Director Kevin Smith Angers Buyers With a Fake-Out at Sundance
- Thread starter Elizabeth Grunewald
- Start date
Oh, Kevin Smith. Such a reliable source of annoyance. There's something to be said about good intentions, and something to be said about properly conveying them.
Was and still is an idiot.
Was and still is an idiot.
I like Kevin Smith. This is hard to justify, but he gets my sympathy over the dubmass who called him a 'fat, masturbating stoner'. It's kind of weird, the articles I disagree with (for one reason or another) all seem to come from this one editor in particular.
You gotta admire the balls on this guy. Still, I think what he did was pretty dickish and ultimately all he did was prevent the investors from considering other aspiring directors who aren't looking to piss on the people who fund them. Yeah he's a lucky guy being able to front 4mil for a movie all on his own but most indie directors don't have that.
Funny though they are, the clerks movies always did give me the impression the guy in charge was a bit of a troll.
Funny though they are, the clerks movies always did give me the impression the guy in charge was a bit of a troll.
He should have bid 40 million for his own movie, just for shits and giggles. I mean, if someone were dumb enough to pay that much for it, more power to them. I see his point though. His last few movies have been ripped down as being "unsuccessful" even though they recouped the budget. And boo hoo to the anonymous film buyer. How much do they pull down a year and they're pissed they had to watch ONE unnecessary movie?
Hmmmmmm
Well, my first thought is that this is a publicity stunt, after all it's more attention getting than Kevin Smith simply saying he's got a new movie and will be trying to distribute it himself. The guy isn't stupid, and honestly as he's become more successful it's been argued that he's kind of a sell out. Given that his big thing is to appeal to the slacker crowd, I think this might have been motivated by earning some of that cred back, since being just another "fat, masterbating, slacker" like his audience is part of his entire appeal.
Now, it occurs to me that a lot of people seem to have been doing a lot of comparison between his older work, and his newer stuff. In reading about Seth Rogan, in connection to "The Green Hornet" it seems like "Zack And Miri Make A Porno" wasn't all that successful as well, which is why he so desperatly needs this movie to be a huge success (and it seems to be doing okay) to save his career. A failure for him, leads me to believe it probably hurt Kevin Smith too since it's been about two years since he's done anything, and I think he had a lot riding on that one since it seemed to be being aimed at a more mainstream romcom audience despite using his trademark slacker motif.
Kevin also produced what is pretty much a low-budget horror/thriller movie when you get down to it, it's not a big niche, and on top of that, it seems like it might have a political axe to grind. "Dogma" was intended to be funny, and absurd enough not to be taken seriously, this ... not so much.
I suspect that as a lot of these guys were probably supporters, most of whose interests probably wouldn't want to invest in them right now, they came along to help out and were "in" on it, with enough of a crowd there to make it seem legitimate. The resulting press is going to hit the niche market for the people it's aimed at (ie through things like The Escapist) and give him some free exposure he wouldn't otherwise have had. Business is business, if he does well with this (for the scale he's operating on) I doubt what he said will have mattered, especially if people WERE in on what he's doing and can vouch for the fact that it was a promotional stunt.
All this took was a couple of hours, and the movie industry as a whole is infamous for stuff like this even if people tend to forget about it. The movie "Matinee" with John Goodman touched on how far the industry went decades ago, where the guy was hiring people to pretend to protest his own movie as being obscene in order to generate hype. This isn't going much further if I'm right.
Well, my first thought is that this is a publicity stunt, after all it's more attention getting than Kevin Smith simply saying he's got a new movie and will be trying to distribute it himself. The guy isn't stupid, and honestly as he's become more successful it's been argued that he's kind of a sell out. Given that his big thing is to appeal to the slacker crowd, I think this might have been motivated by earning some of that cred back, since being just another "fat, masterbating, slacker" like his audience is part of his entire appeal.
Now, it occurs to me that a lot of people seem to have been doing a lot of comparison between his older work, and his newer stuff. In reading about Seth Rogan, in connection to "The Green Hornet" it seems like "Zack And Miri Make A Porno" wasn't all that successful as well, which is why he so desperatly needs this movie to be a huge success (and it seems to be doing okay) to save his career. A failure for him, leads me to believe it probably hurt Kevin Smith too since it's been about two years since he's done anything, and I think he had a lot riding on that one since it seemed to be being aimed at a more mainstream romcom audience despite using his trademark slacker motif.
Kevin also produced what is pretty much a low-budget horror/thriller movie when you get down to it, it's not a big niche, and on top of that, it seems like it might have a political axe to grind. "Dogma" was intended to be funny, and absurd enough not to be taken seriously, this ... not so much.
I suspect that as a lot of these guys were probably supporters, most of whose interests probably wouldn't want to invest in them right now, they came along to help out and were "in" on it, with enough of a crowd there to make it seem legitimate. The resulting press is going to hit the niche market for the people it's aimed at (ie through things like The Escapist) and give him some free exposure he wouldn't otherwise have had. Business is business, if he does well with this (for the scale he's operating on) I doubt what he said will have mattered, especially if people WERE in on what he's doing and can vouch for the fact that it was a promotional stunt.
All this took was a couple of hours, and the movie industry as a whole is infamous for stuff like this even if people tend to forget about it. The movie "Matinee" with John Goodman touched on how far the industry went decades ago, where the guy was hiring people to pretend to protest his own movie as being obscene in order to generate hype. This isn't going much further if I'm right.
Pissing off Hollywood can't be healthy for one's career. But I like it. Go Kevin Smith. Also, make another movie with Jay and Silent Bob. And lose some weight.
So yeah, what the hell were they expecting? When Kevin Smith does a publicity stunt, he does it well, sometimes unintentionally better than he could have intended (see Dogma). More power to him, money grubbers can ***** all they want about not being able to spend their money on him.
I haven't seen any of Kevin Smith's movies, though now I think I will.
I'm the kind of person who thinks everyone should just treat everyone else nicely, so this doesn't go well with me. He basically wasted everyone's time that could have been spent on supporting other, less well known films, and insulted everyone in the process.
Good intentions or not, I just don't see an excuse for bad mannerisms. But, then again, I'm being a Proper Polly here, so whatever.
I'm the kind of person who thinks everyone should just treat everyone else nicely, so this doesn't go well with me. He basically wasted everyone's time that could have been spent on supporting other, less well known films, and insulted everyone in the process.
Good intentions or not, I just don't see an excuse for bad mannerisms. But, then again, I'm being a Proper Polly here, so whatever.
Not only did you say what I was going to say, but you said it exactly the way I was going to say it. GET OUT OF MY HEAD, YOU.Sutter Cane said:
[small]And watch for the loose screws, don't want to slip and fall.[/small]
