The movie stars Dermot Mulroney as a corrupt senator arranges for the murder of his biggest liability, his erratic burnout step-daughter Mary Sue (Sierra McCormick), only for her to unwittingly discover her natural talent as an untouchable killer.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking to Mulroney about his work on ‘Killing Mary Sue,’ as well as his own directorial efforts, and his interior monologue acting skills.
Dermot Mulroney appears in ‘Killing Mary Sue’.
Moviefone: How did you react when you got the script for the first time? Because this is a really bonkers movie.
Dermot Mulroney: I was so thrilled when I read it. I just loved the script. I thought it was, bonkers is a great word for it. My first thought being, ‘gosh, who makes movies like this anymore? Let’s go.’ High concept, murderous, bloody dead bodies, comedy, backstabbing. I mean, it’s really unique.
MF: For those who don’t know, what is a Mary Sue in fiction?
DM: Mary Sue represents that sort of super girl image that’s kind of comics, kind of movies, kind of nineties TV shows where they can do anything. They get out of every sticky situation. So she is named Mary Sue, but it’s a play on itself on a thing that I didn’t even know how to name. So I was that guy from this generation catching up to the world!
Sierra McCormick in ‘Killing Mary Sue.’ Photo: Samuel Goldwyn Films.
MF: How was James K. Sunshine to work with as a director?
DM: James saw the whole thing in his head and it was completely unconventional, even some of the filming. It was sometimes challenging because he’d skip parts of the scene because he knew he wasn’t going to see that, and I’m fine with all that, but on each of those terms, I had to say, well, I’ve worked with a lot of young filmmakers. I’m, ‘you sure you don’t want that part in the middle in case for the edit?’ But the way he put together is exactly how he saw it. And I love the creation of it. It’s high color, it’s high-paced, it’s weird, it’s got graphics on it, it tells the story out of time.
MF: You’ve directed in the past. Does that change how you interact with directors going forward?
DM: No, my approach to directors of any sort has blossomed over the years. I’m a well-seasoned actor who really wants to deliver for whatever the director wants, and in this case, it turned out great. Honestly, I’m frank about it. If I was younger or less experienced, I might be questioning that more. And so, now I really want to embrace the voice of the filmmaker. I’ve learned a lot from the greatest directors of the 20th century, and yet, I still don’t want to try to impose that on somebody else.
‘Killing Mary Sue’ opens in theaters on June 20th.
MF: There are a couple of moments in ‘Killing Mary Sue’ where you have an internal monologue going and you’ve got to react. How does that work? And do you have a particular trick to internal monologue acting?
DM: No. I was so thrilled to do the internal monologue acting! I remember recording it, and it is what they used, but we recorded that in the closet. Or I would say, it was in the mansion from the movie, so the closet is really about the size of a room anyway, great place to record sound. I didn’t have to do that in ADR, so I’d have the person on set, and I think that’s how we did it. I can hear how I might say it if I was having my inner monologue so that my facial expressions, which obviously I used to the thickest extent in this performance, really over the top, so that they matched what I was thinking.
MF: What did you do to try and get into the head of Bradley Weiner? Or was it just, ‘I’m going to have so much fun playing this, I don’t need to do a deep acting dive on him?’
DM: The way I describe it is sometimes the character overtakes you. I’ve had characters overtake me and I’ve been wrong about it. But I know some of the parts that I did the best on that have lived the longest were very peculiar. And really, I didn’t plan to play Dirty Steve in ‘Young Guns’. I didn’t plan to play him that way. He just came to life within me. I won’t take special credit for that, but I can really attest to when that happens it can be magic too for film actors.
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What is the plot of ‘Killing Mary Sue’?
A corrupt senator arranges for the murder of his biggest liability, his erratic burnout step-daughter Mary Sue, only for her to unwittingly discover her natural talent as an untouchable killer.
Director Kevin Smith talks ‘Dogma’ 25th Anniversary rerelease.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Kevin Smith about reclaiming ‘Dogma’ from the hands of the Weinstein brothers (the film has been unavailable for theatrical or streaming release for two decades), how he’s changed as a filmmaker and the reaction to the once-controversial movie this time around.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews.
(Lto R) Salma Hayek Pinault, Alan Rickman and Chris Rock in ‘Dogma.’ Photo: Triple Media Film.
Moviefone: To begin with, what does getting ‘Dogma’ back mean to you?
Kevin Smith: It comes at the right time in my career because right about now people are like, “No, he sucks.” So it’s nice to be able to bring out an old movie where it’s, “Well, he didn’t suck then, there was hope!” Generally when I bring out a new movie it’s like I’ve got to convince people, “No, really I should still be doing this,” and they’re, “you should have stopped a long f****n’ time ago!” Coming out with this old movie that they liked back in the day and still like today is like going out there with a shield.
(L to R) Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in ‘Dogma.’ Photo: Triple Media Film.
MF: How do you view it now through the lens of who you are today?
KS: We’ve been touring it for 20 cities, then we just also played at Cannes. Every night I’ve been watching the movie and interacting with a vision of a young Kevin Smith. The kid who made that movie, believed in everything that’s up there. He’s not talking about Christian mythology, he’s not raising a hairy eyebrow or coming out with sharp teeth and claws the way Monty Python would on ‘Life of Brian.’ He believes in everything, so it’s been charming to sit back and watch the movie and be, “Aw, young Kevin Smith is so adorable.” I don’t have those same beliefs anymore so it’s like we say in the movie, beliefs are tricky to get around because once you have a belief you’re mired in it, but it’s more important to have good ideas, and now I think I have good ideas.
(L to R) Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith and Matt Damon in ‘Dogma.’ Photo: Triple Media Film.
MF:‘Dogma’ was protested upon its release. Do you think the reactions would be the same today?
KS: What an interesting question. I think if we would have done it for the first time now and it was a streaming series I don’t think people would bump into it that hard. I mean, look, last year ‘Heretic’ came out and granted it went through the prism of the Latter-Day Saints, the Church of Mormon, and the Book of Mormon, so it wasn’t as big a polemic perhaps in the Mormon community. But that was a movie where watching it, I was leaning forward going, “Oh, a kindred spirit, of sorts.” The movie came and was respected and nobody got in trouble or nearly got killed.
Alan Rickman in ‘Dogma.’ Photo: Triple Media Film.
MF: Have you seen any protests at all this time around?
KS: I’ve only seen one or two protests, one of which was as I was driving into the AMC movie theater in Dallas where we were doing our screenings. So I’m going to pull into the mall and I’m at the light. I look over at the median and there’s a kid, 18, 19 years old and he’s holding a placard, like big white cardboard, has the current ‘Dogma’ poster in the middle of it and it says, “AMC blasphemes” or something like that. So I was, “Oh my God, how adorable.” So I laid on the horn, give support and the kid is so excited and he looks around and he sees me, and then he sees who I am and he looks away. He f****n’ shunned me! So that’s as bad as the protest has been this time around. I’ll take that, that’s fine.
(L to R) Linda Fiorentino, Jason Mewes, Salma Hayek and Chris Rock in ‘Dogma.’ Photo: Triple Media Film.
MF: Finally, how else has the rerelease reaction been different compared to the original release?
KS: Last time the protests were loud and vicious because people hadn’t seen the movie so the people who were making hay over it did so without anyone seeing what the movie is. Once people saw the movie, they’re, “this doesn’t go after the faith, this movie’s so reverent it’s crazy.” I now know years later, people may have heard about, “oh, you guys went through it.” But I’m seeing current reviews, people going, “can you believe that this movie took s**t back in the day and almost got people killed?” It seems to have aged better and plays way better now although, oddly enough, it feels like there’s less freedom in 2025, religious or otherwise, than there was in 1999.
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What is the plot of ‘Dogma’?
An abortion clinic worker with a special heritage is called upon to save the existence of humanity from being negated by two renegade angels trying to exploit a loophole and re-enter Heaven.
Who is in the cast of ‘Dogma’?
Ben Affleck as Bartleby
Matt Damon as Loki
Linda Fiorentino as Bethany
Alan Rickman as Metatron
Jason Lee as Azrael
George Carlin as Cardinal Glick
Salma Hayek Pinault as Serendipity
Chris Rock as Rufus
Jason Mewes as Jay
Kevin Smith as Silent Bob
Alanis Morissette as God
(L to R) Chris Rock, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes and Linda Fiorentino in ‘Dogma’. Photo: Lionsgate Films.
(L to R) Reed Northrup as Belly, Nicholas Cirillo as Burny and Austin Zajur as Brian David in the Romantic Comedy, ‘The 4:30 Movie’, a Saban Films release. Photo courtesy of Ralph Bavaro.
(L to R) Siena Agudong as Melody Barnegat and Austin Zajur as Brian David in the Romantic Comedy, ‘The 4:30 Movie’, a Saban Films release. Photo courtesy of Ralph Bavaro.
Moving away from the deconstructed horror and near-nihilistic meta comedy of his past few films (including the pure despair of his last one, ‘Clerks III’), Kevin Smith seems to be in a much better mood with ‘The 4:30 Movie,’ a semi-autobiographical teen comedy that draws heavily from his own early life and finds just enough of a sweet spot between his usual tasteless humor and some genuinely earnest coming-of-age romance to keep the film interesting and perhaps even attract a few new viewers to his walled cinematic garden.
Smith’s latest joint benefits from nice performances by his young cast as well, which partially counteracts his usual tendency to park the camera and let scenes roll on for too long. At the same time, he can’t help but include a bunch of his trademark raunchy humor, and the list of guest stars from the vast canon of his View Askewniverse can be equal parts distracting, irritating, and funny.
Story and Direction
Director/Writer Kevin Smith behind the scenes of the Romantic Comedy, ‘The 4:30 Movie’, a Saban Films release. Photo courtesy of Ralph Bavaro.
For those of us of a certain age who grew up in the New York/New Jersey area – as Kevin Smith did – “The 4:30 Movie” was a holy after-school ritual every day. Broadcast on the local ABC-TV affiliate (Channel 7, back in the prehistoric days when cable was something you towed a car with and streaming was what rain did down your windows), the program fit both theatrical and made-for-TV films into a daily 90-minute timeslot. The show’s themed weeks, in which it would show all five ‘Planet of the Apes’ films or a string of Godzilla features, were an essential part of many grade-schoolers’ film education.
We suspect Smith was a fan of that ‘4:30 Movie’ too, but that’s not the nostalgia that his new film ‘The 4:30 Movie’ harvests, sadly. Instead, the title refers to the showtime of a new R-rated film playing at the local multiplex in the New Jersey town of Atlantic Highlands (near where Smith grew up) that three friends – film-obsessed Brian (Austin Zajur), ladies’ man Burny (Nicholas Cirillo), and seemingly dim yet observant Belly (Reed Northrup) – plan on sneaking into after paying to see an earlier PG movie they’ve watched before. But there’s a new wrinkle to the plan: Brian has also invited his crush Melody (Siena Agudong) along. After failing to go to second base (with her encouragement and permission) in her pool last summer, Brian has remained infatuated with Melody and wants to take her on a proper date…with his two best friends along for the trip.
‘The 4:30 Movie’ takes place in the summer of 1986, right in the midst of Smith’s teen years and clearly inspired by events from his own life (the film was shot at the cineplex in which it takes place, which Smith now owns). As with all Smith films, the plot is only a loose framework on which to hang a bunch of character interactions and random incidents, most of which feature walk-ons from Smith regulars like Rosario Dawson, Jason Lee, Justin Long, Harley Quinn Smith, and of course ‘Clerks’ stalwarts Jeff Anderson, Brian O’Halloran, and Jason Mewes (spoiler alert: they don’t play their regular characters here, but the movie is very much set in the View Askewniverse).
Ken Jeong as Manager Mike in the Romantic Comedy, ‘The 4:30 Movie’, a Saban Films release. Photo courtesy of Ralph Bavaro.
There are plenty of moments, characterizations, and jokes in ‘The 4:30 Movie’ that fall flat, just as there are others that are crude or, in the case of the overbearing, self-important multiplex owner Manager Mike (Ken Jeong), borderline offensive. But there is a sweetness at the heart of the movie, exemplified by the relationship between Brian and Melody. He is shy, horny, and immature, but respectful where it counts, while she is self-possessed, confident, wise beyond her years, and direct in her eagerness to be Brian’s girlfriend. Their blooming romance comes into direct collision with Brian’s relationship to his two bros, Burny and Belly, with Burny in particular having a dim view of the female species that one hopes he’ll eventually grow out of. The situation brings the friendship between the three to a head, changing their dynamic in ways they don’t see coming.
Those are the best parts of ‘The 4:30 Movie,’ where Smith hits at some genuine emotional truth among teenagers who are just starting to brush up against the feelings and experiences that mark their transition to adulthood. Smith’s empathy for that, as well as his genuine affection for the time, place, and cultural zeitgeist in which the film is set, makes this one of his better movies in recent years. The rest of it – the inert camerawork, staid compositions, jokes that just dangle helplessly in the air – in a weird way, they’re part of the charm too this time.
The Cast
(L to R) Reed Northrup, Nicholas Cirillo and Austin Zajur in director Kevin Smith’s ‘The 4:30 Movie’. Photo: Saban Films.
Whether it’s the aging semi-professional slackers of ‘Clerks III’ or the insipid leads of ‘Yoga Hosers,’ Kevin Smith has a knack for casting people it can sometimes be difficult to watch. With ‘The 4:30 Movie,’ however, his two leads – Austin Zajur as Brian and Siena Agudong as Melody – are two of his better choices. Agudong in particular is a potential star in the making, radiating intelligence, charisma, and warmth, while Zajur is quite effective himself as a teen pulled in several directions while trying to find his own.
Nick Cirillo and Reed Northrup both show their own flashes of wit and depth as Brian’s friends, with Northrup in particular having a standout scene late in the game. As for the rest of the cast – well, it’s a wonder than Ken Jeong manages to eke out some memorably funny lines and even a moment of humanity or two as the otherwise abrasive Manager Mike, while Genesis Rodriguez gets a brief spotlight as a box office cashier with a secret of her own. Everyone else – Smith’s usual coterie of pals and repertoire players – more or less walks through and waves.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Reed Northrup as Belly, Austin Zajur as Brian David and Nicholas Cirillo as Burny in the Romantic Comedy, ‘The 4:30 Movie’, a Saban Films release. Photo courtesy of Ralph Bavaro.
As we said above, ‘The 4:30 Movie’ is not likely to be a game-changer for Kevin Smith – he might gain a few more viewers for this one, but his style of filmmaking is what it is, and his fanbase is pretty much entrenched. When you sit down for a Kevin Smith film, you know what you’re going to get, and you’re either open to navigating that or not.
Having said that, this movie does have a lot more warmth to it that his last few outings, and while Smith always pours his heart into his films, that heart comes through a little more clearly here. It’s an ode to what he himself describes in a long end-credits thank-you list as a “happy childhood,” and there are moments that many of us can relate to here (including sneaking from the PG movie into the R-rated one). Now we’d like to see a film about ABC’s “4:30 Movie” as well.
‘The 4:30 Movie’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘The 4:30 Movie’?
Three teenage friends (Austin Zajur, Nicholas Cirillo and Reed Northrup) map out an afternoon outing to the local cineplex in the summer of 1986, but their plans to sneak into a new R-rated movie could be disrupted by the irritating theater owner and a host of other characters — not to mention one of the boys bringing his dream girl to the cinema as well.
Who is in the cast of ‘The 4:30 Movie’?
Austin Zajur as Brian David
Nicholas Cirillo as Burny
Reed Northrup as Belly
Siena Agudong as Melody Barnegat
Justin Long as Stank
Jason Lee as Brian’s dad
Kate Micucci as Melody’s mom
Genesis Rodriguez as Usher
Ken Jeong as Manager Mike
Director/Writer Kevin Smith behind the scenes of the Romantic Comedy, ‘The 4:30 Movie’, a Saban Films release. Photo courtesy of Ralph Bavaro.
Lionsgate in partnership with Fathom Events will release director Kevin Smith’s ‘Clerks III’ exclusively in theaters from September 13th – September 18th.
The new movie is a direct sequel to ‘Clerks’ and ‘Clerks II,’ and is the ninth film in Smith’s ‘View Askewniverse’ franchise.
‘Clerks III’ focuses on Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson), who after having a heart attack decides to make a movie with Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran) about their lives at the Quick Stop convenience store.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Kevin Smith about his work on ‘Clerks III,’ making the sequel, revisiting the characters, the original’s cult status, his overall career, and how his heart attack changed his outlook on life.
‘Clerks III’ director and writer Kevin Smith.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Smith, Jason Mewes, Brian O’Halloran, and Jeff Anderson.
Moviefone: To begin with, what do you think ‘Clerks’ would look like if you first made it in 2022 rather than 1994?
Kevin Smith: It exists. You can watch it. There’s a guy on TikTok, I got to learn his name. He’s a comedian. He’s very funny. He’s got a mustache and he’s a younger kid, and he works at Ikea or did work at Ikea. So, his bit on TikTok is like, he’ll do an Ikea customer complaining and then he moves the camera dramatically on himself, the music kicks in and he bitches back at the person who’s complaining.
That would be the modern day ‘Clerks.’ You wouldn’t make 90 minutes of a movie. You would just have somebody be like, “This is what we deal with on my job,” and then move on. I don’t think you could do ‘Clerks’ today, or at least I can’t. Number one, you got to work in retail. You got to be in the trenches. I haven’t been in the trenches for a long time. Now I own the trench.
But that’s what I could bring to it. I could bring the movie to it. Somebody online was trying to tag me a couple months ago saying, “Oh, his last three movies have been about movies and making movies.” And I’m like, well, that makes sense. My first movie is about working at a convenience store because guess what? That’s what I did. Now I make movies. I’m not that creative. I just crib from my own life and change the names around. So, at the end of the day, whatever’s happening in my real-life winds up in the work.
MF: What would you say to someone who is watching ‘Clerks III,’ but hasn’t seen ‘Clerks’ or ‘Clerks II?’
KS: I’d be like, did you see that there’s a three in the title? Are you curious about the one and the two by any chance? At one-point Lionsgate said to me, “Do you want to do test screenings?” I was like, why? The movie’s got a three in the title. The only people who are coming are people who liked one or two. Their point was, no, I think the movie works. I was like, what do you mean? They were like, “I think it works without one at two.”
I was like, you’re out of your mind. They’re like, “No, you actually retell ‘Clerks’ and ‘Clerks II’ in ‘Clerks III.’” I was like, you know what? I can’t argue with that. So, I think there are people that can watch this movie and not be lost even though they didn’t see the other ones. But if they’re in a theater with other people, and other people are laughing at literally every reference, they might be like, “I think I’m missing something here.”
Director/Writer Kevin Smith on the set of the comedy, ‘Clerks III,’ a Lionsgate release. Photo courtesy of John Bayer/Lionsgate.
MF: ‘Clerks’ has become a cult classic, at what point did you realize that you had created something special that was really resonating with audiences?
KS: I think when at Quick Stop, people started making the pilgrimage. So, you’d get people coming in from out of state, first. New Yorkers would come and take pictures in front of Quick Stop. Then you had people coming from outside of the East Coast, then you had people coming from outside of America, all to stop by this little convenience store and take pictures with Gatorade and stuff like that, and stand behind the counter. So, I realized at that point.
Early on, somebody described it as a cult movie and as a big movie fan, I was like, oh, that’s good because that doesn’t mean worldwide popularity, but it means a hardcore love by a certain amount of people that’ll keep you alive for a while. So, once we got 10 years in and people started floating the term cold classic, I was safe. It felt like no matter what happens for the rest of my career, I got one. I got a movie that they’re going to remember, good or bad, I made an Impact. Then years later, if you’re still in a career, you get to a place where you’re like, let’s make a movie about that movie.
MF: In the film, after having a heart attack Randall has a big epiphany that he wants to be a film director. Did you have a big epiphany after you had your heart attack?
KS: There was that aspect of it. Also, the fact that you’re painfully aware of living on borrowed time, so you’re like, well, act accordingly. So, that means I’m going to get to ‘Clerks III.’ It means make ‘Clerks III’ happen sooner rather than later. Because I’ve changed my life, I want vegan, and I lost weight. But my heart attack was more about my genetics than anything else. I can’t change that.
So, the heart attack could come back around. Best to be on a movie set when that happens. Not dreaming about, well one day I’ll do it, actually doing it. Because that’s been my whole career, my whole life. Nobody’s going to give you permission. Nobody’s going to give you help. Help is never coming. Do it yourself. So, that kicked back in a big bad way after the heart attack.
MF: Finally, does it feel like it’s been 28 years since you made the first ‘Clerks?’
KS: Yes, but not in a bad way. Not where I’m like, oh my God, what a life. But I know that we’ve been around. I know we’ve done a lot of stuff. I was waiting for this moment in the beginning. I was always fixated on the future because I wanted to get to a place where people considered me seriously because I’d been around for a while. They don’t treat you that seriously or consider you that seriously off the first movie. My second movie almost killed me. ‘Mallrats,’ oddly enough, a movie that people love now, but when it came out, it didn’t do that well.
So, I dreamed of being in a place in my career where people were like, “Oh, director Kevin Smith.” That people knew my name and that people knew what I did. So, I was always dreaming about getting here, having a decade, two decades, three decades in. What I never dreamed about was that we would continue the story. The first ‘Clerks,’ when we shot it ends with Dante getting killed. So, it’s clearly not a guy going like, “Wait till ‘Clerks II.’” That came kind of later on. So yeah, after the heart attack, it just became about ramping things up, and getting there faster.
(L to R) Jason Mewes as Jay and Kevin Smith as Silent Bob in ‘Clerks III.’ Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate.
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Though he’s forged new horizons (‘Red State’, a ‘He-Man’ TV series among others), writer/director Kevin Smith has never been afraid to look back. He doesn’t so much wallow in nostalgia as dive in fully, crafting what he used to refer to as the View Askewniverse to chart the misadventures of characters in New Jersey.
For his latest, ‘Clerks III’, he’s gone full meta, merging his more recent life-threatening experience via a heart attack with the start of his career, committing the eccentricities of convenience store work to celluloid for the original 1994 ‘Clerks’.
We’re back at the Quick Stop, which, while some of the products and adjoining stores might have changed, is still the same grudge work occasionally patronized by locals and local weirdoes (including Smith and Jason Mewes as drug dealers Jay and Silent Bob).
Our focus once again is on Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson), who are back slinging smokes, coffee and gum at the store. After a heart incident of his own, Randall decides he’s going to stop being a wastrel and make a movie about his experiences.
[L to R] Elias (Trevor Fehrman), Dante (Brian O’Halloran), Becky (Rosario Dawson), and Randal (Jeff Anderson) in the comedy film, ‘Clerks III,’ a Lionsgate release. Photo courtesy of John Baer.And Smith, in his usual self-deprecating style, is unafraid to poke fun at the whole endeavor, going so far as to reference the darker deleted ending where Dante is shot during a robbery. “I’m
not letting you kill me off in the third act! What if there’s a sequel?” bleats Dante. “What am I, a hack?” replies Randal. Cue Smith – as Silent Bob – pointing at him.
Jay and Bob, meanwhile, are referred to as the C3PO and R2D2 of the ‘Clerks’ world – “they’ve been here since the first movie, which was the last time they were cool, but they’ve been with the franchise so long they still give them cameos and put them on lunchboxes.”
There are lots of other callbacks to the original movie, such as hockey played on the roof and some of the customers. Oh, and one of the most famous, quoted snippets of ‘Clerks’ dialogue, Randal musing on how many innocent independent contractors died when the unfinished Death Star was destroyed in ‘Return of the Jedi’. Though this time updated with a worry that Disney might sue if they use it.
Fans of Smith’s oeuvre will no doubt be happy to see the various references and it’s honestly fun to be hanging out with this people again.
As has become common with Smith’s big-screen work, the release is not your standard opening, tied instead to Fathom Events for two nights of screenings across the country on September 13th and 15th. You can get tickets here.
Exactly one year ago, writer-director Kevin Smith suffered a massive heart attack that nearly claimed his life. The significance of that event continues to weigh heavily on the star, and on the first anniversary of his brush with death, Smith is celebrating his second shot at life — and the beginning of a new project.
In a post on Instagram, the filmmaker revealed that February 25 marked one year since his heart attack, and he specifically chose that date as the first day of filming on “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot,” the sequel/reboot/remake hybrid to 2001’s “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” that pokes fun at all three of those categories. Smith shared a selfie of himself in character as Silent Bob, along with costars Jason Mewes (Jay) and Jason Lee (Brodie), as well as some words of gratitude for both the chance to reprise his role, and continue living his life.
According to Smith, the trio easily slipped back into their onscreen alter egos, and “partied like it was 1995,” the year they collaborated on “Mallrats.” The director continued:
‘The Oscars were on in the background during our practice and I couldn’t help but feel relief when the “In Memoriam” montage ended and I wasn’t in it. We picked 2/25 as the Reboot start date *intentionally*, to celebrate the fact that I did not become Silent Bob forever 365 days ago. But after a blissful couple hours of making pretend with my friends on the set of my 14th film, I’m starting to think I *did* die in that operating room after all. Because what could be more Heavenly than this?’
Amen, Kev.
Here’s the film’s official logline:
“In ‘Jay & Silent Bob Reboot,’ our herbal heroes find out Hollywood is making a reboot of the old movie that was based on them, so they journey out to Hollywood to stop it again.”
We can’t wait to hear more from Smith as production continues. Stay tuned.
Or, will be shortly. Saban Films just picked up the North American rights to Kevin Smith’s “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot,” the sequel to the 2001 comedy
“Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.”
Smith will be back as Silent Bob with BFF Jason Mewes as Jay in the sequel, which is just starting production.
It’s expected to take meta-jabs at reboots, remakes, and sequels and to feature cameos from past friends and costars. Including, we’re guessing, pals Matt Damon (who’s never turned down a cameo as far as we know) and Ben Affleck. And plenty of herbal humor.
Last February, I almost died. So on the one year anniversary of my widow maker heart attack, as a celebration of life and a big ol’ F you to Death, my best friend and I will be rolling cameras on a sequel/remake/reboot of a movie we first made nearly twenty years ago! In ‘Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back,’ our herbal heroes found out Hollywood was making a movie based on them, so they journeyed out to Hollywood to stop it. But I’ve learned so much as a storyteller and have grown immensely as a filmmaker since then, so audiences can expect something completely different: In ‘Jay & Silent Bob Reboot,’ our herbal heroes find out Hollywood is making a reboot of the old movie that was based on them, so they journey out to Hollywood to stop it again. I offer my (literal) undying thanks to our amazing partners at Saban and Universal for making this dream come true and backing this cinematic silliness!”
As for costar Mewes, he joked, “I’m tired of doing Shakespeare all the time so it’ll be nice to get back to playing Jay again. It may be 25 years since I first played the idiot man-child from Jersey but this time’s going to be the best because I’ve really grown into the role of idiot man-child in my old age.”
