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Kevin Smith

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For other uses, see Kevin Smith (disambiguation).
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Kevin Smith as Silent Bob in Clerks

Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American screenwriter, film director, and the founder of View Askew Productions. He is also known as a comic book writer and actor, although he has criticized his own acting ability on more than one occasion.

Smith's films are often set in his home state of New Jersey and are filled with pop culture references, particularly to comic books and the Star Wars movies. Many of Kevin's films take place in the "View Askewniverse" and feature appearances from small-time play-marijuana-dealers Jay and Silent Bob, the latter portrayed by Smith himself.

Although sometimes criticized for crude humor and technical amateurishness (which Smith himself frequently makes fun of at Q&A's), his films are also known for their distinctive vision, dialogue, and characters.

He is often commended (and criticised) for blatant candor. As exemplified on his college tour DVD, An Evening with Kevin Smith, he is not above taking swipes at his contemporaries (such as his much-publicised negative review of Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia) nor is he shy about revealing very intimate moments about himself, his friends, and/or family members (he goes into graphic detail about his first sexual encounter with the woman he would eventually marry, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith). However, his detailed stories are much acclaimed as they can detail the crumbling of a would-be Hollywood blockbuster (such as his story of his tenure on Superman Lives and his failed documentary for Prince) and why he and his friends are so loyal to one another (on his official blog-site, Silent Bob Speaks.com, he detailed friend Jason Mewes' long battle with--and victory over--drug addiction).

Early Years

Kevin Smith, son of Donald and Grace Smith, grew up in Highlands, New Jersey. After graduating from Henry Hudson Regional School, Smith enrolled at the New School for Social Research to study creative writing, but dropped out before completing the program. He then shifted west, enrolling at the Vancouver Film School, where he met his future producer, and good friend, Scott Mosier. While at the film school, he made a short film called Mae Day: The Crumbling Of A Documentary which was originally supposed to be about a pre-op transvestite but when said transvestite disappeared, Smith found himself without a subject and the short became about the failure of the documentary itself. Soon after this, Smith found himself disillusioned so he dropped out and headed home (not before making a deal with Mosier that whoever finished their screenplay first would make that film and the other would produce). Since he is suck a dickweed, he got his fucking head blown off because KEVIN SMITH SUCKS COCK YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!!! After returning to New Jersey, Smith returned to his job as a clerk at a Quick Stop convenience store, which would eventually inspire the script to his first film Clerks. Cobbling together $27,000 from his partial tuition refund, parents, credit cards, loans, the insurance money from two cars of his (wrecked from a flood during the filming of Clerks), and the sale of his comic book collection, Smith and Mosier (who hadn't finished his screenplay, so came down to produce Kevin's film) began production on the black-and-white film. To cut costs, Smith employed friends and local actors to play the roles, and filmed at night in the same convenience store where he worked during the day.

Success of Clerks and Mallrats Failure

Clerks. debuted at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival where it saw almost no audience during the first few days. More people started seeing the movie as days went on and it eventually got the attention of executives at Miramax. Initially, the film was given an NC-17 rating, based exclusively on its profanity, the first film to garner that rating for that reason. Because the NC-17 rating is thought to be hurtful to a movie's box office performance, Miramax and Smith entered into a court battle with the Motion Picture Association of America, and eventually succeeded in getting the film's rating lowered to an R. The film became a success on the growing independent film circuit, was shown during non-concert hours at Woodstock 1994, and eventually earned a limited national release near the end of 1994. In ensuing years, it became a far-reaching inspiration for budding directors, proving that it was possible to make a movie for $27,000 and have it see wide successful release.

In 1995, Smith wrote and directed Mallrats, the second film in the so-called "Jersey Trilogy". Mallrats chronicles the romantic difficulties of two slackers (played by Jason Lee and Jeremy London) who spend their days hanging around a shopping mall. The film also featured a post-Beverly Hills 90210 Shannen Doherty and a pre-fame Ben Affleck. A more typical Hollywood comedy than Clerks, Mallrats was a failure with critics as well as at the box office, and Smith later found himself haunted by a tongue-in-cheek apology he made at the 1995 Independent Spirit Awards. Universal had said that they wanted it to be a "smart Porky's". Smith later remarked in his question and answer session, "An Evening with Kevin Smith", that Universal executives pressured him to cut scenes, including a scene where Silent Bob (Smith himself) masturbates while watching Gwen (played by Joey Lauren Adams) changing in a dressing room, and he ejaculates over the partition into her hair. According to the scene, her hair would be altered as a result (as famously seen two years later in There's Something About Mary), but the executives claimed that the gross-out factor was too disgusting to be comedic.

New Success and Marriage

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Kevin Smith in 1998

In 1997, Smith released Chasing Amy. The film follows the story of a man (played by Ben Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian (Joey Lauren Adams). Following Clerks, and Mallrats, Chasing Amy was seen as having surprising emotional depth, and was greeted with generally positive critical acclaim and modest box office success. Smith indicated that Clerks had been almost overpraised, while Mallrats had been overbashed. This put him in a very freeing position for Chasing Amy, in that people could not say much better things than they had of Clerks, but could not say much worse things than they had of Mallrats, which made it easy for Smith to be very honest and vulnerable in making this third film.

While making Chasing Amy, Smith had been dating lead star Joey Lauren Adams, only to break up with her mid-1997. Around a year later, Smith met Jennifer Schwalbach, a reporter from USA Today, who came to interview him. Shortly after that, they struck up a relationship and Schwalbach was his date at the Independent Spirit Awards. They later found out Schwalbach was pregnant, and they were married at Skywalker Ranch. Shortly after, Schwalbach gave birth to Harley Quinn Smith (named after a villain in the Batman animated series).

The year 1999 saw the release of Smith's controversial film Dogma, which was originally slated to be made after Clerks. but scrapped after he wished to have it produced with appropriate special effects. The film followed the plight of a barren and disillusioned Catholic woman (Linda Fiorentino), divinely chosen to prevent two renegade angels (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) from returning to heaven by means of a loophole in Catholic dogma. As God had mandated that they could never return to heaven, the angels' actions would prove God wrong, causing a contradiction and resulting in the termination of existence. Despite the fact that Smith is Catholic, several religious groups (especially the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights led by William Donohue) claimed that the film was anti-Catholic and blasphemous, and organized protests, including one that took place at the November 12 premiere of the film at Lincoln Center in New York City. They also received three death threats (most of which were apparently aimed at Harvey and Bob Weinstein of Miramax, which led them to drop the film) which were a great worry to newly married father Smith.

Smith noted that several of the protests occurred before the film was even finished, suggesting that the protests were more about media attention for the groups than for whatever was controversial about the film. (Smith, accompanied by friend Bryan Johnson, anonymously joined one of the protests carrying a sign that read "Dogma Is Dogshit", and was even interviewed in his protester guise by a local TV station.)

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The Animated Jay and Silent Bob.

Clerks Animated Series

In 2000, Smith and Mosier teamed up with television writer David Mandel (Seinfeld and SNL) to develop an animated television show based on Clerks. This was an idea Smith had been kicking around since the production of Mallrats and after pitching it to nearly every major television network, ABC TV picked it up for airing in March 2000. After being delayed to May, Clerks: The Animated Series aired only two episodes, out of order, before being canceled as a result of poor ratings. It was released on DVD in 2001, marking one of the first occasions in which a short-lived TV series found success in this format.

View Askewniverse Retirement

In 2001 Smith released what he claimed would be his final film featuring Jay and Silent Bob, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. In the film, the duo attempt to travel to Hollywood to stop production on a film based on their characters, and take revenge on those who post negative comments about them on online message boards. Littered with inside jokes and cameos from characters in previous Smith films, the director called it a "Valentine" to his fans. While the film featured appearances from numerous View Askew veterans, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back also included a lengthy and star-studded cast and cameo list that included Shannon Elizabeth, Eliza Dushku, Will Ferrell, Judd Nelson, George Carlin, Carrie Fisher, Seann William Scott, Jon Stewart, Jules Asner, Steve Kmetko, Tracy Morgan, Gus Van Sant, Chris Rock, Jamie Kennedy, Wes Craven, Shannen Doherty, Mark Hamill, Diedrich Bader, Alanis Morissette, Morris Day & The Time, Jason Biggs, and James Van Der Beek. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation criticized the movie arguing that it contained humor at the expense of gay men. Smith responded by saying that the Jay and Silent Bob characters were satire of young male "idiots," however, GLAAD suggested that Smith give a donation to Matthew Shepard Foundation (which he did).[1]

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Kevin Smith as Silent Bob, Jason Mewes as Jay

In previous years, Smith had quietly performed question and answer sessions at colleges and comicbook conventions around the country. Given that he couldn't reach every college, and that he wanted a permanent record of what went on at these events, Smith filmed several of the sessions and compiled a DVD, titled An Evening with Kevin Smith. His candid and humorous answers give many insights to the story of his journey as a filmmaker. The DVD was such a success that Smith decided to film a second DVD at sessions in Toronto and London, which is currently slated for release in 2006 to coincide with the theater release of "Clerks II".

In 2004, Smith released Jersey Girl, a film about a man (Ben Affleck) struggling to raise his daughter after the death of his wife (played by Jennifer Lopez). It was the first of Kevin's feature films to have no continuity with the "View Askewniverse" series. George Carlin and Liv Tyler starred alongside Affleck in the comedic drama. The film opened to mixed reviews and lackluster box office. Smith referred to the film as his "fatherhood movie," and found bittersweet comfort that he was able to share the film with his own father just prior to his death.

Recent News

2005 was a very busy year for Kevin Smith; on October 10, he began shooting the sequel to Clerks., tentatively titled Clerks II, to be released in 2006. He starred in friend and fellow writer-director Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, also to be released in 2006, in which he plays legless Iraqi war veteran and celebrity gossip hound Simon Thiery. He has also snagged his first major acting role with Catch and Release, a film staring Jennifer Garner. He also released his first book, Silent Bob Speaks, a collection of essays dissecting pop culture, the movie-making business and Smith's personal life. The book was a success, selling out its first printing for Miramax Books. He is also one of the many celebrity voices in the North American version of the CGI children's film Doogal.

He plans to begin work on Ranger Danger and the Danger Rangers in or around 2007. He's described the project as "My stab at a comic-book/sci-fi movie. It's in the vein of Flash Gordon, something I've noodled with a couple of years. Now I feel we are mature enough filmmakers to tackle it." [2].

Other projects in the works for Smith include Clerks: Sell Out, the feature-length animated film done in the Clerks: The Animated Series style which he last stated was "on the bubble." [3] Next up for him is a new, non-Askewniverse comedy that he is apparently in the process of writing now [4], [5]. He has also been rumored to direct the first ever theatrical feature film for the Degrassi franchise [citation needed].

Interaction With Fans

Kevin has also become well known for the relationship between him and his fans. He posts almost daily at his web board [6] where he posts new information about his films, and interacts with the fans. Since 1998, he's also held a private film festival called Vulgarthon in Red Bank, New Jersey (except in 2005 when it was held in Los Angeles) where fans can buy tickets to come out, see around five films, and meet many of the cast and crew. These events usually have fans flying in from different countries to attend. So far, there have been four Vulgarthons, with the fifth scheduled for May, 2006. Besides Smith himself, guest have included Brian O'Halloran, Jason Mewes, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Jeff Anderson, and Smith's wife Jennifer.

Miscellaneous information

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Kevin Smith and wifeJennifer Schwalbach on the set of Clerks II.
  • Smith's films often feature the same actors, including Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Mewes, and Matt Damon. Other well-known performers featured in more than one Smith film include Chris Rock, Jason Biggs, Shannen Doherty, George Carlin, Ethan Suplee, Joe Quesada and Alanis Morissette. Some lesser known regulars in Smith's films include Walt Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Scott Mosier, Ernest O'Donnell, John Willyung, Carmen Lee, Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Halloran, Dwight Ewell, Kimberly Loughran and Vincent Pereira. Also, he casts himself in nearly all of his movies (a notable exception being Jersey Girl).
  • Smith was co-executive producer for the 1998 movie Good Will Hunting, assisting friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with making and marketing their film. After Damon and Affleck received Academy Awards for their screenplay, critics alleged that Smith himself was responsible for the script, a rumor which Smith vehemently denies.
  • In 1997, Kevin was hired by New Line to rewrite Overnight Delivery (1998), which at the time was expected to be a blockbuster teen movie. Kevin's then-girlfriend Joey Lauren Adams almost took the role of Ivy in the movie instead of the female lead in Chasing Amy. Eventually she lost out to Reese Witherspoon, and Overnight Delivery was quietly released directly to video. Kevin Smith's involvement with the film was only revealed when he wrote about his experience with it in an online column. [7].
  • Smith is a noted comic book author who has written for Marvel Comics' Daredevil and Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do and DC Comics' Green Arrow, and even had a cameo role in the 2003 Daredevil movie starring Ben Affleck. He has also written original comic books based on his movies, including 3 Clerks comics; Chasing Dogma, which takes place between Chasing Amy and Dogma; and Bluntman and Chronic, the comic created by Banky and Holden in Chasing Amy. Smith has stated for years that he will write other comics that are based on his movies, including Mallrats 2: Die Hard in a Mall, a sequel to Mallrats, and a Bartleby and Loki one-shot, based on the characters in Dogma, although they have yet to be produced. In 1999 he won a Harvey Award, given for achievement in comic books, for Best New Talent. He has received a large amount of criticism for his lateness with certain books (it took several years for Smith to complete Spider-Man/Black Cat, and Daredevil / Bullseye: The Target is still not complete).
  • Smith owns and operates Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey, a comic book store largely dedicated to merchandise related to his films; a second Secret Stash in the Westwood section of Los Angeles was opened in September 2004.
  • For a time Smith was working on a script for a Superman movie, but the script was eventually discarded when Tim Burton was attached to the product. Beforehand, Smith was enthusiastic about Burton's hiring, citing Burton's work on Batman. However, Burton began shifting direction, eventually cutting Smith and his script out of the process. In the end, neither Smith's nor Burton's vision for Superman were filmed. Years later, Smith noted the similarity between a scene in one of his comics and a scene in Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes. Smith jokingly accused Burton of stealing his idea, a comment that ended up being reported in the media as a serious accusation. Burton issued a stern denial, noting that "Anybody who knows me knows I would never read a comic book. And I certainly would never read anything written by Kevin Smith." In which Smith's only response to Burton's comments was, "Which I guess, explains Batman."
  • Not long after Clerks., Smith pitched an idea called "Bussing" about bus boys, described as "Clerks in a restaurant". This idea seems to have been reborn into the 2005 movie Waiting... by writer/director Rob McKittrick who credits Smith for the opportunities he has now.
  • Smith once wrote a screenplay for a film version of The Six Million Dollar Man.
  • Smith has always attributed the mentions of homosexuals or homosexual behavior in his films to his older brother Donald Smith, who is openly gay and always felt he could never see himself or any homosexual represented on the big screen.
  • Smith has been known to do script rewrites, including a draft of the movie Coyote Ugly. Though according to Smith, no dialogue from his draft made it to the final film.
  • In 2002, Smith pressed his bosses at Miramax to pick up the rights to Gregory McDonald's Fletch series. Smith hoped to helm a movie adaptation of the first book in the series, Fletch Won, with the intention of making it more faithful to the original novel than the popular Chevy Chase films. Smith hoped to cast View Askew regular Jason Lee in the title role, but was nixed by Bob and Harvey Weinstein. Smith has recently spoken to Garden State's Zach Braff about the possibility of taking the role. In October 2005, Smith left the project.
  • Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back's fictional website MoviePoopShoot.com became real in 2002, converting into an entertainment website covering movies, music, comics, toys, and video games.
  • Smith has written a screenplay for a new film version of The Green Hornet. The Miramax head Harvey Weinstein at the time attempted to draft Smith to direct the film, but Smith eventually backed out, noting that his directing style wasn't really "visual" enough to pull off a big-budget action movie.
  • In May 2004, Montclair State University awarded Smith with an honorary PhD.
  • In July 2005, at a Q & A in Vancouver, BC, Smith was awarded an honorary degree from the Vancouver Film School, where he briefly studied prior to making Clerks.
  • Smith's longest Q&A session took place April 2nd, 2005 at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey [8]. The sold out event was seven hours long, took place from 8PM through 3AM (which due to daylight savings, was actually 4AM). After he finished the Q&A he decided to open up Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash just down the road to do a meet and greet with the numerous remaining audience members [9]. The meet and greet ended around 6:30AM. Smith then hopped a plane and did another Q&A at the Raue Center For The Arts in Crystal Lake, Illinois that night. Pictures from these events can be found at the View Askew Pixel Pound.
  • In early 2005, Smith appeared in three episodes of the Canadian-made Degrassi: The Next Generation television show. In the episodes, Smith, portraying himself, visited the school to work on the (fictional) film Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!. Smith wrote all his dialogue for the shows he appeared in. Later, he recounted that the idea was so good, he could almost see himself making such a movie, which might be interpreted as an indication of a plan to really do so.
  • In addition to appearing on Degrassi: The Next Generation, Kevin Smith is an avid fan of the Degrassi|original series (Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High) and references to the original are present in some of his early films.
  • Besides the Degrassi shows Smith has done a substantial amount of work in television as well. He appeared in the second episode of season two of Veronica Mars, playing, appropriately, a store clerk. He also cameoed in the second season premiere of the sitcom Joey, where he played himself, on an episode of Law & Order in 2000 (episode "Black, White and Blue" playing Tony's wife's nephew), Duck Dodgers (2003 as Hal Jordan, voice only) and Yes, Dear (2004, as himself). Smith has also created and appeared in several short "Roadside Attractions" segments for The Tonight Show, detailing trips to random locations around the country. These segments are collected on the Jersey Girl DVD.
  • Smith is a fan of Star Wars; he frequently references the series in his films.

Filmography

As writer and director

As producer

As actor

Awards

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Kevin Smith.

Books About

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