Director Files: Kevin Smith

Born in New Jersey in 1970, our Kev's career began by writing and performing sketches (very successful ones at that, by all accounts) at High School with a group of friends. Upon graduating, he found himself working in a convenience store with absolutely no prospects. Thus he got to writing. What he ended up with was the screenplay for "Clerks". However, he had no means to make it. So off he went to film school in Vancouver. He lasted six months, learning just enough to realise that he could probably make this film for himself and back to the store he went.

What followed was "Clerks" - the single biggest inspiration in mine and I'm sure a lot of other people's lives. Not just for the hilarity and ingenuity of the story, but more for the sheer balls of the man to make it. Here was a 23 year-old, who, rather than take the accepted means of success - film school, move to LA, work as a PA for years on end, make short films, do the festival circuit etc etc etc - decided instead that he was good for a credit line of around 27 grand (by maxing out multiple credit cards) and making his feature film for that. Fortune favours the bold, my friends.

The story of Clerks is a novel in itself, so I won't go into too much detail here. However, suffice to say that after an almighty struggle and many, many setbacks, the film became a resounding success, everyone made their money back and Kevin was suddenly thrust into cult stardom. His next film was "Mallrats" which is a bit gash but follows a similar path of telling seemingly mundane tales of everyday life in suburban New Jersey. However not everyone felt like I did about it and Kev's career seemed to be on the fast-track to mega-stardom.

Next came "Chasing Amy". A film which represented a massive leap forward for Kevin as a storyteller. Yes, technically it was still about New Jersey folk, but it had a much grander, more complicated, sweeping romantic edge to it. It is a brilliant film and one that should be seen by all. It's funny ('fingercuffs' and the 'black beauty' segments being personal faves), odd, complex and very poignant when all's said and done. It was another hit and, by now, among the previously unspoken for geek nation of America (and indeed the world) Kevin was a god.

Next came 1999's "Dogma" - a star-studded, unflinching look at Religion and all that, the utterly insane "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", the truly rubbish "Jersey Girl", "Clerks II", "Zack and Miri Make A Porno" and "Cop Out" in which he apparently had a major on-set beef with none other than Bruce Willis. Willis claiming that Kevin "dicked around and smoked pot the entire time". Brilliant.

Which leads me to my next point. Kevin Smith might not be the greatest film-maker ever, despite making a few absolute classics. He might not be to everyone's taste. Yet, the thing what I love most about him however is that could not give two shits about that fact. He has always done, and continues to do, exactly what he wants. Whether it is the foul-mouthed, deeply offensive, "Clerks" - a film which I'm sure EVERYONE around him told him not to do - or mega studio flick like "Cop Out" he has done the same from day one, and frankly what is not to love about that, folks? Very few people have such an authentic voice consistent throughout their body of work. Even fewer have the balls to really pursue it with such enthusiasm and abandon for "The Rules".

Of course now Mr. Smith is more multi-media sensation than actual filmmaker (despite his last effort "Red State" being pretty interesting). He now has several podcasts, on online film review show, national sold-out college tours, books (including the brilliantly titled "My Boring Ass Life" and "Advice from a fat, lazy slob who did good"), cartoons, comic books...the man has done it all, continues to do it all, and will continue to do it all regardless of who's listening. Something that a very large percentage of us suckers can only aspire to.

All that aside though, the main reason I love the man is because when you look beyond all the dick jokes and all the fat jokes and all the other stuff, at the centre of it all is a man, a normal bloke just making his way and really loving films, as evidenced on his latest podcast in which he blubbed like a child describing the endings of both Good Will Hunting and Monsters, Inc. Now, that I can respect.

He's also not afraid to dish the dirt on behind the scenes Hollywood and here is a video of which describes when Kevin was asked to write what would later become "Superman Returns". Classic.



Keep it going, big man.

JB.

P.S - I actually had the pleasure of meeting him once. One of the nicest people you could wish to meet. That is all.