Silent Bob strikes back!

Along with writers from M.I.T. and Northeastern, The Tufts Daily sat down with acclaimed writer/director Kevin Smith to talk about his new movie "Jersey Girl," selling-out, and Ben Affleck.



Kevin Smith: I haven't been to Boston in two years. I love it here. I've got a special place for it in my heart since it was so kind to "Chasing Amy." Not to mention "Good Will Hunting," of course... You know, they showed "Good Will Hunting" to Mel Gibson. Mel Gibson was like, "I like the movie, but I want them to play grab-ass with each other."



>Tufts Daily: "I like it, but I'd like to see more Christ."



>KS: Exactly. Not nearly enough Christ for him.



>TD: I really thought that you tried something different with "Jersey Girl," which is obviously scary, especially when you know how many people are going to be watching it.



>KS: It's not even how many people are going to be watching it; it's the audience that you're used to. Suddenly turning around and saying, "Here's something that's real pussy soft."

Thankfully, the fan base is what it is, and there are big fans of "Chasing Amy," meaning not all "Jay and Silent Bob" guys. But we know that its the 13, 14-year-old Jay and Bob guys you're going to lose. You have the older Jay and Bob guys who can go either way: "Hey I can watch something funny, or I can watch something more serious too." But you know the hardcore, younger ones, they're probably going to feel like I've turned my back on them. And they're the ones that are most vocal on the internet, leading the charges of "You're a f--king sell-out!" And I'm like, "Ugh. Come back in ten years and tell me if you still feel that way."



>TD: You know, I found it interesting; you picked a direction here that was old-school, which reminded me of Frank Capra and Cary Grant. You sort of let the characters drive this movie instead of the plot.



>KS: Yeah, it's about the characters really. What little plot there is, it's almost unimportant, or secondary to what they're saying, how they're relating to one another. It would have been a lot more Frank Capra-esque if I'd left in more of the speech at the town hall when Ben Affleck's character gets up. You could tell it was cut, right? There's no way in hell that the dude who writes dialogue didn't write a speech for that moment. And I did write a speech; Affleck hit it out of the park, delivered it perfectly, and it was my favorite scene in the movie -- really powerful stuff. Straight out of Frank Capra, very "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." And then we screened it with a test audience, and 18 out of 20 people said, "What the f--k was with that speech, I hated it. He's saying it's good to be a garbage man?" You want to jump out from behind the glass and start defending yourself, but you can't. There was even a guy there who said "Look, I am a garbage man, and even I didn't buy it." So I said, "Okay, it's gone."

Sometimes I watch Affleck in films I didn't direct and it feels like they didn't ride him hard enough. It's like they say, "This is Ben Affleck, he's a big movie star, one or two takes and I'm good." You have to just ride him because he has it and he wants to do it, but if you don't ask for it, he might not think to give it to you right away. Stick in there: "One more, one more dude. There's a better reading in there." Because he'll get to it; he'll knock your socks off.



TD: Carlin was so great in this movie. I really felt like all the actors just got behind this movie and gave great performances. That must make writing a lot easier when you have people that say, "Yeah, I totally see what you're going for here."



>KS: Absolutely. It just makes you feel like they trust you on so many different levels, and that they take it seriously. The only difference between me and a first time director is that now people assume that I know what I'm doing, because I've made six movies. But I'm still the same person as I was when I made the first one, and that's still the same guy who's like, "I hope they don't see through this charade, that I'm not a director." I'm worried they'll be like, "Wait a second, you're just a phony. Phony!" So, when they put themselves in your hands you feel awesome: that they trust me and believe that I'm leading them in the right direction. Because you never know: you hope you're doing it right, and you hope you're leading them in the right direction.

You look at bad movies and you wonder how that happened, because those dudes really thought that they were making a good movie. Maybe somewhere along the way they realized it wasn't good and had to finish it, but nobody sets out to make a piece of dogs**t. Everyone wants to make a really great movie that connects with the audience, whether it's on a personal level or just in mainstream entertainment, everyone wants to kind of do that. So every time up I wonder if I'm that guy this time, where I'll be making a movie and think it's really great, and then when all is said and done, it just turns out to be balls. So you always have that in the front of your mind when you're shooting a movie, whether the actors are going to sniff me out. Although I imagine that if Affleck smelled fear he would take over. He's the kind of guy that would say "F**k it-I'll lead the charge." You know, he's the dude that blew up the asteroid. So he's used to playing the hero.