For many independent filmmakers and fans, Kevin Smith is a hero. We all know about the financial challenges Spike Lee went through to make “She’s Gotta Have It”, but for many, when Kevin’s “Clerks” hit the big screen – we’d made it. Those of use who grew up in small towns with dead-end jobs, with no real connection to Hollywood – we saw a story we could relate to.
So tomorrow, when “Cop Out” opens, many fans of Kevin’s work will come out, despite some of the early reviews, to support, as they see it, one of their own.
Tara Lockhart talked to Kevin, and gets into his head and talk about his work, this film, and his experience!
Q: Some say that shooting on the streets of NY can be challenging because of fans yelling & Paparazzi ow was if for you?
A: It was fantastic. I had no idea that there was more than 1 borough in the city. I grew up in NJ & whenever we said the city we meant Manhattan. This Script was written for L.A. & when we talked about coming to Ny they did a rewrite based on Manhattan. We were working out of Kaufman Studios in Astoria, Queens and I was just like with is Queens. And they were like it’s over there, and I was like where there? The were like ‘it’s where Spiderman lives’, and I was ‘Ohh I get that, thanks’.
We were there in Queens and the only time I was there before was to go to the Museum of the Moving Image. So I was discovering Queens, then they introduced me to Brooklyn, which I always heard about but thought was a fictional place form a story book. So suddenly you meet these 2 completely other boroughs that I’ve never been to that is kinda like the real NY in a weird way. You always think of Manhattan as being NY, I was meeting cats in the outer boroughs that had never been to Manhattan and were like what’s it like, and I was like you’re sh***ing me, and they were like, well have you ever been to Brooklyn before, hmm, no good point. They just don’t feel the need to leave and suddenly I was like everybody does the Manhattan movie & we all know the Manhattan movie, and I’m a lazy person by nature, we all know the Manhattan movie’s going to be much harder on everybody trying to shoot in Manhattan. Lets shoot the outer boroughs movie. That wa Manhattan is always our backdrop. So we rewrote the movie for the outer boroughs. We started shooting the outer boroughs, that’s the place to be. I think that shooting in Manhattan is like shooting in LA most people are like ‘f***ing movie get out of the way’. When we shoot in the outer boroughs people just line up and watched. We were shooting this sequence with Bruce where he’s calling the funeral parlor.
About 300 people are across the street watching, you could hear a pin drop while it’s happening, you can’t actually hear Bruce across the street. As soon as we said cut they all just applaud. Like he was doing Olivier. Shooting in NY with Bruce was like going the the club with somebody famous. Shooting with Bruce & Tracey is like coming to the club with the 2 hottest chicks that can get you right passed the velvet rope.
Q: What was the selling point of directing a film you didn’t write?
A: Timing, it was just the right time. I’d come off Zack and Miri which I loved so dearly with my heart, but it didn’t do any more than the standard Kevin Smith business and that movie was supposed to be the one that punched us all through to the next level. At that point I was like I’m done. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I just keep banging my head against the wall making movies, they only go so far. So if I were to write at that point I would have been writing a script about a poor fat kid whose movie didn’t make enough money. Nobody wats to see that movie, least of all me. Into my live comes the script for ìA Couple of Dicksî and I thought the Cullen Bros. Sent it to me because I worked with them on this pilot called Manchild for Showtime. I questioned why they sent it to me, those dudes have way too much ego for a rewrite. I got an email from Jeff Robinov at Warner bros. Hey what do you think of the script, I want you to read it. I read it but asked what do you want me to rewrite theres not much I can do because this s**t’s pretty funny. I could take your money to rewrite but I could only add a couple of jokes, I wouldn’t feel right about doing it. He says it’s not a rewrite, so you want me to cameo, you want me to be that Dave guy, that parts funny man. It’ll be funny to see a fat dude do Parkour, and he goes it’s not a cameo. But Kevin I find it very odd that it takes you 3 guesses to figure out why I sent you a filmmakers script. And I was like you want me to direct it? He goes that’s really funny, 3 guesses it takes the director to go You want me to direct the movie. Yeah I want you to direct. I said dude I don’t do that. He said maybe you didn’t used to do it but I saw Zack and Miri, Zack & Miri so’s growth, maybe not the in terms of content but you know how to move a camera around space now, you know how to tell a story like people tell the stories in movies. He just goes I think you on this script might be an interesting fit. It’s will Farrell & Markey Mark, and you’ve worked with Will Ferrell. They were the dudes at first, and they couldn’t make it price wise, they went away to make their own buddy cop movie. When those 2 dudes walked away Warner Bros was like you want to stick around?
Everyone involved took a pay cut because Warner Brothers was like ‘we don’t do R rated comedies, we can’t make them work financially’.
People were saying I sold out doing this movie. I made less to make this than I did to make Dogma 12 years ago. That’s not selling out, unless I’m just real bad at math. That’s a passion project. And it’s weird to be passionate about something you didn’t write, it’s weird to be passionate about a buddy cop movie a total popcorn movie, and it’s weird to be passionate about something that’s got guns in it. But for me it was about content this time around and about challenging myself to see if I could shoot someone else’s script. I use the analogy up in Canada a lot, The WHA was a pro hockey league in the 70′s and looked exactly like the NHL except it was the other league. I feel like I’ve been playing WHA hockey for 15 years, & I’ve gotten pretty good at it, and I can continue doing it there but every once in a while I look over at the NHL rink & I wonder if I can do it there. I know I can make movies but can make movies like that. And for me this one was like Let me just see if I can challenge myself and do a movie that doesn’t have Kevin Smith Stink all over it.
I always passed on stuff because I had my own thing going on & was like, I can write my own stuff thank you very much. I’m going to be 40 in August. I can’t just say no to cool shit just because I used to when I was 24. I can’t honor the 24 year old in me passing on things because I’m like Nah, I do my own thing and my thing is cool, I don’t need your thing. I’ve done one kind of film for 15 years and I want to do another kind for the next 15. Between the Smodcast, Q&A, Twitter, I can express myself in a zillion places I don’t need to do it in the films anymore. I can take all the stuff I used to put into films and put it in the blog or the podcast so that leaves me wide open in terms of what I want to do in film anymore.
Soderbergh’s got an interesting career. He does some bizarre movies and then will make completely commercial movies for a studio. My patrons have gone away, Miramax is now completely kaput. Specialized film doesn’t really exist anymore, even Warner Bros. Closed up WIP their independent arm. So specialized film may come back in a few years, but right now, not at all. I gotta figure out where the dollars are coming from to tell the next stories I want to tell for the next few years so I looked at the Soderbergh model and that’s the key. Play nice, do theirs and they do yours or use their money to do your if that the case.
Q: How do you know when to pull in or to unleash Tracy?
A: It never hurts to always unleash because you can always edit later or reign it in, in the editing room. Having Bruce there helped because Bruce would be a true governor. Bruce would be like this is not funny, why are we talking about this? In the scene in the car with Seann William Scott, Tracy and I were trying to make Bruce laugh. That’s something to tell the Grand-kids about. I made Bruce Willis laugh and he didn’t shoot me.
Q: Did Bruce know he was the test audience?
A: He didn’t figure out he was Dad until the end I think.
Q: What are your thought on remakes and reboots?
A: It’s fair game. They’ve been doing it in comics for years & totally reboot it as a new issue 1. So here I’m doing it in movies, it’s just a very expensive version. A lot of people are struggling to hold on to licenses. Like Fox has Daredevil, they don’t want to let go, if they let go, Disney gets Daredevil, cause they brought Marvel. So these cats are just like lets make it. We’ll never make it again if we have to. We gotta hold onto that property. Once it goes back to Disney we’re never gonna get it again.
Q: You’ve worked in the comic book realm, are there any other Sci-fi or Fantasy things that you want to do?
A: I think I’ve made my Sci-fi/Fantasy film with Chasing Amy. Affleck can never turn a lesbian. That being said no I’m not that guy. Especially after Avatar. Who watches Avatar and says I want to do that? Avatar is the be all end all.
Q: What’s next?
A: Next I’m going to make a hockey movie called Hit Somebody, with Seann William Scott. That’s a dream. It’s based on the Warren Zevon song that Mitch Albom wrote the lyrics for.
Q: Between the podcast & twitter which piece of technology would you not want to live without?
A: Twitter—I like that very much. It’s me talking to normal people about different s**t. I’ve been doing it on my website for 15 years, but this is ike me being able to do it on a grand scale. Not just the people that have seen every movie, you meet these people who are like I saw clerks once and it was pretty funny, and like that’s it. And I’m like my god I’d like to have a conversation with you (laughs).
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