Kevin Smith is determined to make his horror movie. He’s been talking for more than a year now about a movie called Red State, and he’s still looking for funding. The Weinstein Company, uncharacteristically refused to fund the filmmakers project, and while on Cinema Blend’s podcast The Weekly Blend Audio Show last night, Smith talked to us about is passion for the project in spite of his funding problems.
As the buzz over Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which may be his most commercial project so far, Smith is excited about making something which he says is, “decidedly non-commercial, it’s really fuckin bleak and dark, so bleak that it makes The Dark Knight look like Strawberry Shortcake. There’s no character to root for, everybody dies. It’s a series of insane, bad choices based on moral or immoral quandaries. Based on all that nobody wants to write a check for it and I kind of get it. I’m not sitting here going ‘What? Why wouldn’t you want to finance a loser?’”
Adversity it seems, has only made Kevin more passionate about his not-so-secret horror script Red State. He affirmed, “It’s been tough man, but that for some reason, makes me want to make it all the more. It just feels kind of chancy.” If the movie really is that dark and disturbed, who does he think will want to see it? It doesn’t sound like the stuff that brings in his normal View Askew crowd. Smith says, “I don’t expect it to be a huge hit, but I do expect it to be a real film festival type film that will travel awhile. The only way it ever does business theatrically is if there’s like some kind of water cooler chat about it based on the festival showings. For some reason the fact that everybody’s kind of, put off by it, and nobody seems to be put off by the story or the writing or the characters, they’re just like ‘there’s no audience for this movie.’ Like, nobody wants to see a movie this dark.”
The idea that he’s making something so challenging keeps him motivated. Smith says, “That makes me want to make it so much more for some reason. For me it would be a nice kind of change of pace. I’ve done comedy after comedy after comedy, and to do a movie that’s kind of 180 degrees away from that is, a test of sorts, where I get to see if I’m truly a filmmaker or just a dick and fart joke guy. No matter how it works out, I think I’d be content. Like, if it does work I’d be like ‘wow I know it! I am a filmmaker as well.’ If it doesn’t I’d just be like ‘alright I’m back to the dick and far joke salt mine.”
Kevin sounds incredibly passionate about this thing, and if you hear him talk about it, you’ll find yourself getting excited too. Maybe fan funding is in order. Hey Kevin, sent up a Pay Pal account. I’ll send you ten dollars. Make sure you listen to everything Smith had to say about Red State, Zack and Miri, his Sci Fi movie, Ranger Danger, and more on this week’s Weekly Blend Audio Show.
