Hot on the heels of a 24-hour-tweet-a-thon (though this interview was likely conducted prior) and probably having to change the title of his action comedy, “A Couple Of Dicks” (again), Kevin Smith has discussed the possibilities and chances of reviving his horror project, “Red State.”
Presumed dead a few months ago, Smith is saying the project might be next. Maybe.
The director would like to show the script to actors, but would rather get funding in places before he gets his and others hopes for. He also notes that anyone who potentially works on the film acting wise better be ready for a steep pay cut. Hello pulling favors. Jason Lee are you listening? Have Ben Affleck and Matt Damon already changed their numbers at this point?
“I want to make sure there’s money actually to go make the movie, before we even start thinking about bringing people on board because then I’ve got to go out to them hat in hand and be like, ‘Hey, man, can you do this movie for f**kin’ nothing?’, because we’re doing it for peanuts,” he said.
Apparently his “Red State” producer has been yelling at him for telling the press they have no money so far. Smith responds by saying, “I don’t see any Red State money. If I don’t see it, if I’ve never heard of it, then how do I think that it exists?”
“Long story short, hopefully the money turns up very soon and we go,” the director said, noting he has a back-up plan. “Failing that, I’m going to pursue my hockey movie next” (which is based on a Warren Zevon song title).
The guy tweeted for 24 hours and will have to sanitize the title of his next movie, plus Bruce Willis gave him a hard time. Someone give this guy a break already. Yeah, we said it. [Sci-fi Wire via IGN]
Kevin Smith reminds me of Michael Moore a bit, mostly in the way he comes across. From seeing Moore in some of his and others (The Corporation) documentaries, I'm appreciative of his work.
But Smith has that same stubborness that can make his project unappealing.
Like the titles of his past movies.
"Zack and Miri Make a Porno", "A Couple of Dicks", and now "Red State".
For lack of a better term the "agenda", or punch-line, for his movies comes out in the title and doesn't leave much more to be desired. And we can see why he can't get his projects off smoothly. The title "Red State" can be a little demeaning and why would anyone throw much money at it? Let alone try to get talent (at much less than asking price) for it.
He's never sublime with his films, which isn't necessarily a bad thing obviously. But he just seems to cut his prospects in half before the movies even get going by insisting on too much.
And I think he should get the hell away from Twitter. It's obviously not helping.
I'd like him a lot more if he's movies weren't so bad. Once upon a time I liked a few of them (Clerks, Chasing Amy), but they don't age well.
His Evening with Kevin Smith series is pretty great, though.
Smith said WB's Jeff Robinov once told him before shooting Dicks that he would like to produce a talk show with him. Smith declined. The man would thrive as a talk show host. He's quick on his feet, is a master verbal storyteller. He's an okay filmmaker. Think about all the hacks directing studio comedies that are much worse than Smith who don't get shit on. People are unfair to the man.
"Red State" is a concept far past its sell-by date.