Since his debut film, 1994's "Clerks," filmmaker and Monmouth County native Kevin Smith has turned out a string of movies (among them 1997's "Chasing Amy" and 1999's "Dogma") that have placed New Jersey and its curious cast of inhabitants on the big screen.
This weekend (Aug. 9 and 10), Smith will be presented with the Lifesaver Award for lifetime achievement at the inaugural Downbeach Film Festival. While films will be screening at various venues throughout the weekend, Smith will be honored at 7 p.m. Aug. 9 in the screening room of Atlantic City’s Resorts Hotel and Casino, 1133 Boardwalk, following a retrospective of his career.
Smith spoke with Jersey Shore Metromix this week about his upcoming film with Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” as well as the award and his first foray into horror.The day after this interview, the Motion Picture Association of America announced Smith had won his appeal to lower the rating of "Zack and Miri" from an NC-17 to an R.
How does it feel to be receiving a lifetime achievement award at the Downbeach Film Festival?
It makes me feel like I’m closer to the end than the beginning -- that’s weird. It’s nice though, always nice to get an award in Jersey.
So, how's work going on "Zack and Miri Make a Porno"?
Good -- we have our appeals screening tomorrow (Aug. 5) to see if we can overturn the NC-17 to an R without having to make a cut. If they tell us we have to make a cut, then I guess it’s time to trim. But, the appeals part of the process is kind of to avoid that step.
How much are they asking for you to cut, just a small number of frames?
It’s very minimal, but I submitted the film three times prior and made trims, and then I kind of hit a wall with it where I was like, "You know what? Let’s see if maybe we’ll get lucky in the appeals process. If not, then I’ll go back and make the final trims." This is a shot that I’d really like to hold onto, and that’s the one that’s kind of a big sticking point.
Oh, OK. So, how was it working with Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks on this film?
It was great; they’re phenomenal in the flick. Both of them turned in really great performances -- not just comedic but dramatic when it called for it. They’re both entirely gifted.
That's something Seth has shown in a lot of movies, the multiple dimensions to his perfomances.
To say the least, yeah. In "Zach and Miri," it’s no different. He gets to showcase a different set of his chops in that movie, as well as the comedic chops.
Now, this whole thing with the ratings board, is that something you guys were expecting going into the project?
We were kind of not expecting it. With the stuff that I make, I kind of butt heads with the ratings board. On the first movie, "Clerks," they gave us an NC-17, we appealed it, got it flipped to an R without having to make a cut. On "Jersey Girl," they gave us an R and then I appealed that, got it flipped to a PG-13 without having to make a cut.
What was their sticking point on "Jersey Girl"?
It was a conversation between Ben (Affleck) and Liv (Tyler) in the diner, they’re having a discussion about masturbation, a rather clinical conversation, and (the ratings board) felt it crossed into R-rated territory, which was ludicrous. So this one, it would be nice to make it a trifecta of overturns, but I don’t know if we’ll be that lucky this time.
It kind of seems like the story for "Zach and Miri" is reflecting, in a comedic way, what’s happening in the economy these days, with these two adults who are faced with economic hard times and turn to making amateur porn.
Yeah, it’s true, man. We hadn’t predicted the gas crisis when we were shooting the movie, but it actually feels rather financially timely. But, you know, it wasn’t the intention -- it was just we got lucky by the economy being so unlucky. We’ll see, though: Maybe by the end of October, that’ll all be cleaned up.
So tell me a bit about one of your next projects, "Red State."
Yeah, it’s this little horror movie that's about 180-degrees away from everything we’ve done so far. But yeah, we’re getting the financing together for it now and hope to be shooting it by the beginning of next year.
I've heard that it's politically-themed or about fundamentalism in a way.
It is, yeah, it’s politically themed and very much about fundamentalism gone awry.
Has that been something that's been difficult to get financing or studio interest behind?
Yeah, I guess some folks don’t feel that it's overtly commercial on its surface ,so yeah, it’s been a bit of a drag trying to get financing, but I feel we’re close now.
And how does that feel for you, as a writer and a director, to be branching out into different genres?
It’ll be kind of interesting, thrilling on some level, where it’s like, "Wow, I’m working without a net on this one," because at least with the other flicks, I can always fall back into the comedy, but this one not so much. It’ll be an eye-opener for me, that's for sure. Maybe I’ll walk out of it going, “Oh my God, I can’t direct horror to save my life.”
Since you're receiving the lifetime achievement award, I have to ask: What directors really influenced you when you were on your way up?
Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch, Hal Hartley, Richard Linklater.
Jarmusch is getting honored at the Downbeach Film Festival, too.
Is he, really?
Yeah, he's getting the Independent Icon award. How does it feel to be honored at the same festival as him?
Right on. It feels awesome; it feels great. I’ve been doing it now for 15 years, so I guess it’s official -- it’s a career.
Photo credit: Associated Press
