"A Couple of Dicks" - New Kevin Smith movie...
Anyone else hear about this yet?
Rumor is...Kevin Smith has signed on to direct this comedy, which will star Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan as a pair of cops searching for a missing baseball card or some such nonsense...
Report:
http://www.cinematical.com/2009/03/02/kevin-smith-to-direct-a-couple-of-...
Kevin's Forum thread here:
http://www.viewaskew.com/theboard/viewtopic.php?t=66806
The little bit of plot I have heard thus far sounds boring, and the black/white detective comedy can only be so exciting, especially if Tracy Morgan just plays a Chris Tucker...
However, there are a few reasons it excites me, too. Primarily, because I love Kevin Smith and really appreciate his work, for all of its many flaws, and I think he is a genuinely funny dude... Anyone else listen to his podcasts? He and Scott Mosier just ramble on about the most random shit for an hour a week, and I have honestly busted out laughing while at work or on the T or some other inappropriate place... The other cool aspect, which is going to make the project interesting, is that he did not write the script. He will certainly do some unofficial re-writes, and maybe even an official re-write, but he didnt write the base script. Back in the day he said he would never direct something he hadnt written, he couldnt wrap his head around it and has never considered himself a very good director, but he has softened that view in recently years and it looks like he is going to go for it. Without Scott MOsier producing, none the less, which could also be interesting... (Scott will be directing his own feature film... he is still shopping for a project now...)
I am excited because it is new territory for the man. Just like I am excited about "Red State," which will be delayed now and who knows when it will come out, because it is a lot different than what he has done in the past.
Also, it is not with the Weinstein Company, which is interesting, cuz they have funded all of his flicks. My two hypotheses on why he is leaving are 1) I know he had some misgivings about some of the promotion with "Zack and Miri" and holds some cats over at the Weinsteins Company responsible, but he didnt give out the details because he decided it wasnt worth re-hashing the whole thing or 2) The Weinsteins already said they wouldnt fund "Red State," so maybe he is doing this flick with WB under the promise that doing so will give him "Red State" funding...
There is some other drama associated with it, as Robin Williams was set to star in it and then they canceled it before selling the rights to WB and he is suing some folk:http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117994311.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Thoughts?
I just wish the premise wasnt so lame...
I liked Clerks 2. There I said it!
i fucking loved zack and miri
and i didnt think id like it too much
__________________________________
play hard, like it's work to be done.
Wasn't zach an miri a relative success? Sure, it wasn't a blockbuster or anything, but it seemed to hold it's own for about a month. I didn't really pay to close attention to it though. still haven't seen it myself.
I just saw Zach and Miri a couple days ago. Eh....
Clerks 2 was literally one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It's in my bottom 5, and it also made me decide to never give Kevin Smith another dime.
Even if you didn't like it there's no WAY it could be in the worst five. Unless you just don't watch a lot of movies. There's already 5 Saw movies, so just mathmetically it couldn't be there.
With the exception of "Zack and Miri," actually, all of his films have been relatively successful, both in box office and DVD sales. As all of his films were made for very little money, "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" being the most expensive at around 11 million, he has always made a nice profit for the Weinsteins, and they have, thus far, been pretty happy with him. He has delievered as much if not more than they have been expecting... But true, he hasnt seen any 40 million opening weekends or anything, but I dont think anyone really expects that, his comedy is broad enough adn it doesnt dumb itself down to appeal to the masses, it dumbs itself down, instead, to appeal to people who find the same things funny as Kevin Smith...
"Zack and Miri," which has made a decent amount at this point in its theatrical run, opened at numbers that were monumentally lower than expected. It was probably the most "mainstream" of the films he has done, with the exception of "Jersey Girl," and maybe "Chasing Amy." Especially following "Clerks 2" it was a pretty abysmal showing. In his podcasts he takes full responsibility, because in the end it is his product thats out there, but he and the producer seem to blame someone else... He never mentions who... he gives a whole, complex analogy, about needing to carry an egg around the world to save the human race or something, and person A has to carry this egg on his head around the whole world and he makes it and all that is left is the hand off, and instead of just taking it like a normal person, person B knocks it up in the air, kind of like a joke, with the intent to catch it, and then misses... after this extended, like 30 minute analogy, he decides not to name any names or give other details...
Regardless of all that, your statement is just not true... The Weinsteins agreed to finance "Zack and Miri..." when he told them the title of the flick, without even reading a script or hearing a treatment. In my estimation that means they have some sort of respect for his work and for the revenue he offers them.
They did not want to fund Red State because it seems like a wacko movie that Smith is insisting on calling a "horror movie" that takes place in the south and has to do with evangelical christians... and that is really all he =has told anyone, except that it is kind of a downer of a movie, not very happy, doesnt leave you with a particularly good feeling, and he doesnt expect it will be well attended but he thinks it would be a really interesting movie... and basically the weinsteins said they agreed, it would be really interesting... and they also agreed it wouldnt make any money and was a bit too afar left field for them...
Also, I think "Clerks 2: was probably one of the most hilarious films of the year... and I could watch it repeatedly and find joy in it. Sure, some of the acting is not the best, as Brian O'Halloran cant really hold his own in front of a camera, especially not when acting against Rosario Dawson, but I still thought it was great.
Also, in a recent podcast he was talking about how he was in Canada and they were doing a marathon of his flicks, and he would do a Q&A after each screening, and he wouldnt sit through the entirety of each film but would come in for the last 20 or 30 mins, and he said that while he is proud of every film he has made and has always thought that he was putting out the best films he could at the time, with the exception of "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," "Clerks 2," and "Zack and Miri..." he can barely sit through his odl work as he sees himself as having improved a lot since then, director-wise, not necessarily writer-wise, and thinks they all could be a LOT better if he wre to do them again...
Whatever, I can see why people arent interested in his work... but I find it pretty hilarious across the board, Although I dont think "Zack and Miri..." was as good as "Clerks 2," and I am excited to see what he does with this film... Buddy cop movies and black/white cop movies have a LOT of cliches, almost all of which ruin any new attempt at the genre. If the film avoids those, which will be a matter of writing, i would imagine, not directing, then it might be good. I am excited that it is happening, I think that Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan could both be really funny under Smith's directing...
I watch tons of movies, but I don't just factor in the film itself, I factor in how the director should have shown some progression since his last film, what kind of budget/star power he was working with, etc. It's some of the worst writing ever. Then the dance scene? And the go-karts? Don't get me started.
What if he does a shot for shot remake of 16 blocks only as a comedy?!
My love for Bollywood films makes me disagree with you on the dance scene, but I am with you 100% on the go-karts. Though I bet that was a fun day of shooting...
Kevin Smith and Scot Mosier will pretty much get my dollars for anything. I'm a fan. Thats what made the following Roadside Attractions (Part 1)a bit of a cherry on top for me as a fan. The last segment,shot at Secret Caverns, was filmed with Kevin and my husband. I was such a little school girl when we go our copy and when it aired on Jay Leno. I still giggle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVaaJEiAGg0
It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open.
Do the ladies really dig the secret cavern?
i agree with that, love the smith, i went to the sundance for a screening of chasing amy and everybody was there, and they did a big ol' q&a, he is a very cool cat. they were all smokin outside after and we walked 2 feet in front of them and i was to much of a pussy to say anything, regrets, regrets!
nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it.
apparently they have already changed the name of the movie to "a couple of cops" ?
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118000804.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
lame.
We must at least dig the crusty cavemen that frequent it, LOL
It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open.
!!!
Kevin confirmed that:
1) This is legit
and
2) A Couple of Cops is a working title
http://www.viewaskew.com/theboard/viewtopic.php?t=66806&postdays=0&posto...
Pretty nice write up and interview...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lee-stranahan/watch-director-kevin-smit_b_...
A few production stills:
http://www.comingsoon.net/imageGallery/A_Couple_of_Dicks_Set
Clerks 2 was hilarious, IMHO.
This guy is handled exactly how everything else should be handled.... he has a certain following, he will make a certain amount of $$ and than you budget accordingly. You don't need a blockbuster to make money. I'd rather invest $5mil in one of his movies than god only knows the amount of the new James Cameron movie.
Agreed. He has a fan base, and quite a large one at that, so no matter what he puts out, unless it is truly crap, which IMO hasn't happened yet, the company that backs him is going to see a return. I thoroughly enjoyed Zach and Miri, and I can't wait for A Couple of Dicks.
So you've been broken and you've been hurt
Show me somebody who ain't
Yeah, I know I ain't nobody's bargain
But, hell, a little touchup and a little paint...
- Bruce Springsteen
He cried in a Newsweek interview as he came to grips with the fact that he can't get away with being adolescent anymore.
I wonder if the 37 from Clerks will make a cameo.
My conscience, my pity, my hopes disappeared a long time ago (probably at Harvard).
He has actually been talking a lot about what direction he is looking in for his future work. He said he has realized that he is no longer just a slacker who doesnt do anything and does the bare minimum to make it through, he hasnt been that person for 15 years, so while those are the characters he loves and is happy with, that world is becoming more and more forced for him to inhabit as he writes. He hasnt actually said what direction he sees his work going, though, other than that he won't start bitching about or making meta-commentary about Hollywood or any of that, because he considers himself too blessed and fortunate to be in the position he is in, and knows that most of the work that tries to play a "poor me hollywood is ruthless" angle is whiny and pathetic.
he also sad, on the kevin pollack chat show, that he is having a blast directing a work that isnt his. he is almost being spoiled by it, and it is a lot easier for him than directing any of the shit he writes has been. with something he has written, he has lived with the characters and the story so long that he has become wedded to what is in his mind, as the final, often only, authority, and often by the end he is burned out by living with these characters and storylines. With a script he didnt wrote he has not lived with the characters or plot as long, and since he didnt imagine it in his mind before it was put to page, if the actors bring something to the character that he didnt expect or imagine he has been more able to go with it and explore it than he would otherwise.
he was on the kevin pollack show (who knew kevin pollack did a weekly internet chat show?) because pollack is in this flick, which makes it even more enticing.
he also said red state would get made. he said that when there is money it will get made, and while it isnt like the one thing he feels he needs to really do he does want to, and if he has to he will finance the flick himself, but fiscally he has doen that once (clerks 1) and doesnt want to tempt fate, that is why production companies exist, so it is on a far back burner until a fire starts somewhere.
Michelle Trachtenberg and Jason Lee officially added to the cast:
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=56756
Could also have something to do with the fact that the Weinsteins poured a whoooole lotta money into his career and he just isn't delivering. His box office record is abysmal, and really, he should be doing some kind of pre-fame-Tyler-Perry direct to DVD thing with his movies.