Posted by Brendo Man at 012.dsl.mcmsys.com on March 22, 2004 at 16:22:24:
I scanned the boards and I'm pretty sure this hasn't been posted yet. So here you go.
`Silent Bob' takes a risk
Kevin Smith wears his heart on his sleeve in `Jersey Girl,' directing Ben Affleck and you-know-who in a tender tale
By Terry Armour
Tribune entertainment reporter
Kevin Smith is pretty sure he's got this Atkins diet thing figured out.
"It's psychosomatic," he says as he wolfs down eggs and sausage at the Magnificent Mile's Oak Tree restaurant. "You simply can't eat that much meat, cheese and eggs and not get sick of it. In the beginning you're like, `Great, I can eat all the meat, cheese and eggs I want.' But then you're like, `If I eat another egg or piece of cheese, I'm going to throw up.' Therefore, you tend to not eat nearly as much."
It isn't exactly the kind of endorsement the Atkins people are looking for, but the once heftier filmmaker ("Chasing Amy, "Clerks," "Dogma," "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back") has dropped 50 pounds on the diet. Smith vowed to lose the weight last April when Jason Mewes -- the stoner "Jay" to Smith's "Silent Bob"-- went into rehab for a heroin addiction.
That's not the only change in Smith's life. He calls his latest film, "Jersey Girl," which opens nationwide Friday, his most personal film to date. It's about a young father (Ben Affleck) left to raise his daughter after his wife (Jennifer Lopez) suddenly dies. Smith says he wrote the script as a love letter to his wife, daughter and recently deceased dad. "For me, it's easier to wear my heart on my sleeve and put myself out there," he says. "It's either a very cheap or very expensive form of therapy, depending on how you look at it."
Q. You regularly keep in touch with your fan base via your Web site (www.viewaskew.com).
A. When I first found out about the Internet I was like, "Wait a minute -- you can get instant reaction about your films?" Being able to get instant feedback from people who are actually buying tickets, that to me was like, "I want to be in on that." We opened up our Web site, put up a message board and started interacting with the fans. Let me tell you, these people keep you honest.
Q. They must have some interesting things to say about "Jersey Girl."
A. People who are big fans of "Jay and Silent Bob," I don't know if they can dig on this movie at all. Once I started writing it, I knew I was going to lose a certain percentage of fans. Those people, I'm sure, are going to turn around and say, "Oh, he's sold out," as if not selling out means you make the same movie every time. But I'm curious as a filmmaker to see if I can make something that stands by itself, that doesn't have a safety net.
Q. You could make the argument that you're broadening your audience.
A. I probably would have had a better chance of that happening had "Gigli" not happened [laughs]. Right now I'm in this world of, "Well, will people care about this movie on its own?" I'm pretty confident that word of mouth will get out there that the movie is what it is -- it's about a guy and his relationship with his daughter and his relationship with his father much more than it is about his relationship with the character that Jennifer plays.
Q. The "Gigli" debacle certainly hit close to home for you.
A. After "Gigli," people asked me if I would have liked to go back and do it differently? Would you have not cast Jennifer Lopez [in "Jersey Girl"]? No, for a multitude of reasons. One, I thought she did a really great job. Two, she helped us bring out the best performance we could have gotten out of Ben because he was really in love with her when we were shooting the movie. So in their scenes together, it works. And when she's gone, you really get a sense of loss from him.
Q. Isn't it funny how fickle Hollywood is?
A. It's weird. If you had told me two years ago that we would be worried that we had a movie with Ben and Jen in it, I would have said, "You're crazy!" Then you cut to today, and I'm like, "Eeeeeew."
Q. But Ben Affleck, admittedly, has had his share of flops on his own. "Sum of All Fears," "Daredevil" and "Paycheck" didn't do well.
A. The thing with Ben is very early on, they started throwing him in the action movies, the first one being "Armageddon," and when "Armageddon" does well, they keep putting him in action movies. I'd rather go see an action movie with Ben in it than without him. But that being said, I think his stronger suit is in comedy or drama or something that is very character-oriented -- not something where he's running away from asteroids or putting on red tights.
Q. So you think something like "Jersey Girl" could give his career a boost?
A. I certainly hope so, if for no other reason, it would be nice to have him owe me. It would be nice for this to be the comeback picture so that I can always be like, "Dude, I saved your bacon twice -- once with `Chasing Amy' and once with `Jersey Girl.'"