As anyone who’s watched Kevin Smith’s Evening With… DVDs knows, it’s easy to listen to Kevin talk all day. Even more so if you’ve been fortunate enough to witness the magic live. We only got 15 minutes but Kevin sure fills those up with quality material. He’s currently starring in Catch and Release, playing a friend of Jennifer Garner’s recently deceased fiancé. He gets to be funny without swearing. Yes, it’s possible. Don’t worry, he swears up a storm for this Q&A.
CraveOnline: Evening Harder is another masterpiece. Would you call what you do stand-up comedy?
Kevin Smith: I don't because a stand up comic walks out there and generates by themselves. They need an audience reacting to them but I lean on the audience heavily. Without the audience asking something, we got nothing to talk about. So I have much more respect for stand-up. Mine is kind of more akin to like what Spalding Gray used to do, just rambling kind of monologues and it's couched within a Q&A setting of somebody asking a question that sets off like a 45 minute story. You watch Evening Harder, maybe 20 questions get asked in four hours. It just kind of goes into the next topic and the next topic and then try to bring it back to the original question.
CraveOnline: How did you learn to gracefully turn down inappropriate requests for personal favors?
Kevin Smith: Honesty is just the best policy where it's just like "Dude, I can't do that." Sometimes I'm just like "I'm not willing to do that. I've got people in my life who I'd rather do it for before I would do it for a stranger." Especially when people ask you, and I get that ad nauseum, where people are just like, "Help me make my movie." It's like, "Well, f*ck you, nobody helped me make my movie. I'm telling you, do it yourself, you'll feel better about yourself." And sometimes people get indignant where they're like, "Well, I am where you were at one point in your life so somebody had to help you." And I'm like, "Bullsh*t, nobody helped me. I financed it on credit cards. Do it yourself." It's just a way of couching that entertainingly so it doesn't come off as too harsh, but sometimes, most times, honesty is the best policy. Just go like, "I'm not going to help you. Do it yourself."
CraveOnline: And you also handle the people with stupid questions without making them feel bad.
Kevin Smith: Yeah, because there's a way to make fun of the question and not make fun of who they are. I would never presume to do that because you don't know anything about those people beyond what they're asking you. Even if it's the dopiest question in the world, I can't assume that this dude is a total retard or something like that. It's just like, "Well, that's a dopey question. Let's have fun with it." I've been very lucky inasmuch as being able to kind of poke fun at a question and have fun with a questioner without humiliating the questioner, without getting punched. That's the key, to answer the question in such a way where they don't want to come up and punch you in the face.
CraveOnline: Your wife is shy when you call on her, but yet she acts in your movies?
Kevin Smith: Well, she has no desire to be an actress beyond the stuff that I do. For her, it's not so much like, "I want to act in your movies." It's just like, "You're going to be busy for three or four months, I want to be involved otherwise I'm never going to see you." Her perspective is always like you cast all your friends, why wouldn't you cast me, your best friend? So I can't argue with that. In a world where everyone I cast in the first movie were complete unprofessionals, why would I stop that? Especially, it's not like a role the whole movie's hinging on or something like that. I wouldn't have cast my wife as Dante obviously, but in a very small supporting role, totally. And it's cool. It's a nice snapshot. 10 years down the road, I'll be like, "Wow, that's what you looked like back then."
CraveOnline: Will there be an Evening with a Vengeance?
Kevin Smith: Maybe. If we do it again, it would Evening with Kevin Smith 3: Revenge of the Smith. That makes sense to me. Yes, that makes sense to me. We'll see if that ever happens.
CraveOnline: Those talks work because you have such a unique perspective on the world. When did you realize you had this different perspective?
Kevin Smith: Probably when we started doing Q&A for Clerks. From Sundance forward because we would do these Q&As after the movie, me and Scott, and there would be some people who were like, "The Q&A's more entertaining than the movie." So I felt like, "Wow, I guess I'm fairly adept at that. I guess people like hearing me do the Q&A.
CraveOnline: Growing up, you didn’t feel like you had this lone perspective?
Kevin Smith: No way. Growing up I was no different than anybody else. I was talking to my friends about it the other day. Growing up I was not a leader by any stretch of the imagination. I was not a follower but like I was one of a group. I was not the dude deciding what we did on Friday night. I was just happy to go like, "What do you want to do?" So I never really singled myself out, never felt that special feeling that sets me apart or something.
CraveOnline: So is this acting thing a new direction for you?
Kevin Smith: Every role that Jack Black says no to, pretty much. It just feels like the industry is saying, “Look, stop directing. Go be in movies if you got to be involved. Just be in ‘em. F*ck directing.”
CraveOnline: Why do you crap on your own success?
Kevin Smith: I’ve grown up a fat so it’s always the steal the thunder attitude for me, the idea of making fun of yourself before someone else can. So that’s why, of my entire repertoire of stuff I’ve done, Jersey Girl takes a beating like a red-headed step child because it’s always easier to be like, “Jersey Girl sucked. I made Jersey Girl and it sucked,” than to have somebody say it to you first. That way, they’re sitting there waiting to tell you, and they’re like, “Oh, he knows. All right.” And for some of us, even Jersey Girl, I like Jersey Girl. It’s just kind of easier to make fun, and it’s hard to take the whole thing serious, which is good and bad. It’s good because it kind of armors you, but it’s bad because people tend not to take you serious, but that’s fine. I haven’t made any serious movies and what not. But I don’t know, it’s always the way I’ve been. It would be tough to change at this point to not be like, to be like, “Hey, I’m pimp, I’m good, aren’t I?” Believe me, I say that behind closed doors when it’s just my wife and kid. Not to strangers, though. And oddly enough, my wife and kid are the only ones who don’t believe it.
CraveOnline: So is this going to make you think about acting more full time?
Kevin Smith: Not really. I wound up acting more at the end of this year than I thought I was doing. I did the Die Hard thing, and then I did this thing for Showtime called Manchild. It’s fun, and it’s kind of interesting but at the same time I’m limited. I can do one thing fairly decently, and that is play myself and I wouldn’t call that acting. Some people will come to me and be like, “Hey, we want you to do something that you, here to have, haven’t done,” I’d be like, “You’re out of your mind.” I’m very, very limited. So it’s fun when someone offers you something because you’re like, “Well, I can do this, this is fun, and it f*ckin’ pays well!” So that’s cool, but pursuing it like this is my new job, no.
CraveOnline: What about the Showtime show?
Kevin Smith: The Showtime thing is called Manchild, it’s a pilot. I don’t know if they’re going to pick it up. God willing, I hope they do. It’s me, James Purefoy from
CraveOnline: Based on the British show?
Kevin Smith: It’s based on the British one. I didn’t see it, but I know it’s based on a British show. But in the
CraveOnline: Are you much of a drinker like the Catch and Release character?
Kevin Smith: Mm-mm, not at all. I don't really like booze. I mean, if I go to a Chilis, I'll rock like a strawberry margarita because they put so little booze in them there I guess, so it tastes more like just drinking fruit punch than anything else. But I'm not really a drinker. I don't like the taste of alcohol. I'm a sugar guy so you give me a choice between a Budweiser and a Yoohoo, I go Yoohoo every time.
CraveOnline: How was it being a guest critic with Roeper?
Kevin Smith: It was pimp when they asked me to be on Ebert and Roeper, and then I saw the other people they asked and I was like, “Sh*t, they’re asking everybody.” But, it was still cool. I grew up watching that show, before it was Ebert and Roeper, before it was Siskel and Ebert, when it was just At the Movies on PBS, and before that when it was Sneak Previews. So when I was a kid, I watched that show, and they were always referred to as the fat guy and the skinny guy in our house, and I grew up to be the fat guy, so it was kind of cool. But it was nice, and it’s a lot more work to it than you think because you actually have to write a review, which I never really thought about. They do kind of sit there and deliver to the camera before they get into cross talk, and they never mess up, and that’s because they’re reading from a teleprompter. And it’s your opinion, so no one can write the review for you, you have to write it. That was the challenging thing. You have to write a 200 word review, and as you can tell, I’m not good at keeping it short. So, that was tough, writing a 200 word review.
CraveOnline: What did you think about ripping on your fellow actors and directors?
Kevin Smith: Did you ever see the shows I did? I never ripped into anybody. But really, it’s because I go into it with a different perspective. That’s something I learned, too, when I was sitting there with Richard. I saw The Guardian, and I was like, “I liked this, it’s the kind of movie my old man would have loved.” So I had a different sentimental attachment to it; and also I looked at it going, “I could never make this movie, so f*ckin’ props!” And Richard’s like, “I’ve seen 10 of these this year. You’ve seen one, so f*ck you.” So it’s different for them, because they’re forced to watch every f*ckin’ movie, and they’ll see multiples of the same tired plot like that. Where as, I don’t go out to see movies like The Guardian. When I got to see it for free, I liked it. I really did walk away with more of an appreciation for critics, because it’s very easy to demonize them in my position, to villainize a critic and be like, “F*ckin’ asshole’s responsible for f*ckin’ my 63% on Rotten Tomatoes when I could have been 70. Why am I not certified fresh?” It’s not like curing cancer or laying brick, but it’s a tough job. You’re forced to go see movies you have no interest in seeing, and you have to come at it fairly, so to speak and then write something about it clever in a way that nobody else before and sh*t like that.
CraveOnline: What about the horror film you’re supposed to be directing?
Kevin Smith: Horror flick is all up here. I just have to put it down here. I’ve just been using acting as an excuse to not sit down and actually write.
CraveOnline: So what’s next for you?
Kevin Smith: For me, I don’t know. It’s kind of coming down to me wanting to do this comedy and me wanting to do this horror flick. And I feel like I should do the horror flick because I’ve done seven comedies in 12 years, and I don’t feel like a filmmaker most days. I just feel like a guy who makes those movies set in that universe. So if I really want to test myself or push myself, I’d try and make something completely out of my safety zone, completely outside my genre. That said, I’ve never tested myself, so why would I start now.
CraveOnline: Was it weird working with your best friend’s wife in Catch and Release?
Kevin Smith: I was saying to someone earlier today, because they were like, “It must have been great because you’re friends with Ben, and his old lady’s in the movie.” And back then, it wasn’t really his old lady just yet. It became his old lady while we were making the movie. One day, she showed up with a ring, and I was like, “Why wasn’t I invited?” And the belly first, ironically, which I kind of respected. Affleck's hedging his bets. So I had met her a handful of times prior to that. We were on an episode of Dinner For Five together when they were promoting Daredevil. So, during the show, you sit around, you bullsh*t, and what not. I did the same thing I do with Ben all the time, and just made fun of him and picked on him, and sh*t like that. And she would get really tight about it. At one point, she was like, “I’m going to kick your ass,” in that way where you’re like, “Is she joking or not?” You just couldn’t quite understand it. It was like, “Alias is taking me seriously.” And I should have recognized then she was being a little bit protective of that dude. So, then I ran into her at The Tonight Show, and somewhere else; but I had no relationship with her. The most time I spent with her was on this movie, and totally lovely girl, and what not. But it’s funny, because you know a person from working with them, and their body of work, and you also know about them from what a friend tells you about them, and sh*t like that. So the whole time I’m looking at her thinking, “Oh, I know things about you!”
CraveOnline: Okay, what are you playing in Live Free or Die Hard?
Kevin Smith: I play a character that has a lot of expository dialogue. I’m the only person in Die Hard who talks, and doesn’t shoot somebody. When I got there, I was like, “Len, can I get a gun?” He’s like, “No.” But it’s fun. It’s that role in the action movie where you provide a bunch of information that they need to head into act 3. And my character gets talked about throughout, and it could all change. By the time they get in the editing room, they might be like, “You suck, yank him out.” But as it stands now, in the script, and as I shot it, they talk about me a lot and then you finally meet me, and I provide a lot of information about the villain.
CraveOnline: Is there and room for Kevin Smith dialogue in there?
Kevin Smith: Sure, what’s nice about working on those big, God awfully expensive
