Five Favorite Films with Kevin Smith
We get the films that influenced the foul-mouthed filmmaker.
Now Zack and Miri Make a Porno is a really sweet movie.
KS: Thank you.
Jersey Girl is also a really sweet movie, but the reaction wasn't quite-
KS: [Laughs.] No, not nearly as good.
With Judd Apatow's productions currently the standard bearers of American comedy, do you think people are now more receptive to this mix of vulgarity and sweetness?
KS: Absolutely. It felt like once 40 Year Old Virgin did over $100 million, suddenly it made the type of movie that I make, the kind that mixes vulgar stuff with sentimental stuff, or raunchy stuff with sweet stuff, viable. Economically viable. For years, I felt any movie that mixed raunch and sweetness couldn't make more than $30 million. It was the best we've ever done.
It was a niche thing.
KS: Totally. Absolute niche. Judd blows the ceiling out, crashes through the glass ceiling, makes over $100 million with 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Superbad, and suddenly it proves that genre viable. So, that to me was a blessing. I'm like, "Right on." Now I can totally make Zack and Miri Make a Porno without having it on a $200,000 budget on a 50 screen release.
Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks.
Has Zack and Miri's MPAA process given you a new enthusiasm to do [upcoming horror project] Red State?
KS: [Laughs.] I don't take as much umbrage with the MPAA fiasco, if you will, as everyone else. Like everyone else wants to scream "censorship" the minute it happens. I don't feel that way because they're not saying, "Cut it or it don't go out." They're saying, "If you want your rating, the rating you want, you're gonna have to make some changes." So I would much rather deal with one governing body than deal with it on a state-by-state basis, which is what it was before the creation of the MPAA. A movie that played in New York might not play in Texas, because that state's censors could shoot it down. And I assure you, if we were going state by state, I don't think any of my movies would have played in Texas at this point.
So I'm glad there's only one body you have to deal with that governs the entire country and how we view movies, as opposed to 50. They're also fairly generous, and as much as it's a pain in the ass, they do give you the option to appeal. Like, you know, they'll tell you what your rating is, and they'll tell you what you need to look at if you want to reach the rating you want via cuts.
Or they give you this last bite at the apple, which they really don't have to do. Like, if I was in charge of the MPAA, I'd be like "F--k you, the rating is the rating. Either cut or accept that rating." But they give you this alternative, where you can actually go and flip it. Go above their heads to a third party altogether, and I think that's kinda generous, man. The fact that they do that at all.
I mean, to me, it is what it is. At the end of the day, it's part of the business. If you want to be in this business, you have to be willing to play that game. And you know, the key is finding a way to play the game where it works in your favor. And so far we've gotten lucky. Three times I've gone to the appeals process; three times we've flipped it without having to make any cuts.
Clerks for one.
KS: Clerks. Jersey Girl they gave an R rating initially. I had to flip it to a PG-13. Clerks 2, first time we submitted it: R. That's why I never thought we'd have problems on Zack and Miri because I'm like, "Nothing in this movie is nearly as outrageous as the donkey show in Clerks 2. If they let that pass, this should be fine." I was wrong.
Chris Scharlau
Kevin Smith your one of my favorite filmmaker's, and JFK is also one of my top favorite movie's. And I cant wait to see Zack and Miri this weekend.
Oct 27 - 04:18 PM