How did Kevin Smith, a geek from New Jersey, become an icon of genre cinema? Thanks to a lot of weed, a little bluffing and a quasi-symbiotic relationship with his fan base. Kevin Smith has changed the world, one collaboration at a time, from clueless director to indie star to pop culture mogul (without ever giving up his joint). A funnier, more polemical and, of course, nerdier world is what the irreverent troublemaker has been proposing for over 30 years.
Portrait of a unique artist who has seriously shaken up mainstream Hollywood conventions.
Cinema, debt and Sundance
Kevin Smith was born in a remote New Jersey town in 1970. He grew up with a passion for field hockey and comic books, which he bought every week with his pocket money.
Like Wes Anderson, who spent his entire student grant to make his first film “Bottle Rocket” (which got him kicked out of film school), Kevin Smith began his career against the odds. His first film, “Clerks“, was made only thanks to a huge debt he accumulated through six credit cards pushed to the limits of their overdrafts.
As he declared in one of his three weekly podcasts, “I landed at Sundance in 1994 to sell my film by going all in.
It was a risky gamble, but one that enabled him to make a name for himself in Hollywood, thanks to a film with sharp dialogue, shot in black and white and based on his own weariness of the working world.
Kevin is the film’s writer, director and one of its actors. He plays the mute, in duet with his best friend, the very voluble Jay.
Jay and Silent Bob have become references for all stoners, two exuberant, rude and endearing drug dealers, present in 5 films and in a variety of cameos despite their more than accidental origins: “I only took on the role of Silent Bob because I couldn’t remember the lines”.
The film opened the doors to Hollywood and propelled him to the forefront of a not always benevolent scene.
Self care and weed
If the director went beyond his own limits, it was thanks to encounters, as he recounts in his autobiography: “[he] was a big lazy slob for a long time”.
When he met Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, his wife since 1999, he was on the verge of depression and diabetes.
Thanks to her, he will regain his health (becoming vegan in the process), a more balanced work rhythm and quality ganja.
The cause of his condition? Hollywood, which has sucked him dry. After being threatened by Harvey Weinstein, for whom he refused to work, and fired from his project for a new Superman with Nicolas Cage, he felt the limits of notoriety and refocused on the projects he was passionate about… Including the launch of a cannabis brand, to share the best strains he discovered in his quest for a better smoke.
It’s this passion for weed that has often helped him maintain his legendary bonhomie. In this spirit, he even demonstrated with Christian fundamentalists against his own film, the brilliant Dogma, released in 1999. On occasion, he even answered journalists’ questions for a hilarious interview. When asked about this anecdote, he simply replies that he was very high at the time, that he thought it was funny and that, after all, Christian fundamentalists or not, they were “people from his town”, which made them endearing to him.
Restoration and NFT
This candor tinged with generosity is at the heart of his work. When he’s not campaigning for greater respect for women in the comics world, he’s launching a pop-up restaurant based on the fictional Mooby franchise, which has featured in all his films since “Clerks 2”, to comfort his fan base in these pandemic times. The restaurants are a sort of “Hard Rock Cafe for stoners”, thanks to a large number of winks, props from film shoots and even a very relaxing CBD soda.
Not surprising, since his own cannabis brand is also dedicated to fans, offering comics featuring Jay and Silent Bob for every purchase of a pre-rolled joint.
He has also set up his own comic store, called “Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash” in New Jersey.
His latest project? Sell his next horror film in the NFT format, in order to return the power stolen by the studios to the fans.
The artist hasn’t been a big fan of the majors since the filming of Cop Out in 2010, for which he had to deal with Bruce Willis’ chronic bad temper, ready to sabotage everything. An underpaid nightmare he hopes never to repeat, even if he’s offered Snoop’s weight in Cannabis.
