Kevin Smith discusses his next big movie

When money is tight, Zack and Miri take a chance on porn

Mike O’Malley / Guest Writer / The USD Vista

Kevin Smith has been a director with a cult-like fan base since 1993, when he made the film “Clerks” with his friends in the convenience store he worked at. Since then, Smith and his company, View Askew Productions, has worked with big names like Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, George Carlin and Will Ferrell in the “Jay and Silent Bob” series, which have been champions in the independent comedy genre. In his latest film, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” Smith teams up with Seth Rogen and friends from the wildly successful Judd Apatow films, such as “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up” and “Superbad.” This collaboration results in Smith’s most outrageous film to date.

“Zack and Miri” is a story about two lifelong friends who fall on hard times financially. With no utilities and looming rent payments, the two come up with a plan to make a pornographic film and market it to their graduating high school class. The ragtag cast and crew embark on filming their skin flick in the coffee shop where they work. Smith’s departure from the “Jay and Silent Bob” movies is a graceful one, fully embracing the immensely popular comedy of Craig Robinson, Rogen and Elizabeth Banks. He sat down for a phone interview with multiple publications last Friday:

Question: How much of this film was autobiographical, this theme of do-it-yourself filmmaking?
Kevin Smith: Well, if you scrape away the porn, the over-trappings of the story, it really is kind of the story about how we made “Clerks.” A bunch of knuckle heads who don’t know anything get together and make a feature. The experience of making “Clerks” 15 years ago definitely informed the plot of this movie.

Q: How do you think a romanticized idea of porn is going to appeal to college kids?
KS: I think most people will take this movie for what it is. I don’t think they’ll look at it and be like, “This is changing everything I thought about the porn industry!” I’m not looking to convert people. I’m certainly looking to entertain them. I’m not sure how people are confused that this movie is actually pornography. The billboards clearly say ‘rated R,’ so I don’t know how people are confusing what is blatantly a comedy with hardcore pornography.

Q: How did growing up in New Jersey affect your writing style?
KS: I think the area in Jersey in which I grew up certainly affected the dialogue I write. Rather frank and candid dialogue, peppered with a lot of vulgarity. It’s just my circle of friends, the way I grew up, and that’s how we all speak. I imagine if I had grown up any place else it wouldn’t be much different. I can’t say that the great state of New Jersey necessarily influenced that as much as the people in Jersey that I hung around with did. Growing up in Jersey is like growing up fat, you always have to try harder.

Q: How did the styles of the Seth Rogen and the Judd Apatow crew blend with your View Askew friends from say, “Clerks” or “Dogma”?
KS: It combined rather well. At the end of the day, they’re all consummate professionals who love to act. They all honor the script. What Seth is genius at is being innately talented at ad-libbing material that sounds like it’s organic to the film. When he makes a joke that’s not in the script, it sounds like it’s coming out of the characters mouth, not Seth’s. He’s also good at ad-libbing things that propel the story forward. He’s not just executing, he’s elevating. He’s actually thinking about the story. He’s selfless like that. You love a guy like that on set.

Q: I heard that this movie actually got an NC-17 rating originally. Can you tell us a little bit about editing the movie to get an R?
KS: I didn’t edit anything out, that’s the thing. We tried to work with [the Motion Picture Association of America]. We tried to make the cuts to get the R. After doing that three times, I decided to take the appeal process and say, “I’m not comfortable cutting in the movie anymore.” We put everything in the movie we wanted, accepted the NC-17 rating and then took it to the appeal screening. It’s out of the hands of the MPAA ratings board and put in front of an audience. The filmmaker gets 15 minutes to say why it should be R, the ratings board says why it should be NC-17, and it’s voted on by secret ballot. Now, I had done this twice before with “Clerks” and “Jersey Girl,” but this time I felt like I might lose this. So, I was sitting there thinking, “I don’t think I did it.” Then they came out and told me we had gotten the R, and I went home. There won’t be an unrated DVD. This is the whole movie.

Q: What are some films and directors that have influenced you over the years?
KS: When I was a kid, I never really thought about being a filmmaker. It seemed like a job that people in Hollywood did, and I didn’t live in Hollywood. It wasn’t until my 21st birthday that I saw Richard Linklater’s “Slacker.” That kind of got me into independent films like early Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese. I was always a moviegoer when I was a kid, but the one that kind of got me moving was “Slacker.”

Q: How do you feel your directing chops have grown over the years?
KS: Only recently has that stuff started to improve. I’m not a gifted filmmaker. It’s not in my genetics like Scorsese or Paul Thomas Anderson. I don’t live, breathe and eat film, but I do like to write. When I made “Clerks,” it was more about the script and directing actors and I didn’t really care about the look of the film. I didn’t have any style, and I still don’t to this day. It wasn’t until “Clerks 2” that I actually started trying. After 15 years of being a filmmaker for a living, I feel like finally now I’m starting to learn, I guess.

Q: What’s next for Kevin Smith?
KS: Hopefully in the spring I’m going to do this flick called “Red State.” This little political horror movie that I scripted right after “Zack and Miri,” and I’m kind of looking forward to it because I don’t feel like a filmmaker most days. I feel like a writer who happens to direct what he writes. With “Red State,” I kind of get to switch genres. There are no laughs in the movie. It’s like a 180 degree change. I feel like if I can pull this off, I might feel more like a filmmaker. If not I’ll be like, “Okay, I’m the dick and fart joke guy and I’ll do this for the rest of my life.”

Q: What’s your best advice for young filmmakers with low budgets?
KS: Make “Clerks.” It totally worked for me.

“Zack and Miri Make a Porno” hits theaters tomorrow.