Catching Up With... Kevin Smith

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Fifteen years ago, writer/director Kevin Smith took the independent film world by surprise with Clerks, a slacker-style, low budget movie that has earned an intense cult following. With his newest film Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Smith is back with his sometimes-gross, sometimes-controversial and always-irreverent style of comedy that makes the fanboys smile and the straight-laced avoid at all cost. Talking with Paste recently, Smith covered it all, including his new comedy with “that dude” Seth Rogen, his plans on being more serious for his next film, plus kazoos, economics, movie protests and shit shots...

Paste: Making a movie about making a porno: This isn't exactly a theme for an every day, mainstream comedy. How did the idea come about?

Smith: The idea of people making homemade porn was something that always kind of interested me. So, since as far back as ‘96 when we were out making Chasing Amy, I was shaping what eventually became Zack and Miri Make a Porno. But it wasn’t until I saw (Seth) Rogen in 40 Year Old Virgin, which I finally caught on DVD, that I was like, “Oh my God. That’s the guy! That’s the dude. I want to cast that dude. I want to write the movie for that dude.” And then, that dude got really famous. And I got scared that dude wouldn’t do my movie. But mercifully, he liked it, jumped on board. So, it just kind of worked out. I just wanted to tell that story about people who are so blasé and cool with sex that they’re just like, “Whoa, let’s just do this. This is how we’ll get out of debt.” Then they discover that they’re not nearly as cool and blasé with sex as they thought they were.

Paste: I’ve heard that the filmmaking process you used for Clerks was an inspiration for this.

Smith: Yeah, definitely. As I was writing it (Zack and Miri) the way in which we made Clerks started seeping into the writing of it because this is a story about a bunch of people who don’t know anything about filmmaking who get together to make a film. It was like, “This happened to me once.” So, I started pulling from my experience of making Clerks back in ‘93.

Paste: In the production notes it says, “This film is vintage Kevin Smith.” What does that mean to you?

Smith: I don’t know. I’ve read that, too. I don’t understand what that means. I guess because it’s very candid when it comes to sexual talk. Very frank. That’s the nearest I can figure. To me, vintage Kevin Smith would have Jay and Silent Bob in it. I mean, it’s got the guy who played Jay. But, I don’t know. Based on the definition of "vintage," I would have to assume that it would have to include Jay and Silent Bob. But I don’t argue with it. If they want to put any adjective in front of it that’s not negative, I’m fine. If they were like, "This is classically bad as per usual Kevin Smith," then I’d raise an issue. But having them say “vintage”? I can live with that.

Paste: Explain what the film is about.

Smith: The movie’s about these two life-long friends, Zack and Miri, who live together and have fallen into financially dire straits. To get out of debt they decide to make an adult movie together thinking that they’ll be able to do it without it getting weird but then things get weird on them.

Paste: Seth has talked about his introductions to pornography when he was young. You want to tell us a little about your introduction to the art form?

Smith: [long pause, coughs, chuckles] I guess the first time I ever saw porn I was about 12 years old, I was at a family friend’s house, and my parents had gone out to eat with this family friend. And I was staying home to watch TV and baby sit the dog. They just wanted to get away from me awhile so they could have adult conversation. So I’m going through her VHS drawer, and I saw a tape that had a ripped off sticker on the spine that looked professional. So I popped it in and it turned out to be this porno flick. The two things I remember most about it were they were fucking in the pool so the dude pulls out and you see him shoot into the water and the cum’s floating around. And the whole score was done with a kazoo. It was so weird. So my visual introduction to sex was when you fuck, in your head you will hear the sound of a kazoo playing. The first time I eventually did have sex months later all I heard in my head was a kazoo playing. Still, to this day, every once in awhile I hear that kazoo.

Paste: Compared to what Seth worked on in his films, is there less improvisation in your films? Are they a lot more scripted than they appear?

Smith: For me, I’ve always been a script guy. But it’s always been based on who you’re working with. Like in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back there’s a lot more ad-libbing in that movie than there was in some of the other stuff I’ve done because you’ve got some very funny people in there who are much funnier than me. So I’m not going to tell them, “Don’t say that. It’s not in the script.” Like, we had Will Ferrell and Chris Rock in that movie. I’m not going to tell Will Ferrell and Chris Rock that I know better, what’s funnier, than them. I’ve never been against ad-libbing. It’s useful. You get people on a set who will be in the middle of a take and an actor or actress will make a joke, and the whole crew laughs and it’s funny. But unfortunately, it has nothing to do with the scene you’re shooting, nothing to do with the character. And it sticks out like a sore thumb. So when you’re in the editing room you’re like, “I can’t use this.” Then it becomes an outtake of sorts. What Seth’s really gifted at is Seth can ad-lib a line that sounds like it came from the script. It sounds like it’s coming from his character, not from him personally. It’s germane to the discussion, so if he ad-libs in the middle of the scene it actually has something to do with the scene itself. And it usually propels the plot forward. So, he’s really good at that kind of that thing. He’s, like, one in a million. Nine and a half times out of 10, somebody ad-libs on a set, it’s simply not usable. Everything that Seth ad-libs is absolutely usable. You welcome a guy like that cause you’re given the option. But, at the same time, he loved the script. He did every word of the script as well.