KEVIN SMITH AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY, CAMDEN CAMPUS
September 24, 1997
(Left to Right) Chris, Kevin, & Brad
About The Photos...
We apologize for the lack of photos on the page. There really wasn't THAT much to see, after
all, a Q&A session isn't meant to be a visual show. We did have quite a few shots not turn out,
but we included the best of what we got of Kevin onstage and, of course, the shot you see there
at the top of the screen. By the way, the quality really sucks because the CAMERA really sucks,
it was a disposable deal that couldn't zoom or anything...In fact, we were CLOSER (4th row) than
the pictures even convey. But at least you can get the basic idea. If anyone would like to
send us some better pics, feel free.
That photo was taken close to 12:30 at night; After he answered 2 solid
hours of questions about pretty much everything you could possibly think to ask,
Kevin stuck around
to chat and sign autographs for everyone that was willing to wait and forego sleep a bit longer.
I suppose we should to find a better camera than one of those disposable
Kodak photofun things next time.
But hey, it's a great shot regardless. It was nice of him to let us shoot it.
Oh, and thanks to the guy who took that picture for us, by the way, if you're reading this...You know who you are!
About The Trip...
We departed for Camden from our home base here in Carlisle, PA, at 4:00. The trip was very
uneventful...We reached downtown Philadelphia right
around rush hour, which was exciting, and crossed the Ben Franklin into
Camden. Needless to say, Camden is not the nicest town in the
world. We got into town around 6:15, but drove in circles through Camden until we finally
found an adequate place to park (3 bucks for unlimited time, alright!), and we were just a couple
hundred feet from the theatre.
Now, the Rutgers Website had told us the movie
wasn't going to be starting til 8, yet we'd heard several reports stating that the film would
start at 7, so we were pretty surprised to see only 10 other people in the lobby lounging about
when we arrived around 6:30. Guess we should have trusted the website! Eventually, a line of
enormous proportions grew, filling up the lobby and continuing on for a good distance outside
of the building and down the sidewalk! When all was said and done, the theatre's capacity of
600 was overflowing with fans, many of which sat on the sidelines or in folding chairs.
About The Flick/Extra Scene...
Kevin walked onstage to introduce the film to thunderous applause. We won't repeat his opening
line, it's just gotta be heard in person (plus he may wanna use it again sometime and we'd hate
to ruin it for ya!). He also took a couple shots at Camden itself, since, as we said, the town
really is pretty dumpy. Without further adeiu, it was on to the flick...
The Walter Gordon Theatre had a really nice layout...Stadium seating made the screen easy
to see for everyone. The screen size was the typical college theatre size...Smaller than your
usual movie theatre screen, square-shaped, but large enough to see everything quite well. Like
my college, the sound system wasn't the absolute best, it sounded muffled at times, but we had
no problem making out the dialogue. Hey, we couldn't complain, "the shit was free" as Kev said.
"The guy really sucked, but hey, the shit was free!"
After the flick and a bit of Q&A, we were treated to one of the fabled extra scenes cut from the
film. This one involved Steve-Dave and Walt as comic shop clerks in a comic shop called
"Comicology", who played a
Magic:The Gathering type card game while insulting
Holden and Banky
by telling them their
"Bluntman & Chronic" comic was trash. Of course, for those of you who've
seen Amy (shame on you if you haven't), you can assume Banky didn't stand for it...You'll see
this scene along with others when the laserdisc arrives, I'm sure. The clip looked to be in
great shape. Kevin knows what it's like to be a fan looking for outtakes and special editions,
so he saves whatever he can.
About Kevin's Q&A...
This was, far and away, the highlight of the evening. After
Chasing Amy completed, Kevin
spent over 2 hours answering ANYTHING the audience members dared to ask, even the silly questions
and the ones we've heard a million times before. It's impossible to cover or even mention all
of the great stuff that went on during these 2 hours, but we've broken down some of the highlights.
Now, please, keep in mind this was our first trip to one of Kevin's appearances, so if some of
this stuff is old news or stories you've heard before, we apologize. We're just trying to
cover everything that went on at this particular appearance:
When asked about his feelings toward the
Star Wars series and his
feeling about the prequels, Kevin revealed that he's miscast as a Star Wars freak. He enjoyed
the films as a kid, but today only agrees that
The Empire Strikes Back
is a good film, exemplified by the fact that, of the 3 re-releases, it's the one with that
needed the least amount of new material added.
A lot of folks asked questions concerning
Jay, which resulted in some of the better anecdotes
of the evening. The audience members (and us) were laughing so hard at some points that it
almost felt as if we were at a stand-up show and not just a Q&A session. Kevin knows how to
entertain the audience, even if he's told these stories a hundred times before.
Jay, it turns out, was more like the Jay that we see in the films in his younger, teenage years.
Kevin mentioned that the first time he really started to like Jay was when he and a group of
friends were hanging out at a recreation center. Jay showed up and proceeded to "run around the
room for 20 minutes, fellating anything remotely phallic in the room." Must have been quite a
sight. The audience was ROARING!
Kevin got a few questions about other projects besides directing. He mentioned the comics
and the possibility of a Clerks animated TV series.
As for other film chores, Kevin prefers only to write and direct, and does not ever plan to
direct anything he hasn't written. In fact, he takes no pride in his filming style, he quoted
an old news article as his favorite that stated, "Kevin Smith's style is that he has no style."
He mentioned producer Scott Mosier and
longtime friend and director Bryan Johnson
as 2 folks he owes a lot to for helping him get to where he is today.
Of course, there were the inevitable questions:
Q: What happened to the Superman script?
I actually saw the look of anguish on Kev's face when this was asked...Almost as much as the 3
other people that felt necessary to continually question about the status of
Overnight Delivery.
He was really a good guy about it, and actually told a pretty detailed story of the status,
digging into (producer)
Jon Peters, who had at one point buttered Kev up by actually offering to buy him
a comic book shop in LA, yet did not know who Kal El was when Kevin was asked to read him the
script in a "storytime" fashion...
Tim Burton's Mars Attacks
was also given a bit of a dig...Kevin seems to HOPE that Burton will makes
Superman Lives into a
great film, but at this point is not at all confident. Oh, by the way, heard about the giant
spider that Jon Peters insisted be included in the film's final act? He got the idea when he
heard, at an school's open house with one of his children, that spiders are the largest killers in the insect world. Huh.
Q: Why no Chasing Amy soundtrack?
Well, this one of course goes back to
Jon Bon Jovi, who wrote a great song for the soundtrack
which was then axed when the record company feared that the song would drop the sales of his
upcoming solo album, slated a couple months after Amy's release. I'm sure this is all on the
summaries, but I figure, what the hell. By the way, while I'm on the subject,
Erik has set up
a WWWBoard for people who'd like to contribute to creating their own Amy soundtrack. You can
find that board here. Anyway, after Bon Jovi AND trouble with Soul Asylum's song not being
ready in time, the idea of a soundtrack died due to lack of NEW songs. Yet, the Forrest Gump
soundtrack gets made and sells trillions. Then again, I guess that's sorta different.
Some of the funnier questions and answers:
Q: What did you spend that $27,000 on when you made "Clerks"?
A: Coke and Whores. (Actually, Kevin was quite shocked, since no one ever asked him why he spent
so MUCH on Clerks before...Hehehe)
Q: Will you do that showgirls dance that you did in the diner in "Chasing Amy" for us?
A: No. (Kevin did elaborate by mentioning that many people tell him that the Jay & Bob dancing
scene in Clerks is their favorite, which frustrates him since it's got absolutely NO dialogue!)
The Aftermath...
Around midnight, after Kevin answered the last question, we sort of expected him to duck out
pretty quickly, just because it was so late, so we were pleasantly surprised to see him sitting
on the end of the stage, signing autographs and chatting with the folks who stayed behind. We
got up there pretty quickly, and had the chance to chat.
Kevin mentioned that he came to News Askew to see what happened when he was gone after he got
back from Europe, which, needless to say, we thought was pretty cool. He thanked us again for
the site, commenting on how well it's been doing hitwise and through word of mouth on the board.
We were really happy to hear that. He signed my Superman Lives script ("Brad, you broke the law!
-Kevin Smith), posed for the pic you see at the top of the page, and we were off. We didn't talk
long, mostly due to the fact that it was late, we were sure he was tired, and there were still
about 30 fans waiting to see him as well. If you ever talk to Kevin, you'll be impressed with
how down-to-earth and easygoing he is. There's always next time...Remember, ask your school's
activities board to have Kevin come and talk! We guarantee it'll be a great time for everyone
involved, and Kevin's more than willing to do these appearances from the sound of things. See
you at the next one!
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