Kevin Smith taken down a peg.

Batutta

Batutta

Major Contributor
I think James Marsh's opinion is spot on. Kevin should quit his whiny twitter rants and thank whatever god he prays to for the career he has, and not ***** about others opinions.

http://www.movieline.com/2011/02/oscar-winner-doesnt-like-that-one-director-youre-also-tired-of.php

“You can’t try to control response to your film, nor should you. …Unless you’re Kevin Smith, I guess. Whole other story. What’s his problem, anyway? Why [does he have a chip on his shoulder]? He’s had such a great run. You know, he’s not Orson Welles. And, I mean he gets his films made, he’s rich… he’s got money… Now he turns around and says suddenly, ‘I’m so hard done?’ What’s his f*cking problem?”

“He should be so f*cking lucky. It makes me so mad to have someone doing that. It’s wrong. It’s a total hypocrisy. He’s had loads of films made, and most of them are sh*t, quite honestly. I mean, I shouldn’t say that… Films are quite hard to make and anyone who does needs our respect, but… I have a big problem with all of this self-promoting narcissism.

“(To camera) Maybe the films aren’t very good, Kevin. You can’t have the kind of career he’s had and turn around and start complaining about it. There are many other… can I say it… vastly better filmmakers who haven’t been able to make as many films as him. So, you know, be a bit more f*cking humble.”
 
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Isn't he just trying to help independent filmmakers find a better way to get their films distributed on their terms instead of the horrible studio system? I support him all the way.
 
patcrowley said:
Isn't he just trying to help independent filmmakers find a better way to get their films distributed on their terms instead of the horrible studio system? I support him all the way.
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lol. i wish i had your optimism, but the reality is the movie is a tough sell and given his disappointing track record, no one wants to take a risk on it. his movies don't make much money and usually perform worse than expectations.
 
I read with an open mind... and I'm split 90/10... 90% in favor of the Smith bashing.

If I ever make a transition into being a filmmaker, instead of just talking about it... I'd be like woody allen, hopefully in talent... and not morality... which is how Smith should be playing it... if he really hates the hollywood machine. Instead, he just spends too much of his time begging to be screwed with and made fun of... which is eventually going to have nobody ever taking him seriously.

Why in the hell would a guy spend so much time berating the system he so clearly wants to embrace him? He's coming across like a small child drawing attention to himself in any way he can... for daddy's attention, when what he really wants is daddy's approval. The point that keeps slipping past him is if his movies were better it wouldn't be an issue. Why doesn't he look at where he started, how little hollywood was involved then, and where that got him?
 
ugafan said:
lol. i wish i had your optimism, but the reality is the movie is a tough sell and given his disappointing track record, no one wants to take a risk on it. his movies don't make much money and usually perform worse than expectations.
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It's not about anyone's opinion of his movies. It's about the cause. As a filmmaker, it saddens me how much money they spend advertising a billboard on Sunset Blvd. that cost twice the movie's budget. How's anyone supposed to distribute a movie anymore if they can't justify the cost of advertising.
 
It's true that haters are gonna hate, but it's also true that people read this s**t and quote it as gospel. I actually listen to his podcasts, and for us out there who want to blaze the next trail of film and distribution, his "Red State of the Union" podcasts are amazing. The funniest quotes are about him being arrogant, him being cocky. That dude is the most self deprecating cat on the planet. 40 mins of an hour podcast he's trashing himself. He is simply saying that he is tired of studios wasting money to market his films to an audience he is never gonna get. He tried to explain on the last three flicks that his movies are polarizing, they don't attract a broad audience so don't spend money trying to reach a broad audience. He built his fanbase 1.7 million followers with his own twittering thumbs, and if he releases it himself he doesn't have to waste anyone else's money on marketing. By the way, "Red State" from what I understand will be in the black by the time the movie hits the screen in October. He's already sold foreign so by the time it hits video and VOD they're rolling in the profit because they don't have 10 million dollars to pay back for marketing. I think the reason people especially aspiring filmmakers hate Smith so much is that he's one of us. It's easy to look at a Nolan or Aronofsky flick and say "damn" I don't think I could have done that. But Clerks, Chasing Amy, there's not a cat on this board that thinks they can't make a better movie. And it pisses them off that he made it on his terms and they have not. In his last podcast he said I'm retiring from film because I've told my stories and now I'm ready for this generation to take over and tell their stories. Rude, crass, hack...maybe, but he's also a class act who just loves telling stories, and he's helping pave the way for us to do the same thing.

P.S. James Marsh can suck it. Snoogins!
 
ATrain said:
It's true that haters are gonna hate, but it's also true that people read this s**t and quote it as gospel. I actually listen to his podcasts, and for us out there who want to blaze the next trail of film and distribution, his "Red State of the Union" podcasts are amazing. The funniest quotes are about him being arrogant, him being cocky. That dude is the most self deprecating cat on the planet. 40 mins of an hour podcast he's trashing himself. He is simply saying that he is tired of studios wasting money to market his films to an audience he is never gonna get. He tried to explain on the last three flicks that his movies are polarizing, they don't attract a broad audience so don't spend money trying to reach a broad audience. He built his fanbase 1.7 million followers with his own twittering thumbs, and if he releases it himself he doesn't have to waste anyone else's money on marketing. By the way, "Red State" from what I understand will be in the black by the time the movie hits the screen in October. He's already sold foreign so by the time it hits video and VOD they're rolling in the profit because they don't have 10 million dollars to pay back for marketing. I think the reason people especially aspiring filmmakers hate Smith so much is that he's one of us. It's easy to look at a Nolan or Aronofsky flick and say "damn" I don't think I could have done that. But Clerks, Chasing Amy, there's not a cat on this board that thinks they can't make a better movie. And it pisses them off that he made it on his terms and they have not. In his last podcast he said I'm retiring from film because I've told my stories and now I'm ready for this generation to take over and tell their stories. Rude, crass, hack...maybe, but he's also a class act who just loves telling stories, and he's helping pave the way for us to do the same thing.

P.S. James Marsh can suck it. Snoogins!
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a class act? is there another movie director named kevin smith that i don't know about? :grin:

i would say the main reason people don't like him is that his movies aren't very good and he always seems to have an excuse or someone to blame when they tank.
 
I'm with you MattSTL

Kevin Smith - The guy is a mystery

CLERKS was a truly great indie film; no filmmaker masterpiece but with such great dialog and I truly enjoyed Chasing Amy .. but his career as a filmmaker should be one of thanking the gods. I find his other films ranging from forgettable to pure shite and frankly, will anyone be talking about the first two films I mentioned in 50 years ?
 
I don't get it. 5-10 years ago, Kevin Smith was looked up to by every wanna-be independent filmmaker and geek in the world.
Including, I wouldn't be surprised, a lot of you guys.
Now people talk about him like he's Uwe Boll all of a sudden.

With him and Bryan Singer, it's scary how fast the wind can change.
 
Jawa Ex Machina said:
I don't get it. 5-10 years ago, Kevin Smith was looked up to by every wanna-be independent filmmaker and geek in the world.
Including, I wouldn't be surprised, a lot of you guys.
Now people talk about him like he's Uwe Boll all of a sudden.

With him and Bryan Singer, it's scary how fast the wind can change.
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Every filmmaker? Really? Perhaps many envied him for his success and admired him for what he accomplished with so little, but the films he made aren't much to aspire to. Smith's only real gift is an amusing way with filthy dialogue. As a filmmaker he was never very good, and strangely, the more polished his work got the more his shortcomings were apparent. Clerks and Chasing Amy were so grungy and in-artful on a visual level, it became a kind of aesthetic that hid the fact he has no real cinematic vision. Obviously Smith's films appeal to a certain audience, but then so do Tyler Perry's. Personally I think the most entertaining things he's done have been his Evenings performances (I saw the first and parts of the second). On stage he is hilarious and self effacing. I think what people have grown to dislike are his remarkably thin skinned twitter rants and attacks against his online critics. He pretty much made an entire movie about it (Jay and Silent Bob)...As for Smith paving the way for a new kind of film distribution, he's not going to improve anything for anyone except himself. What he's doing is nothing new. Roger Corman was doing it 40 years ago. There is nothing stopping anyone from doing what he is doing with their independent film and self distributing. Smith will make money because he already has an established name brand, a brand he never would have had without the mainstream distribution and marketing system he's fed off of for 15 years. An unknown filmmaker will have a much harder go of it...And Bryan Singer, as far as I know he's still respected by a lot of people. I didn't like Superman Returns at all...but I'll trade Kevin Smith's entire filmography for one Usual Suspects.
 
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This is why i love film, everybody has their flavor, and evidently to most of the cats on this forum Smith is a **** lollipop. I 'm not better than anybody here, I love Smith's stuff from Clerks on down. he's one of the reasons I'm sitting in Hollywood right now making flicks. The Viewaskew universe meant a lot to me, and for that I'm really thankful to him. Meanwhile I think P.T Anderson is the most annoying filmmaker on the planet, and can see his ego ooze onto every frame of every piece of film he shoots. Does that make him a shitty filmmaker...Nope I'm sure he's good but not my cup of tea. But in response to some of some of these posts, Smith has never had a film tank, all of them have been in the black when the dust settled. Do you think the Weinsteins had any loyalty to him one inch beyond the fact that his movies were profitable. Were they box office smashes, nope in fact his biggest hits were from his smallest budgets. He will be the first to tell people he is a WRITER/Director, he had no aspirations of being a hired gun director, a lesson he learned after Cop Out. Last I checked Woody Allen wasn't Ridley Scott behind
the lens either. As far as blazing a trail in self-distribution, if you had bothered to listen to his Sundance speech, you would know he is starting his own distribution channel for us newbies, Smodcast Pictures. And I hope you're wrong about it benefitting only him, cause I am three weeks away from starting production on a feature that we are self distributing, and you better believe I'm pulling my marketing strategy right from his social networking playbook. And finally to my boy Jackson directly above, it's funny you accuse him of being juvenile, and then call him a loser because his metabolic clock ticks slower than yours. I would suggest you post a pic of your p90X ripped abs before you cast stupid stones like that.
Snoochie Boochies :)
 
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Jawa Ex Machina said:
I don't get it. 5-10 years ago, Kevin Smith was looked up to by every wanna-be independent filmmaker and geek in the world.
Including, I wouldn't be surprised, a lot of you guys.
Now people talk about him like he's Uwe Boll all of a sudden.

With him and Bryan Singer, it's scary how fast the wind can change.
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I think it's reasonable that one could judge his "rants" as trying on a fan's patience... (like the South West Airlines thing... even if he had a reasonable complaint, he shouldn't have made it a big public issue, expecting special treatment, and throwing his weight around. A pattern is forming within the same time period of the shifting wind. From a "regular dude's" perspective, it seems like he's getting bitchy).

In that link it says that he did a "distribution auction" type of stunt... instead of showing a movie to people who thought they were going to see a film, but instead got yet another one of his "hollywood's doing me wrong" tongue-in-cheek lectures.
 
ATrain said:
As far as blazing a trail in self-distribution, if you had bothered to listen to his Sundance speech, you would know he is starting his own distribution channel for us newbies, Smodcast Pictures. And I hope you're wrong about it benefitting only him, cause I am three weeks away from starting production on a feature that we are self distributing, and you better believe I'm pulling my marketing strategy right from his social networking playbook.
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Starting his own distribution channel just makes him another gatekeeper...There is nothing revolutionary about it. That doesn't mean there isn't any value in what he's doing, but thinking it's going to change the system is just delusions of grandeur. As I said, making a low budget film and touring it around the country yourself, and doing your own marketing, has been a viable path for independent films for decades. Keep your budget low enough, and you'll probably break even. You might even make a tiny profit. Social media will make the marketing part easier, but even so it's an uphill battle without an exploitable element like a star personality who already has thousands of fans. I'm sure the plan with smodcast pictures is for Kevin to use his name to get the word out about your film, but I have a hard time believing anyone other than his most ardent fans will follow his recommendations. If your film doesn't fit into the juvenile taste of his audience you're probably out of luck there.
 
I've always been a fan of the guy. Not so much his movies, although there were a few that I liked (probably not in his demographic). He just seems like a cool dude to throw a few back with and swap stories. I never got the impression that he thought he was more than he really is. Which is a guy who got a great opportunity by taking a chance, and did what he wanted with it.

Odds are if he was getting started today he wouldn't have the same opportunity, and I am guessing he knows that. There was so much less content then.

In the end, it's impossible to know a guy's motivations, or what they are really like. There are dudes that I like, and yet I completely disagree with them on some stuff. The guy has an opinion and the world gave him a platform. No big deal. Agree? Cool. Disagree? Fine. I don't know him better than I know anyone else whose face I have seen in pictures.
 
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