Kevin Smith breaks Bob's silence to talk about new TV career

In 1994, Kevin Smith introduced the film world to a realm already intimately known by many: "Clerks" made a feature-length movie out of a day in the lives of two slackers in their 20s discussing "Star Wars" and comic books. The duo spends much of the movie quoting other movies - "Salsa shark ... We're gonna need a bigger boat" (Jaws, 1975) - and not really getting their lives together.

Since then, Smith has reprised this winning formula, as well as the film's popular breakout supporting team of Jay and Silent Bob, in five movies: "Mallrats" (1995), "Chasing Amy" (1997), "Dogma" (1999), "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" (2001), and "Clerks II" (2006); he strayed only once, with 2004's "Jersey Girl," but that did not turn out well.

Ever since, lines from Smith's own movies have become quotable canon, and legions of cult fans have made his films - and related merchandise and comic book spin-offs - into a genre all its own. Now, on the eve of his latest foray into television, the Daily spoke to Smith in a college press conference call to get the artist's view of his work, both past and present.

Smith's slacker-bonding realm extends to "Reaper" and beyond

Smith is aware of the cultural effect he's had. "I feel like I've contributed to the downfall of meaningful conversation," he said, referring to his characters' affinities for aimless dialogues that usually involve equal parts original material and quotes from other works.

"It's a nice shorthand, though; there's always lulls in conversations - when you kick back and riff on movies, it keeps the familial bond without having to admit you're attracted to your friends but would never cross that line," Smith said.

This close-male-friendship-bordering-on-homoerotic manifests itself in "Reaper," a new CW show for which Smith directed the pilot. The show concerns Sam (played by Bret Harrison), a college dropout-turned-employee at a Best Buy-like store, whose parents sold his soul to the devil. Sam and his best friend Sock (Tyler Labine) must capture escaped souls and send them back to hell. It's a hilarious show and extremely well-cast, particularly Ray Wise, who is excellent as Satan.

When asked about his experience directing on the show, Smith replied, "The kids were stupid enough to look up to me - these cats were somewhat fans!"

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The show was created by Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters, two writers who previously worked on "Law & Order: SVU."

Smith notes that this pair is unique among television show creators: "I was so bemused by the notion that two chicks created a genre show. That's kinda historic to me," said Smith.

As for their asking Smith to direct their pilot episode, the opportunity came completely by chance.

"My agents always assumed I would pass on TV scripts, mostly because I'd be a bad choice," Smith said. "When I found out about this, I was very excited, like, 'Who wants me to direct a TV show?' I read it and realized, 'Oh, it's kinda 'Dogma'-like,' or like 'Clerks II': two guys hanging out bulls----ing. I could have written this if I were talented.'"

It does have shades of "Dogma," but where "Dogma" had whole scenes devoted to discussing the specific logistics of its actions, "Reaper" is dismissive and cuts right to the action. A character raises the issue, "You can't sell somebody else's soul," but is quickly hushed in favor of just going out and fighting devils.

It also shows some signs of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fandom. "The girls were big 'Buffy' fans," Smith said. "In a world where you've got average people dealing with supernatural elements, Buffy is a touchstone."

Smith's interest in TV doesn't stop with "Reaper"

Smith doesn't watch much recent television, though he does think some of it is great. "I've been way into 'The Closer' lately. They don't do a good job of promoting what that show is - this show's way better than the TV spots!"

He has, however, been delving into television work quite a lot lately. Other than "Reaper," he was tapped to direct an episode of "Battlestar Galactica," which unfortunately fell through.

"I wrote a blog about how much I like it, and they asked me to do an episode," Smith said. "I waited too long before I said yes, and the timing didn't work out. For now, I'll be the dude sitting at home saying, 'This s--t's genius!'"

Furthermore, later this year, he'll be writing and directing an episode of the "Heroes" spin-off, "Heroes: Origins."

"They thought of me first, because I like comic books," Smith said. They also tapped Eli Roth to write and direct an episode (he agreed) and Quentin Tarantino, who said, according to Smith, "What the f--k is 'Heroes?'"

Smith noted that this was an odd reaction on Tarantino's part, because "one of the last conversations I had with him [Tarantino], he said he loved TV more than movies."

Listening to Anthrax indicates true directorial freedom

Smith is, like Roth and Tarantino, known for writing and directing his own work. For "Reaper," he said he "polished the dialogue," but that was as far as his influence went.

"When I was doing my cut of the show, I was doing it late one night and the only music I had access to was Anthrax playing 'Among the Living,' which I used ad nauseum," Smith said. "I feel bad for anybody who had to see my cut, because that played every few seconds - the girls [Fazekas and Butters] engineered most of the music."

According to Smith, there's plenty of creative freedom afforded to the director of a pilot: "I had a cush gig as pilot director; when you come in later, you're locked into the look of the show, but when you direct the pilot, you set that tone. I just had to give it a certain look and feel and hope that every episode after that would give it that tone we struck. It turned out to be a pretty watchable show."