KEVIN SMITH

[MacGuffin]

After six little words, Harvey Weinstein is sold
Source: Los Angeles Times

It's rarely a good idea to greenlight a movie off of a title alone (unless it includes the words "Pirates" and "Caribbean"). That's like falling in love with a MySpace photo.

But when Harvey Weinstein pulled the trigger on the latest raunchy comedy idea from "Dogma" and "Clerks II" writer-director Kevin Smith after Smith had written only six words of it, Weinstein's $15 million looked like a pretty good bet.

The title? "Zack and Miri Make a Porno."

For a certain stripe of moviegoer, that's a sure thing.

"A bawdy sex comedy with heart," as Smith describes the just-completed script, "Zack and Miri" is about two friends who have managed to trudge into their 30s with a satisfying lack of accomplishment. But a 15-year high school reunion and dire rent problems spark the novel moneymaking idea of pulling together an amateur porn enterprise. As for where it goes from there, just think of Smith's characteristic sexual verbosity finally coupled with matching imagery.

"It's ... dirty, with nudity," says Smith. "But funny nudity, not gratuitous nudity." Well, leave it to Smith to choose a plotline that kneecaps the issue entirely. (The civilians-making-a-blue-movie conceit also drove the narrative of writer-director Michael Traeger's "The Amateurs," which played festivals last year.) Because the story unfolds during a snowy Minnesota winter, Smith plans to film "Zack and Miri" there in February (although, Smith jokes, global warming may force him to shoot at one of the poles).

In the intervening months, Smith is publishing a book of reprinted blog entries from SilentBobSpeaks.com called "My Boring Ass Life." And he hopes to squeeze in filming of his low-budget ($3 million) horror script, "Red State," by the end of the year. Smith is aiming to give the politically charged screenplay, about outsiders who stumble into "fundamentalism gone to the extreme" in Middle America, a naturalistic, drive-in feel.

"Horror is more than a dude with a chain saw," says Smith, who engaged the Christian right promotional machine for the release of "Dogma." Given his rabid fan base, Smith is keeping the screenplay on lockdown at his Hollywood Hills home, so agents, actors and executives have needed a personal invitation to see it. Rosario Dawson, a "Clerks II" star, is supposed to give it a read this week.

After her vampy turns in "Sin City" and "Grindhouse," it sounds like a perfect trilogy.

[Pubrick]

"Red State,"

that's a way better title than the porno.

[MacGuffin]

Kevin Smith Wants Rosario Dawson For His 'Porno,' Compares 'Red State' To 'Shining'
'It's not horror like 'Hostel,' ' director says of 'State,' which starts filming in early 2008.
Source: MTV

After years of writing films surrounding characters in the View Askewniverse, Kevin Smith is gearing up for two very different films without Jay and Silent Bob, "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" and the horror film "Red State" — but that doesn't mean audiences won't see at least one familiar face from his previous flicks.

"I wrote [the role of Miri] for Rosario Dawson," Smith said of the "Clerks II" star. "I'd be kind of flabbergasted if she didn't do it."

When reached for comment, Dawson's management said "no deal is in place at the moment."

"It's a lot of new faces," Smith continued. "But Jason Mewes is going to be in it — not playing Jay, but playing a new character. Hopefully Jeff Anderson [Randall from 'Clerks'] as well."

The story of two friends from Minnesota who launch an amateur-porn studio on the eve of their 15-year high school reunion "Zack and Miri" will be "done shooting by Christmas," Smith announced, and "sometime in February or March, we are going to start on 'Red State,' " he said.

Though Smith described "Red State" as a "horror movie," he conceded that not everyone will agree.

"I keep trying to, like, [temper] everyone's expectations, because it's not horror like 'Hostel.' It's not gore porn," he insisted. "The best comparison I think of is 'The Shining.' It's going for that kind of mood. It's a very unsettling film."

A blogger, podcaster, lecturer and frequent commenter on the Internet, Smith was uncharacteristically tight-lipped about "Red State," coyly suggesting that most of what we think we know about the film is wrong.

"You hear the log line about, like, religious fundamentalism gone awry, and you're like, 'All right, I kind of got the movie in my head.' That's Act One," he said. "Whatever everybody knows about it in terms of the [Fred] Phelps-like character is just a piece of the movie and the movie kind of becomes a bigger statement than just that."

Radical right-wing preacher Fred Phelps, whom Smith called "a fringe, bizarrely Christian archetype," served as a model for the movie's antagonist.

"He definitely informs the character, but it's not like this is Fred Phelps with a different name," Smith said. "That's kind of an easy target to me. If you're just going to tee off on crazy, crazy, right-wing fundamentalist extremists, that's kind of easy. I think our movie doesn't stop there. It goes out to target something a little harder."

That hardness may come with a price, specifically Smith's first onscreen death. (No, we're not counting that old guy in the bathroom from "Clerks.") Asked how many protagonists there were in the film, Smith replied, "We start with four."

[Myxo]

Enjoy this gem from Comicon..

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ou2mVnElp6c

[The Red Vine]

Enjoy this gem from Comicon..

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ou2mVnElp6c

you know you're at a low point in your career when you do stupid shit like that.

[MacGuffin]

Kevin Smith sets space comedy
Indie-film veteran eyes biggest budget yet
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Writer-director Kevin Smith is developing a futuristic outer space comedy.

The film will reference other sci-fi movies and revolves around a father-son relationship. Smith has nodded to the genre in his earlier work but never made a sci-fi film.

The indie-minded Smith is aiming for a budget in the $45 million-$50 million range, which would be his biggest. He again will produce with partner Scott Mosier via their View Askew banner.

Harvey and Bob Weinstein, with whom Smith has collaborated on most of his movies, could reteam with Smith on the film. Insiders said that TWC execs have read part of the script and are interested in making the movie. Smith has finished a first draft of the script, but the project will not move forward until after his next project, "Red State." Smith will not be doing that with the Weinsteins but instead is seeking independent financing and a spring start date for his dramatic tale of a domestic terrorist in the Heartland.

The Weinstein Co. this month will release Smith's Seth Rogen comedy "Zack and Miri Make a Porno." That film, at about $25 million, had his biggest-budget to date, but Smith knows the sci-fi movie will be pricier.

"The moment someone steps out of the spaceship, it's going to cost a little more," he said.

Smith said he's looking forward to exploring new character dynamics as well as outer space.

"All the relationships in the flicks I've done have been done before, have been either a guy falling for a girl or two dudes hanging out in a 'bromantic' comedy," he said. "I wanted to explore a father and son."

[hedwig]

The film will reference other sci-fi movies

HOLY SHIT I WONDER IF HE'LL REFERENCE STAR WARS!!!

[last days of gerry the elephant]

I thought he already made a sci-fi before, what was it... Galaxy Quest?

...no?

[Stefen]

Kevin Smith is to film making what rape is to sex.

[Stefen]

I thought he already made a sci-fi before, what was it... Galaxy Quest?

...no?

He didn't make that. How do I know? Because Galaxy Quest is fucking awesome, that's how.

[RegularKarate]

I thought he already made a sci-fi before, what was it... Galaxy Quest?

...no?

He didn't make that. How do I know? Because Galaxy Quest is fucking awesome, that's how.

yes, Smith could never come close to making something as great as Galaxy Quest

[Convael]

Kevin Smith now too fat for toilets:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2008/10/kevin-smith-say.html

[jtm]

stumbled across this earlier tonight... thought it was funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QepgKVOVfZ8&feature=related

[SiliasRuby]

This is going to be soooo rediculous it's gonna be amazing.

Willis, Morgan to play 'Cops'
Kevin Smith to direct film for Warner Bros.
By DAVE MCNARY
Source: Variety

Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan will star in Warner Bros.' detective comedy "A Couple of Cops," with Kevin Smith directing his first major studio pic.

Marc Platt's producing the project, formerly titled "A Couple of Dicks." The scripting team of Robb and Marc Cullen penned the screenplay, centered on a pair of cops who track down a stolen baseball card, rescue a Mexican beauty and must deal with gangsters and laundered drug money.

Warner picked up the project in turnaround last year from Gold Circle, where it had been in development with Robin Williams and James Gandolfini in the lead roles.

Willis will next be seen in Disney sci-fi thriller "The Surrogates," directed by Jonathan Mostow. "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock" star Morgan has been set for a remake of "Death at a Funeral" for Screen Gems and Sidney Kimmel.

Smith directed "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" last year for the Weinstein Co.

[Stefen]

It's like a direct to video version of 48 Hours.