It’s Smith’s first foray into horror (besides working with J. Lo) and immediately comes off as stirring as the work of Rob Zombie. Judging from the trailer, the film boasts more than a few tense, white knuckle moments. I wonder how Jay and Silent Bob are going to save the day this time.

Not only did Weinstein never want a piece of Red State, but he was talking on his cell phone out in the hallway DURING that very Red State screening.

“I don’t do nothin’ because I’m like without this dude, I wouldn’t be here and this is typical Harvey,” Smith shared at the Movies on Demand press lounge at San Diego Comic-Con. “He’s never been fuckin’ polite at a screening, even his own. So why would I expect now it would happen. That’s fuckin’ Harvey, I wrote it off as Harvey.”

An usher asked Weinstein to be quite but Weinstein doesn’t listen to measly ushers. That’s when Smith himself stepped in.

“I don’t know what it was, man, because it was a real defining moment for me. Again, this is the person without whom I wouldn’t have a career. As in every fuckin’ tale of fathers and sons, there comes a moment where you step up and ‘Today I’m a man,’ that kind of bullshit.”

17 years after Weinstein bought Clerks, Smith had to tell him off. “I pull the curtain over, I go, ‘Hey!’ He looks over and I go, ‘Shut the fuck up!’ He goes like this [does a double take.] And I said, ‘Yeah, shut the fuck up! I would never do this to you. I would never come to one of your screenings and act like an asshole. Shut the fuck up!’ He looked like he was going to come over and punch me. I closed the curtain and I sat back down. I was terrified because it was a huge fuckin’ moment. I was like here it comes, repercussions, the other shoe is going to drop, and nothin’. No curtain. I looked and he just left, took off.”

That explains how Smith had the balls to tell off the Hollywood marketing machine after the screening ended. “Then you’ll understand about 70 minutes later I got up on stage and did what I did because at that point, I was fuckin’ fearless. I had just literally faced down God and been like, ‘Shut the fuck up.’”

Red State comes to VOD on September 1, before its October theatrical release.

“The Bluntman costume [Smith] donned in Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back; a set of wings Ben Affleck wore in Dogma; a cash register featured in Clerks II and a fake movie script used in Zack And Miri Make A Porno.”

I’ve never thought this would happen to me, but I’m relieved that Kevin Smith’s Bluntman costume would probably be too big for me. Anyway, the auction begins on April 10, so start saving up your weed money now. Opportunities like this only come every time Kevin Smith tries to distribute one of his own movies himself. (via The Hollywood Reporter)

However, I’m gonna cut the director some slack, cause he’s probably out of breath from (lightly) exercising, getting in shape to run around the country and plug his new movie into any theater that’ll screen it. Not-so-Silent Bob’s intro notwithstanding, the teaser itself is very tense and effective. You can see a few bits of John Goodman the way he looks in my “Roseanne” nightmares – stern and viewed through a shaky lens. The film also stars Kevin Pollack and Stephen Root.

The Red State tour starts March 5th. (Cinema Blend, Coopersdell.com)

Will Red State be Kevin Smith‘s version of “Skins?” With underage drinking and implied group sex with teens, you’d think that all signs point to yes. However, a creepy older woman with three teen boys, plus a discussion of shag carpeting, and the fact that it’s a horror film makes me think I should stop consulting my Magic 8-Ball so much. Check out the awkward first promo clip above to see for yourself.

This is the movie that Smith almost, kinda, but never really actually planned to sell the distribution rights to at a Sundance auction. He’s taking this film about teens who get terrorized by a “holy force” after responding to a kinky online ad on the road. He compared the indie distribution model to Gone With The Wind, but the comparisons end there, unless Scarlett O’Hara’s famous quote is actually, “As God is my witness, I will never go hungy for d*ck again,” after which she put an ad in the personals and ended up getting three teens killed. I admit that I slept through part of it, but somehow I don’t think that happened. (Dread Central)

In Homework, Angarano plays Dustin, a New York artist who visits the school of George (Freddie Highmore) and Sally (Emma Roberts) on career day. In Red State, he plays a teen who gets caught in the compound of a religious leader who kills gays, and thinks Travis (Angarano) and his friends are gay.

Q: What was it like to go from the Homework premiere in the afternoon to Red State in the evening?

MA: It was interesting. I hadn’t seen Homework and so I was really no knowing what to expect. Just having read the script and I only worked for 8 days, I was very impressed by what Gavin did, Gavin Wiesen the writer/director.

Q: And it got bought right away.

MA: We didn’t know that yet but going into Red State, that was a horse of a different color, a circus of kinds. Very interactive experience I guess you could say. There was a protest outside, then a counter protest and the first scene in the movie’s a protest but I think the audience really, really enjoyed it.

Q: Have you ever gone back to school for career day to speak to the students?

MA: No, actually, I haven’t but I would imagine if I did I would have a similar experience as to the one I have in Homework, not knowing why I was there exactly. Well, knowing why you’re there but not knowing if you’re the kind of person to give advice. At age 23, I don’t know if I would want to go back and give advice to 18-year-olds.

Q: Would you have played George a few years ago?

MA: Yeah, I mean, 2-3 years ago when I first read it I read it for George and it was actually my main concern about it. I loved the script, thought it was a very authentic take on first love, kind of the fatalist sentimentality a very mature intelligent person could have at that age but I was intimidated by the Dustin role. It’s a tricky role because to the audience he could be the guy who is not the most…

Q: He could be the D-bag?

MA: Yeah, exactly, or somebody who you don’t really empathize with. That’s what I spoke to Gavin about a lot. The fact that we understand Dustin and kind of sympathize with him as well as Freddie I think makes it much more engaging and kind of complex.

Q: I meant that in a Hollywood movie he’d be the blonde Frat boy, but not in the indie version.

MA: Exactly, not to say that Gavin’s script is designed like that but it very easily could have been. Just as an actor I was like, “I hope they don’t cast somebody like that in that role.” So I was kind of excited to take it on. I thought it kind of came together perfectly.

Q: Were you privy to Kevin Smith’s plan in the beginning?

MA: No, I don’t think anybody was aside from him. I questioned it just because I thought it was a very vulnerable move if he was going to have an auction at the Red State premiere. Not that I wasn’t confident in it. I knew what it could potentially be, the movie, and I think it turned out very well but I didn’t know, having an auction, people could just not buy it and you could make yourself look foolish. But I think what he’s doing, nobody knew what he was doing but I think he takes a lot of pride in being kind of the leader of the independent film revolution I guess you could say in the last 20 years, especially since Clerks. So for him to take this next step I think is a very courageous one, especially if it works but even if it doesn’t work it’s something that not many people would have the guts to do.

Q: As an actor, could you face any backlash for working outside the system?

MA: I mean, I would love to work for studios. I definitely distance myself from his whole philosophy on what’s going on or his take on it. But I admire him as a filmmaker for sure and an artist in that sense.

Q: For the film itself, are Travis and his friends mildly homophobic too?

MA: I think there’s definitely a form of it. I don’t know if these are the kind of guys who are malicious about it. Sadly, unfortunately I don’t think it’s very uncommon how these guys talk to each other and how they act. I think it’s just a representation of kids these days and the vernacular of the culture that we’re in. But in a way I think these guys use that language and how they speak to each other almost as a joke in and of itself. They’re not poking fun at the gay community when they call each other a fag. They’re poking fun just at each other if that makes any sense.

Q: Was it all jokes between takes?

MA: It wasn’t all jokes. There were some moments that were pretty intense but there were a lot of moments of levity which is very important on a movie like this because I know Michael Parks had a very hard time being in that mind space for 25 days or however long it was. It’s not a fun place to be.

“Yes, anybody can make a movie,” Smith said after the premiere. “We know that now. We know that because I’ve made ten, you know what I’m saying? That means anybody can make a f*cking movie. What we aim to prove is that anybody can release a movie now as well. It’s not enough to make it and sell it now, I’m sorry.”

I like Kevin Smith. Of his ten films, there are probably only two that I would ever sit through again. But I’ve always admired his success, even if I haven’t always admired the finished product. And I certainly hope that he’s successful in his endeavor. After all, why would anyone outside of Hollywood be upset if he found a way to beat the studios at their own game? But the idea that what Smith is trying to do is somehow applicable to small, independent filmmakers is complete nonsense.

Let’s look at Smith’s plan, or as he calls it, “Indie 2.0.” Red State cost $4 million to make. Rather than sell the film to a studio, which would then spend upwards of $20 million on marketing, Smith is going to generate publicity with a fifteen-city cross-country tour that will begin in March. Without spending any money on advertising, he will rely solely on his popular Podcast and his 1.7 million Twitter followers to get the word out. If all goes well on the tour, Smith will have recouped the initial $4 million, and everything afterward will be pure profit. He will then attempt to cut a deal directly with theater owners for a nationwide release on October 19th, the anniversary of the Clerks release.

Clearly, this could work for Smith, and I wish him the best. But how does this situation translate to an aspiring filmmaker? The simple answer is that it doesn’t.

Smith loves to say that if he can make 10 films, anyone can make one. I get the point he’s trying to make, but the fact of the matter is that it’s a lot easier to get a film made once you’ve already been successful. This is even more true of distribution. Because of his past success and his built in followers, he may be able to buck the studio system. But most aspiring filmmakers don’t have millions of twitter followers. Most aspiring filmmakers don’t have a popular Podcast. And if your average aspiring filmmaker wants to launch a nationwide tour, he better have some rich parents.

I understand his frustration with the cost of marketing. Why should a movie that costs $4 million need to make $50 million to turn a profit? But unless you’re Smith, and you have alternative methods at your disposal, what are your options? You either sell to the studios, or watch your film wallow in obscurity.

Of course, if he’s successful, Smith plans on leveraging his strategy to help other filmmakers. Getting his fans to turn out for his own films is one thing. Getting them to turn out for at unknown filmmaker is a whole different ballgame, but not impossible. Regardless, the filmmaker is still reliant on Smith’s clout. In a sense, they are simply trading the studios for Silent Bob. While that might not be a bad thing, it’s a far cry from Smith’s vision of a world where anyone can successfully self-distribute. That world will never exist.

Smith is promising early screenings in multiple cities, along with his trademark Q & A sessions to follow. He’s also promised to brin Red State star Michael Parks along as well, and has hinted at some vague “cool shit” in addition. But, it’s going to cost you. Smith has said that the tickets will cost somewhere in the ballpark of “probably 6, 7, maybe 10 times” the price of a regular movie admission. Let’s hope that “cool shit” includes an iPad, or a Pruis.

Kevin Smith‘s “Red State USA Tour” Dates:

March 5th – Radio City Music Hall
March 6th – Wilbur Theater in Boston
March 8th – Harris Theater in Chicago
March 9th – State Theater in Minneapolis
March 10th – Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor
March 11th – Indianapolis, IN
March 12th - Midland Theater, Kansas City
March 14th – Springfield, OH
March 22nd – Paramount Theater, Denver
March 26th - McCalister theater, New Orleans
March 28th – Paramount Theater, Austin
March 29th – Cobb Energy Center, Atlanta

April 4th – McCaw Hall in Seattle

(Slashfilm)

“Now we’re obviously not selling the movie so I’m sorry to a lot of the sugars in the room,” Smith said to the Sundance audience. “Some of the cats who are here, look, number one I’m not that sorry. It’s a f*ckin’ film festival. Come see a movie. Number two, you saw the movie, you can’t do anything with it but I know how to f*ckin’ sell this movie. I know how to market this movie, man. So no hard feelings.”

Starting out with a little contrition, Smith cut himself off and just went all out. “Hopefully, you don’t mind. Next time, we’ll sell you – - f*ck it, we’ll never sell you a movie. But thank you for coming. I’m sorry if you left the Jets game. I put a Twitter out where I was just like hey, man, I understand sports enthusiasm so if you feel the need to watch the Jets game and not the movie, no harm, no foul.”

Smith is betting it all on his new plan, which earned applause from filmmakers in the room and grumbles from established industry. “I will say this in my defense. A lot of you guys work for the studio and sh*t, the studios make movies, movies have a trailer. You guys have made a lot of trailers, you’ve lied to me many times. I’ve seen many trailers where I was like, ‘This is awesome.’ I put my money down, I was like, ‘You f*ckin’ lyin’ whores.’ So ladies and gentlemen, as you can see we’re up here alienating all our future work, just burnin’ the bridge as we cross it. That means there’s probably not going to be much studio help for me and Jon [Gordon, producer] in the future.”

This could be a boon for the exhibition industry. Currently studios give up high percentages of box office sales to the studios. “What we do need to release this movie, what anybody needs to release a movie is not a motherf*ckin’ studio. You need a god damn exhibitor so me and Jon are talking to any smart exhibitor partners out there who are willing to listen. Exhibitor partners, you want to get in bed with us. We’ll give you way better f*ckin’ terms than the studios and you know these motherf*ckers f*ck you constantly, man, constantly.”

While exposing the corruption of studio exhibition deals, Smith closed with a trademark self-deprecating joke. “We’ll give you more of the ticket on the first weekend than they ever f*ckin’ will and at the end of the day, we won’t screw you over for another [film]. We won’t be like, ‘Well, if you want Dark Knight you’ve got to take this piece of sh*t Cop Out.’ We don’t do sh*t like that.”

Red State goes on the road March 5 in anticipation of an October 19 opening release.

I love Kevin Smith movies. His point of view on the world makes me feel like someone really gets it, in comedy, with social commentary or drama. Red State would be a great film if anyone had made it but it’s no surprise to me that it came from Kevin Smith.

Red State is fast-paced, sets up the premise and themes, then just gets going. Travis (Michael Angarano) drives past a protest at a funeral for a gay suicide. That sets the stage for religious homophobia, and he arrives late for a classroom discussion about the first amendment. That lays out all the exposition and establishes Jared (Kyle Gallner) and Billy Ray (Nicholas Braun) as Travis’s buddies.

Abin Cooper (Michael Parks) leads the church protests, and he’s so extreme even admitted Nazis condemn him. Actually, Travis, Jared and Billy Ray are kind of homophobic too. They call each other gay slurs and Billy Ray really worries about the mechanics of the four-way they plan to have with an internet date. A familiar Kevin Smith subject now illustrates how homophobia exists in many stages, not always evil but still wrong. A sheriff (Stephen Root) has secret gay trysts while he’s married, because some people are so scared they can’t even come out.

Well, you know this isn’t the story of a four-way orgy, so the boys end up trapped by Cooper, who thinks they’re gay. The extended sermon by Cooper, basically a cult ceremony, slowly adds disturbing elements to stretch our tension. You can see the hate on the faces of the parishioners even without speaking. That articulate Kevin Smith dialogue is frightening in Cooper. Smith knows the opponents of tolerance well enough to expose them. I would ask though, where do a bunch of gay bashing preachers get a ball gag?

The intensity is brutal, like relentless horror movies where even the survivors, if there are any, still go through hell. The teens really act like scared kids. Billy Ray wants his mom. It’s an intellectual Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where hate is the murde weapon. And guns, but it’s the conviction of Cooper’s tribe that kills. The cameras shake but it’s more akin to guerilla horror, and Smith still keeps everyone in frame and in focus.

Halfway in, Red State turns into an action movie and a relevant, scary one. ATF Agent Joseph Keenan (John Goodman) leads the charge against the Cooper compound. This speaks to how the law deals with groups like Cooper’s and how such groups maintain themselves. It’s an impossible circumstance. You can’t root for the ATF because there are little kids in Cooper’s church. The film switches focus between the teens, the law and the church to disorient the audience. It really flows.

I agree with the point Smith is making. I think this is how dangerous hate can get if circumstances are allowed to escalate. Two agents at the end of the film talk blatantly like Smith himself talks. It’s uncharacteristic of the rest of the film but perhaps that’s the director’s own voice coming through.

Based on the Warren Zevon song, Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song), the story is about an insanely passionate hockey player named Buddy who gets his chance play professional hockey for the World Hockey Association, but as an enforcer. The movie tells the story of a hockey enforcer who strives to score just one goal in a hockey game. The film adaptation will be set in the late 1970s right before the World Hockey Association was absorbed into the NHL, “during the last gasp of the goon era of hockey when it was all about fighting.”

It reminds me of this hilarious joke that I just made up: “I was watching a fight and out of nowhere a hockey game broke out!” Ha! Anyway, on Twitter, Kevin Smith revealed that Michael Parks and John Goodman will be playing Buddy’s coaches at various points in his hockey career. He said some other stuff too but as usual I can’t tell what the hell he’s talking about. (via SlashFilm)

I cannot condone Mr. Smith’s behavior.

Director: Kevin Smith

Cast: Michael Parks, John Goodman, Kevin Pollak, Melissa Leo, Stephen Root

Synopsis: Set in Middle America, a group of teens receive an online invitation for sex, though they soon encounter fundamentalists with a much more sinister agenda.

Release Date: October 19, 2011

From Smith:

If you’re a movie website or film journalist and you want to feature this poster or use it in a story, don’t be a detail-thin dick.

Be sure to tell people WHY the poster was released: because Spinoff Online bid $850 to South East Queensland flood relief cause in less than 30 minutes.

If you also include the link for the South East Queensland flood relief in your story/article, you’re not only being a thorough journalist, you’re also helping to save actual lives – lives whose progress you’ll be able to trace via The South East Queensland flood relief website. It only takes a few seconds longer to provide all available facts in any story. Including THIS fact can help save a life.

Does including that link in this story make me a hero? Well, that’s not for me to decide. Anyway, you’re welcome, people whose lives I just saved. You can save some lives too and check out the poster below. (Dread Central)

After being dissed and dismissed by Seann William Scott, Kevin Smith has found his tough guy lead for Hit Somebody. It’s none other than….. some kid! ABC Family actor Nicholas Braun, who just wrapped up work with Smith on his horror flick Red State, has made a great impression on the director and will team up with him again on his Warren Zevon-inspired hockey film. Smith broke the news via his Hollywood Babble-On Smodcast:

“At one point it was Seann William Scott, and Seann William Scott apparently wanted to make a hockey movie real fuckin’ bad… So he went to do another one, which meant we were star-less for a while, which was totally OK by me. But then I found so much of my Hit Somebody cast while makin Red State, so… The guy who’s going to play my lead, whose name is Buddy McKraken in the movie, is a fella who’s in our flick [Red State] and his name is Nicholas Braun. He’s this really great actor who I love to death and he is the perfect lead for this hockey movie, for this script, which is based on this Warren Zevon song.”

In summary, the film is carried by a little known lead and will be marketed solely on the name recognition of Kevin Smith and Warren Zevon. Yikes. This one’s definitely going to need an Affleck.  (via /Film)

^{If their boobs touch, they will cease to exist.}

America’s favorite fat men are teaming up. No, I’m not talking about another trailer for The Dilemma. I’m talking about John Goodman joining Kevin Smith’s Red State. The religion-based horror satire already boasts an impressive cast featuring Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner, Melissa Leo, Steven Root, Dermot Mulroney, and Michael Parks. There’s word that Kevin Pollak may join up as well (but don’t hold that against it).

No word yet on which role Goodman will play, but if it involves teaching anyone what happens when you eff a stranger in the a, we’ll assume he’s on the crazed preacher‘s team. (via Dread Central)

Kevin Smith is rounding out Red State‘s cast of "well-known unknowns." He’s already cast Michael Parks (who? Oh yeah. That guy.) to play the sadistic minister at the center of the story. Now there’s news that a few other folks who you recognize from someplace may join the cast. Dermot Mulroney (About Schmidt), Stephen Root (Office Space), Kyle Gallner (Nightmare On Elm Street remake), Melissa Leo ("Treme"), and Michael Angarano (Gentleman Broncos) are contemplating taking roles in the horror film.

I’m not sure all these people count as unknowns. Dermot Mulroney and Stephen Root are pretty well-accomplished. Root starred on a popular sitcom for five years, and has appeared in over 150 projects. And some would argue that Dermot Mulroney is the most famous Dermot in America, nay, on the Planet Earth. (The Wrap)

^{After a string of box office failures, Kevin Smith finds a successful second career as a mime.}

Don’t expect to hear too much about Kevin Smith‘s Red State. Spurned by the media coverage caused by Southwest’s no fatties policy, the director has decided to make his Fred Phelps-inspired genre-bending horror film quietly with no major announcements to the press. He’d also like to stay away from casting big names for the project, and focus more on the difficult task of casting well-known unknowns. This where story am confusing. Explain me Kevin, Smith.

“For the first time since "Clerks" I’m trying to go, no unknown, but actors who aren’t like, you’re gonna see them on screen and not know their name…it’s a weird kind of in between neither place that I’m reaching for. It’s not complete unknown and it’s not remotely f*cking recognizable, name recognizable…It’s really tough to find actors whose name you don’t know. You know you can go to "Law and Order" and grab anybody from the cast and they’ve done five or six episodes and sh*t but you’d still recognize them and you’d be watching the movie and be like “that’s that dude, I’ve seen that dude on "Law and Order!” “

Huh? So, he’s making a "Law & Order" movie? Without Sam Waterston? What’s going on here? Did you catch all that Britney??

(Collider)