Kevin Smith Remembers George Carlin
In our obituary post last night, I mentioned how my favorite big screen performance of Carlin’s was in Kevin Smith’s Jersey Girl. Smith was a filmmaker who used Carlin in his films when available. Watching his few appearances, I’m shocked that his career in film never blew up. Smith takes a look back at the great comedy legend in a guest column for Newsweek:
“In 2001, George did me a solid when he accepted the part of the orally fixated hitchhiker who knew exactly how to get a ride in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.” When he wrapped his scene in that flick, I thanked him for making the time, and he said, “Just do me a favor: Write me my dream role one day.” When I inquired what that’d be, he offered, “I wanna play a priest who strangles children.” It was a classic Carlin thing to say: a little naughty and a lot honest. I always figured there’d be time to give George what he asked for. Unfortunately, he left too soon. He was, and will likely remain, the smartest person I’ve ever met. But really, he was much more than just a person. Without a hint of hyperbole, I can say he was a god, a god who cussed.”
Read the full article on Newsweek.com.
Zack and Miri Make an NC-17 Movie?
Does the MPAA have it in for Kevin Smith? It’s beginning to sound like it. First they made the filmmaker remove an unapproved red band teaser trailer (which featured no footage from the actual film) from the web, and not it looks like Smith is having issues getting Zack and Miri Make a Porno by the ratings board.
“The MPAA is gunning for us, I think. It’s a really filthy movie. I hear they are having some problems getting an R rating from an NC-17 rating, which is never good,” Seth Rogen told MTV. “A guy f—ing a donkey, they ain’t got no problem with. But a man and a woman having sex they seem to have real issues with, for some weird reason. It’s insane. It’s completely insane.”
I knew when the title was first announced that Smith and company would probably have a few hurdles to jump when it came time to go up against the MPAA. I doubt The Weinstein Co is willing to release the film with an NC-17 rating, which means that Smith likely have to make cuts to get a theatrical R-rating. But don’t worry, Smith always includes a ton of extra footage on his DVD releases. If anything is cut, you can expect to see it on the DVD. As for the MPAA, I highly recommend everyone rent or buy the documentary This Film Has Not Yet Been Rated. I understand the need for ratings but the whole MPAA process is beyond ridiculous.
Spaced, the U.S. Tour
To promote the American DVD release of the BBC series Spaced on July 22nd, the creators and director will be doing a U.S. tour. Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes (formerly Jessica Stevenson) and Edgar Wright will be stopping by the L.A. Film Festival to promote the event and future stops may include the San Diego Comic Con, Austin and New York.
The Region 1 DVD will include a brand new all-star commentary track that will include the creators and director as well as various guest stars including Kevin Smith, Matt Stone (co-creator of South Park) and Diablo Cody (writer of Juno).
There was an attempt by McG and Fox to create an American version of Spaced that didn’t involved the original creators. Fortunately, that has been put to rest.
In short, if you’re a Spaced fan and you live in the vicinity of Los Angeles, Austin or New York then you are a lucky, lucky person.
MPAA Tells Kevin Smith Not to Make Unapproved Internet Porno
I hate to say this, but I was actually expecting this to happen. The vulgar and unrated internet teaser trailer for Zack and Miri Make a Prono has been removed from the interwebs by the MPAA (cue Darth Vader’s theme “The Imperial March”).
“The MPAA called and said we had to take it down. Weinstein Co., like most studios, is a signatory of the MPAA,” explains Smith. “As such, there are protocols involving trailers that we failed to follow. As with features, all trailers get rated get rated by the MPAA. The majority of them are for general audiences (Green Band trailers), but trailers packed with adult content (like our teaser) earns you what’s called a Red Band trailer. … Well, we didn’t go through this process - simply because, we felt, that since the teaser didn’t contain any footage from the actual flick, it wasn’t technically a trailer. Boy, was I wrong.”
ALL promotional material for any film financed and/or distributed by a signatory of the MPAA has to be MPAA approved, including internet-only materials.
“I never realized this, as it’d never been a problem in the past: we’ve been doing ‘net-only teasers since “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and nobody ever raised a red flag before, not even on the last flick, for which we also put up two ‘net-only teasers in advance of the rated trailer. But I guess since the teaser was so, shall we say, racy… a rating was in order.”
Smith has now officially submitted the teaser to the MPAA for rating, and will putt he trailer back online if they approve it. It’s an unfortunate situation and its only bound to get worse in the coming years as the MPAA attempts to police all movie related content on the internet.
source: NewsAskew