actors who were in the first and second movie (and died) appear as different characters in this film. Mr. Rodriguez had just discovered the joys of HD before beginning this project and his work as a musician on Tarantino's Kill Bill movies led him to score this film as well. The idea, so the film's commentary says, was to make this move on an epic scale, much like another film with a similar title, Once upon a Time in the West. Since this entry is really meant to be a personal gripe I'll just get on with my grumble and end this entry. What makes this particular film (for those of you having a hard time keeping up I am refering to Once upon a Time in Mexico now) so disappointing to me is that much like Clerks 2 this movie felt like a retreat to safe ground. From the story, which admittedly departs from previous works of Mr. Rodriguez, to the low-budget feel of the movie I can't help but feel this picture was made because it was safe. What made both Clerks and El Mariachi such appealing films was that both of them involved a fair amount of risk to their creators and that this risk was reflected in the movie itself. These two films truly feel like independent films in the sense that there is little that is formulaic or predictable about them. I am tempted to start listing examples from both movies but chances are if you are reading this you can think of them already. I recognize the fact that both of these directors have been very successful and what they did for their first films would undoubtedly not work now. My frustration stems from them attempting to steal from these early films, but oddly enough, lifting the banal parts or simply ignoring crucial story elements and hoping that everyone will go along. If you read the reviews for the later films from both directors it seems as though this is what happened too... Spout Post: 10 More ’90s Indies to Franchise http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/6/5/30563.aspx

Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 6/5/2008 3:01:05 PM
Body: Now that we know, courtesy of Stu at Defamer, that Werner Herzog’s remake of Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant is not so much a remake as it is like a new entry into a franchise, a la the James Bond movies, we at SpoutBlog wonder what other ’90s indie favorites could be continued with similar yet “completely different” installments. I remember back in the day thinking that Clerks should be a franchise, each film focusing on a different crappy job experience, but now that Clerks II has come and gone, that idea will likely never be realized. Of course, the concept of sequels unrelated to the original aren’t new — just look at any sequel title substituting the number 2 (or II) with the word Too. But nevertheless, here’s a few suggestions for other crazy foreign auteurs to take into consideration: Kids - Looking back, Larry Clark’s then-shocking debut is pretty tame. Nowadays you see teens doing worse things on commercial television. So, how about someone makes another Kids movie every decade or so to expose us to the latest generation of teenagers and how appallingly different they are from the previous generation. It would be like Apted’s Up documentaries, except it wouldn’t follow the same people. Slacker - This is Karina’s suggestion, off the top of her head, so I’ll give her credit. She likes the idea of Linklater revisiting the concept behind his monumental indie, but having it set in other cities, a la The Real World. Unlike the premise of the next Real World, though, I’d be much more excited about a Slacker Brooklyn. Leaving Las Vegas - While we’re on the idea of transplanting locations, and because Herzog is setting his Bad Lieutenant in New Orleans rather than New York, let’s mention some films whose remakes sequels next installments could feature title changes depending on their location changes. Leaving Boston might not have the same ring to it, though. What about King of New York redone as King of St. Louis? Of course, Abel Ferrara is already turning King of New York into a franchise with Pericle il Nero, a prequel that isn’t quite a prequel (strange that he would have a problem with Herzog’s film, then). Swingers - This one is easy. Take some hot new subculture/dance craze/music scene and exploit it, so none of the original followers like it anymore and all of the new followers can be labeled posers (no, of course I’m not bitter). Swingers wasn’t the first movie to do it; Saturday Night Fever and probably a few ’50s rock ‘n’ roll movies were viewed the same way. I wonder what scene is cool with the alternative kids these days … The Big One - Following the success of Roger and Me, Michael Moore made this documentary in which he attempts to get interviews with other corporate heads. But now his films are mostly political and there’s less attention paid towards companies like General Motors and Nike. Sure, we’ve since seen some worthy substitutes, including The Corporation, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Super Size Me, but I’d like Moore to return to his hunting of the villains of capitalism and give up on his pursuit of 9/11 answers. Breaking the Waves - Surely most movie execs were shocked at how unsexy Von Trier’s film was. After all, the story of a crippled man who sends his wife out to sleep with men for his vicarious benefit sounds like an erotic, softcore, Skinamax kind of thing. So, when do we get Breaking the Waves Too, about another crippled man with a much younger, hotter wife (just FYI, I personally have always had a crush on Emily Watson)? And since it will be have to be direct-to-video will it still need to avoid the nauseating shaky cam that made so many people sick in the theater? Sling Blade - Having recently seen Robert Duvall in the 1972 film Tomorrow, I now know that Billy Bob Thornton’s “Karl Childers” is not that unique a character. For the next installment, I’d like to see Karl (well, a character like Karl) and his southern gothic story set in New York City. It would make about as much sense as Bad Lieutenant being set in NOLA. Being John Malkovich - Who hasn’t wanted a franchise in which each installment goes inside the head of a different cult-figure actor? Even if it would ruin the original just a little big, I’d love Being Jeff Goldblum or Being Christopher Walken. The latter would be enormously popular. Kolya - This Oscar-winning foreign film showed us that heartwarming tales of old, curmudgeonly Sean Connery lookalikes who learn to love the young child they’re forced to take care of are universal. But I’d like to see the same plot in other countries besides Czechoslovakia, just to be sure. Waiting for Guffman - Oh wait, Christopher Guest has been continually remaking this movie, only without association. Never mind. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:01:05 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com6/5/2008 3:01:05 PMNow that we know, courtesy of Stu at Defamer, that Werner Herzog’s remake of Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant is not so much a remake as it is like a new entry into a franchise, a la the James Bond movies, we at SpoutBlog wonder what other ’90s indie favorites could be continued with similar yet “completely different” installments. I remember back in the day thinking that Clerks should be a franchise, each film focusing on a different crappy job experience, but now that Clerks II has come and gone, that idea will likely never be realized. Of course, the concept of sequels unrelated to the original aren’t new — just look at any sequel title substituting the number 2 (or II) with the word Too. But nevertheless, here’s a few suggestions for other crazy foreign auteurs to take into consideration: Kids - Looking back, Larry Clark’s then-shocking debut is pretty tame. Nowadays you see teens doing worse things on commercial television. So, how about someone makes another Kids movie every decade or so to expose us to the latest generation of teenagers and how appallingly different they are from the previous generation. It would be like Apted’s Up documentaries, except it wouldn’t follow the same people. Slacker - This is Karina’s suggestion, off the top of her head, so I’ll give her credit. She likes the idea of Linklater revisiting the concept behind his monumental indie, but having it set in other cities, a la The Real World. Unlike the premise of the next Real World, though, I’d be much more excited about a Slacker Brooklyn. Leaving Las Vegas - While we’re on the idea of transplanting locations, and because Herzog is setting his Bad Lieutenant in New Orleans rather than New York, let’s mention some films whose remakes sequels next installments could feature title changes depending on their location changes. Leaving Boston might not have the same ring to it, though. What about King of New York redone as King of St. Louis? Of course, Abel Ferrara is already turning King of New York into a franchise with Pericle il Nero, a prequel that isn’t quite a prequel (strange that he would have a problem with Herzog’s film, then). Swingers - This one is easy. Take some hot new subculture/dance craze/music scene and exploit it, so none of the original followers like it anymore and all of the new followers can be labeled posers (no, of course I’m not bitter). Swingers wasn’t the first movie to do it; Saturday Night Fever and probably a few ’50s rock ‘n’ roll movies were viewed the same way. I wonder what scene is cool with the alternative kids these days … The Big One - Following the success of Roger and Me, Michael Moore made this documentary in which he attempts to get interviews with other corporate heads. But now his films are mostly political and there’s less attention paid towards companies like General Motors and Nike. Sure, we’ve since seen some worthy substitutes, including The Corporation, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Super Size Me, but I’d like Moore to return to his hunting of the villains of capitalism and give up on his pursuit of 9/11 answers. Breaking the Waves - Surely most movie execs were shocked at how unsexy Von Trier’s film was. After all, the story of a crippled man who sends his wife out to sleep with men for his vicarious benefit sounds like an erotic, softcore, Skinamax kind of thing. So, when do we get Breaking the Waves Too, about another crippled man with a much younger, hotter wife (just FYI, I personally have always had a crush on Emily Watson)? And since it will be have to be direct-to-video will it still need to avoid the nauseating shaky cam that made so many people sick in the theater? Sling Blade - Having recently seen Robert Duvall in the 1972 film Tomorrow, I now know that Billy Bob Thornton’s “Karl Childers” is not that unique a character. For the next installment, I’d like to see Karl (well, a character like Karl) and his southern gothic story set in New York City. It would make about as much sense as Bad Lieutenant being set in NOLA. Being John Malkovich - Who hasn’t wanted a franchise in which each installment goes inside the head of a different cult-figure actor? Even if it would ruin the original just a little big, I’d love Being Jeff Goldblum or Being Christopher Walken. The latter would be enormously popular. Kolya - This Oscar-winning foreign film showed us that heartwarming tales of old, curmudgeonly Sean Connery lookalikes who learn to love the young child they’re forced to take care of are universal. But I’d like to see the same plot in other countries besides Czechoslovakia, just to be sure. Waiting for Guffman - Oh wait, Christopher Guest has been continually remaking this movie, only without association. Never mind. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog Spout Post: Clerks II (2006, USA, Kevin Smith) **** http://www.spout.com/blogs/cinemarian/archive/2008/5/13/28992.aspx

Post By: CinemaRian
Post To: CinemaRian Blog
Post Date: 5/13/2008 8:05:05 PM
Body: Thank God Kevin Smith came to his senses and gave us Clerks II, the brilliant return to the View Askinewiverse after the cowardly sellout Jersey Girl. The movie is slightly better than the original, and stands firmly with Smiths masterpieces Mallrats and Chasing Amy. The film does what a sequel should do- it continues the story without repeating. The memories of Clerks, one of the most influential films of the 90s are with the audience at all times during the picture, and Smith shows us what would happen to his now legendary characters if time had passed. Its like fictional comedy version of Michael Apteds Up films. Like the first film, Clerks II chronicles a single day in the lives of Dante (Brian OHalloran) and Randall (Jeff Anderson) as they work a piece of shit job. The convenience store they worked at in the first film has burned down, so their lot is even worse- they work at a McDonalds-like fast food restaurant. There social lives have not improved much either, both still live with their moms, although there is hope on the horizon for Dante- he is engaged to Emma (Jennifer Schwarlbach Smith), and anticipating a movie to Florida, where Emmas father will pay for the wedding and give him a car wash to work at. Dante really seems to have feelings for his boss, Becky (Rosario Dawson), but unfortunately she doesnt believe in romantic love, and anyway, why would he want to turn down a good thing? Like every Smith film (except Jersey Girl, of course), there are a lot of sidetracks and conversations about pop culture, and a lot great supporting characters (Jay and Silent Bob, who may be the funniest comedic creations of our generation return, and a hilarious repressed Transformers geek Elias (Trevor Fuhrman)). The film goes a little deeper than the original, because of the time has passed. Everyone could I identify with the first movie, because almost everyone has worked a lousy job, but here, Dante and Randall have gone from being down on their luck to losers- no college, no prospects, no real hope. There is real suspense as to how things will turn out, and if Jay and Silent Bob arent going to be there in real life to save us when we are down on our luck, well, thats the magic of the movies. There are a few minor problems- Dawson is great actress (and major babe), but her character seemed a bit too successful to work at a fast food restaurant, and there is a musical number that is unnecessary and disrupts the reality of the film, but the quality of everything else easily overrides these problems. I am looking forward to Clerks III, in 2018, and see how Dante and Randall are dealing with their 40s. If someone asked me who is the defining cinematic, comedic presence of our generation is, Kevin Smith is the obvious answer. Fuck you, Wes Anderson. Clerks II (2006)
]]>Wed, 14 May 2008 00:05:05 GMTCinemaRianCinemaRian Blog5/13/2008 8:05:05 PMThank God Kevin Smith came to his senses and gave us Clerks II, the brilliant return to the View Askinewiverse after the cowardly sellout Jersey Girl. The movie is slightly better than the original, and stands firmly with Smiths masterpieces Mallrats and Chasing Amy. The film does what a sequel should do- it continues the story without repeating. The memories of Clerks, one of the most influential films of the 90s are with the audience at all times during the picture, and Smith shows us what would happen to his now legendary characters if time had passed. Its like fictional comedy version of Michael Apteds Up films. Like the first film, Clerks II chronicles a single day in the lives of Dante (Brian OHalloran) and Randall (Jeff Anderson) as they work a piece of shit job. The convenience store they worked at in the first film has burned down, so their lot is even worse- they work at a McDonalds-like fast food restaurant. There social lives have not improved much either, both still live with their moms, although there is hope on the horizon for Dante- he is engaged to Emma (Jennifer Schwarlbach Smith), and anticipating a movie to Florida, where Emmas father will pay for the wedding and give him a car wash to work at. Dante really seems to have feelings for his boss, Becky (Rosario Dawson), but unfortunately she doesnt believe in romantic love, and anyway, why would he want to turn down a good thing? Like every Smith film (except Jersey Girl, of course), there are a lot of sidetracks and conversations about pop culture, and a lot great supporting characters (Jay and Silent Bob, who may be the funniest comedic creations of our generation return, and a hilarious repressed Transformers geek Elias (Trevor Fuhrman)). The film goes a little deeper than the original, because of the time has passed. Everyone could I identify with the first movie, because almost everyone has worked a lousy job, but here, Dante and Randall have gone from being down on their luck to losers- no college, no prospects, no real hope. There is real suspense as to how things will turn out, and if Jay and Silent Bob arent going to be there in real life to save us when we are down on our luck, well, thats the magic of the movies. There are a few minor problems- Dawson is great actress (and major babe), but her character seemed a bit too successful to work at a fast food restaurant, and there is a musical number that is unnecessary and disrupts the reality of the film, but the quality of everything else easily overrides these problems. I am looking forward to Clerks III, in 2018, and see how Dante and Randall are dealing with their 40s. If someone asked me who is the defining cinematic, comedic presence of our generation is, Kevin Smith is the obvious answer. Fuck you, Wes Anderson. Clerks II (2006) Spout Post: Re:Let me know http://www.spout.com/groups/Five_for_Five/Re_Let_me_know/255/28029/1/ShowPost.aspx

Post By: leeroy711
Post To: Five for Five
Post Date: 4/30/2008 6:29:55 PM
Body: How about Kevin Smith films one star - Jersey Girl two stars - Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back three stars - Clerks 2 four stars - Dogma five stars - Mallrats
]]>Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:29:55 GMTleeroy711Five for Five4/30/2008 6:29:55 PMHow about Kevin Smith films one star - Jersey Girl two stars - Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back three stars - Clerks 2 four stars - Dogma five stars - Mallrats Spout Post: Smugins! http://www.spout.com/blogs/alienlazer/archive/2007/8/15/18157.aspx

Post By: AlienLazer
Post To: AlienLazer Blog
Post Date: 8/15/2007 4:16:25 PM
Body: Dante doesn't deserve such a great name, but Randall is the coolest uncool guy ever. Jay and Silent Bob are of course as hot as ever, and I can't wait to see what Kevin Smith comes up with next. I love how he can just through shit together and turn it into a masterpiece.
]]>Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:16:25 GMTAlienLazerAlienLazer Blog8/15/2007 4:16:25 PMDante doesn't deserve such a great name, but Randall is the coolest uncool guy ever. Jay and Silent Bob are of course as hot as ever, and I can't wait to see what Kevin Smith comes up with next. I love how he can just through shit together and turn it into a masterpiece. Spout Tag:love http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/love/MemberTagFilms.aspxlove
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]]>Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:51:34 GMT124793381481Tag Spout Tag:funny http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/funny/MemberTagFilms.aspxfunny
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]]>Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:10:58 GMT609316942Tag Spout Tag:comedy http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/comedy/MemberTagFilms.aspxcomedy
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]]>Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:38:30 GMT10872531342Tag Spout Tag:Great http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Great/MemberTagFilms.aspxGreat
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]]>Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:11:49 GMT231202371Tag Spout Tag:hilarious http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/hilarious/MemberTagFilms.aspxhilarious
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]]>Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:13:43 GMT108252224Tag Spout Tag:sequel http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/sequel/MemberTagFilms.aspxsequel
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]]>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:25:48 GMT12646171Tag Spout Tag:ambition http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/ambition/MemberTagFilms.aspxambition
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]]>Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:02:40 GMT401519Tag Spout Tag:worst http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/worst/MemberTagFilms.aspxworst
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