New Jersey born and raised, the outspoken Kevin Smith broke into the indie scene with the critically acclaimed Clerks, which won the highest award at Sundance. Clerks then begat Mallrats, which Smith called a “smart Porkys.” Panned by some critics, the film has since developed a growing cult following. Next came the sophisticated dramedy Chasing Amy (which won two independent Spirit awards), the religiously controversial Dogma, and the profane, laugh-out-loud road tripper Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back–the fifth endeavor in Smith’s View Askewniverse.
Smith then teamed up with Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler to create the affectionate 90’s-era dramedy Jersey Girl. After that, it was Clerks II (which received an 8-minute standing ovation at Cannes), Zack and Miri Make a Porno, the action/comedy Cop Out, and the soon to be released politico/horror Red State.
Smith recently teamed up with Scott Mosier to launch a series of Smodcasts, which he describes as “the meandering palaver of a pair of dudes whose voices are so dull, they don’t deserve to be on the radio.” Smith loves hockey and is a loyal New Jersey Devils fan. In this interview, Smith candidly reveals the childhood influences and comedic heroes that shaped his ribald, socially confrontational brand of filmmaking.
So where to you get your ideas for your films?
The earlier ones like Clerks and Dogma, came from my youth growing up in New Jersey. They all stewed about in my head when I was a kid. They came from my world, my friends and the stuff I grew up in. Of course, nothing is really that interesting in regards to your personal life, so what you have to do is blow it up and make it more interesting. You dramatize it, pour tons of comedy on it to make it lewd or vulgar. Which is why I like doing these Smodcasts. We talk about shit that’s happened, shit we’ve done. It’s kind of like the things that my characters would do anyway. So this takes one step out of writing the movie. It kind of lets us do a movie a week. Just by the urgency of it, being able to do it week after week without having to mount an entire production.
Do you write your own scripts?
Yeah. Although, the last movie I did, Cop Out, I directed but didn’t write. But generally, I’m the writer/director.
Are you pretty adamant about people following your script?
When I was younger, I used to insist on that. I didn’t know what a director was. I just wanted my actors to say the lines like I heard them in my head when I wrote them. So if the actors improvised, I’d say, let’s try it again. I never liked people deviating from the page. But then the older you get and the more you’re exposed to other talents, you realize that you benefit from people experimenting with the lines and bringing their talents to the table.
With Chris Rock in Dogma, I started to realize, like, oh shit, there is a benefit in having someone funnier than you ad lib the lines. If Chris is going to create something funny, hell, I’ll take it. Will Farrell’s another guy that’s funnier than my lines. After that, I pretty much let the funny actors do their thing. Like (Seth) Rogan will do 96 different versions of the same scene. So if my actors are going to say something funnier, more clever or more fitting for the film than what I’ve written, I’ll put it in and take credit for it (laughs).
What was your favorite movie when you were young? What inspired you?
The movies I liked were Animal House and Blues Brothers. I was a big John Landis and John Hughes fan. When I started getting into films and watching them more seriously, I grew to admire five flicks: Jaws, JFK, A Man for All Seasons, Do the Right Thing and The Last Temptation of Christ, which are 180 degrees from the shit I’ve ever done. I think the thing you like is the thing you don’t do. Comedies, I can put up there because I can make them. But I watch one of those movies and I could never do that—those dudes are artists.
Do you have a favorite comedian?
George Carlin, hands down. He was such a great guy. And unlike a lot of comics, he did not feel the need to be “on” in your presence. When he was on stage, he was on performance mode, and he was a consummate performer. He loved it and was a genius at it. But when he was off stage, and your talking to him, he wouldn’t be running bits on your or trying to make you laugh. You could sit there and converse with him normally, and you could talk to him about anything. He was extremely well read and knowledgeable. Hands down, he was one of the smartest men I ever met. And quite the role model.
I remember seeing Carlin at Carnegie when I was 12, and I was blown away. My father had bought me a George Carlin album, which was weird because we were Roman Catholics and my mom was pretty strict about language. I’d never seen Carlin, just heard him. And when his second HBO show came on, my mom said, “You can’t watch Carlin!” But my father said, “Relax, he’s Catholic.”
So the show opens with George coming out saying, “Did you ever notice that the people who are against abortion are people who you wouldn’t want to fuck in the first place?” So I’m sitting there between my mother and my father and my father’s going uhhhh, and my mother storms out of the room. When she comes back, she says, “How can you let him watch this, these are terms, he doesn’t understand!” And I turned to my mom and I ask, “What’s abortion, mom?” So she left, but she came back later in the special when George started doing the Rice Crispies bit. And she loved it and totally forgave him for the abortion joke.
But George made a deep impression on me. Here was a man that was clearly well educated, clearly knew what he was talking about with a distinct, original point of view that really set him apart. And he felt very comfortable using what some people call coarse language. These were words that my drunken uncle would use, that were now in the hands of a master and they weren’t offensive to me, just colloquialisms used to string socially relevant thoughts together. But then he would do stupid stuff like dog humor and Rice Crispies humor, which my father and my mother liked.
Anyway, I remember thinking, that’s what I’d like to do. Not be a comedian, but the guy who can comfortably express himself, say whatever the fuck he pleases, say things the way Carlin would and be an individual. So Carlin was a huge hero of mine. I got to work with him in Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, then I wrote him into a kind of serious role, called Jersey Girl.
The thing is, Carlin was an actor, first. That’s what he wanted to do when he was younger and he had great respect for the craft of acting. The stage pulled him in a different direction, and his gift was to do what he did. But he didn’t get cast that much because people thought he just did hippie humor. With us, he got to do what he loved, and he was just like a kid in a candy shop.
I remember, we were doing a rehearsal on Jersey Girl and he came in to join Ben Affleck and me. And Carlin goes, “Before we get started, Kevin, I just want you to know, I wrote this back story down about why I’m always giving greenie a hard time, I memorized it and have since thrown it out. I won’t be referencing it at all unless you want me to. But I just wanted you to know that it’s there in case you need me to draw on something real in this scene.” I turned to Affleck and I said, “Why can’t you ever be this fuckin’ good?” (laughs)
I also loved Bill Cosby’s ability to string out an anecdote. He tells this one story on the back side of ‘To Russell My Brother’ Who I Slept With,’ which is like a half hour story. It’s fucking riveting. You can’t see it but you can hear it and it translates visually. He’s a very gifted storyteller.
What about physical comedy? Are you into that?
I tend to go even lower than physical comedy (laughs). For years, physical comedy’s been considered low in film. I found a way to go beneath physical comedy. I went for a kind of oral/verbal comedy. I’m not Chevy Chase.
If you could combine two genres in a single film, what would they be?
Hockey and Sci-Fi. Like Hockey and Tron. I try to get Hockey into my films. The next film we’re doing is Red State, and after that we’re doing a movie called Hit Somebody.
Have you warmed up to Mall Rats?
I always loved it. But I would always make fun of it. Mall Rats was the movie that really made me face the fact that not everyone is going to like what you do. Everyone loved Clerks, but critics hated Mall Rats and it didn’t make any money. It’s a real fucking cult favorite now. Same thing with Jersey Girl. A lot of people beat the shit out of that movie. Only now, in the last two years, more people are vocal about liking it. So when Cop Out came out, critics cut its throat, I went, wow, this is all oddly familiar. It’s all matter of perspective.
Alex A. Kecskes is a published author of "Healer a Novel" and "The Search for Dr. Noble"—both now available on Amazon. He has written hundreds of film reviews and celebrity interviews for a wide variety of online and print outlets. He has covered red carpet premieres and Comic-Con events for major films and independent releases.
