CM: You like the sound of your own voice, but as your famous character Silent Bob, you appear mostly silent in several of your films.
KS: That’s the great irony, isn’t it? But, generally from what I understand, most Q&A’s go two hours. The shortest one I’ve done in recent years was four hours. The longest one was eight.
CM: Do you take a break or is it just nonstop Kevin Smith action?
KS: It just keeps going, it never stops. To be fair, by the eight-hour mark, you’ve lost half the audience at that point … only the hard-core stick around.
CM: What is it like working with the same actors before and after they’ve become famous?
KS: I’ve been lucky enough to work with cats who I knew before they got famous; and then when they got famous, they’re able to retain who they were before, like Ben [Affleck]. He wasn’t very big when we started working together, and now he’s very big. But at the end of the day, when you get on set, he’s still the dude that slept on my couch when we made “Chasing Amy.”
CM: Who is your favorite person that you’ve met throughout your career?
KS: George Carlin. He’s always been a personal favorite of mine, so working with him was pretty damn cool. He’s insanely easy to work with. A sweetheart of a man.
Everything you didn’t know you wanted to know about Kevin Smith:
By the numbers: Between television series and films, Smith has acted in 23 productions, produced 18, written 16 and directed 11.
By the numbers: Between television series and films, Smith has acted in 23 productions, produced 18, written 16 and directed 11.
Black-and-white breakout: Smith’s cult classic “Clerks” was filmed for $27,575 in 1994. Smith maxed out several credit cards and sold his comic book collection to fund the movie. It won awards at the Sundance Film Festival, grossed more than $1 million and led to Smith’s relationship with Miramax.
Buddies with Ben: Ben Affleck has appeared in several of Smith’s movies, including “Mallrats,” “Chasing Amy,” “Dogma,” “Jay and Silent
Bob Strike Back” and “Jersey Girl.” Smith was co-executive producer of “Good Will Hunting.”
Star power: The 1999 film “Dogma” featured heavy hitters such as Affleck, Matt Damon, Chris Rock, Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek and George Carlin.
All in the family: Smith is married to Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, a former journalist with USA Today. She has appeared in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” “Jersey Girl” and “Clerks II.” They have a daughter, Harley Quinn Smith, who was named after a character in “Batman” comics.
Sources: www.viewaskew.com, www.movies.yahoo.com, www.imdb.com
