119 Facts About Kevin Smith

1.

Kevin Smith came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film Clerks, which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted in as the character Silent Bob of stoner duo Jay and Silent Bob, characters who appeared in Smith's later films Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks II, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, and Clerks III which are set primarily in his home state of New Jersey.

2.

Since 2011, Kevin Smith has mostly made horror films, including Red State and the comedy horror films Tusk and Yoga Hosers, two in a planned series of three such films set in Canada dubbed the True North trilogy.

3.

Kevin Smith has served as a director-for-hire for material he did not write, including the buddy cop action comedy Cop Out and various television series episodes, creating Masters of the Universe: Revelation in 2021.

4.

Kevin Smith owns Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey, a comic book store which became the setting for the reality television show Comic Book Men.

5.

Kevin Patrick Smith was born on August 2,1970, in Red Bank, New Jersey, the son of Grace, a homemaker, and Donald E Smith, a postal worker.

6.

Kevin Smith has two siblings: an older sister, Virginia, and an older brother, Donald Jr.

7.

Kevin Smith was raised in a Catholic household in the nearby clamming town of Highlands.

8.

Kevin Smith's childhood was scheduled around his father's late shifts at the post office.

9.

Kevin Smith's father grew to despise his job, which greatly influenced Smith, who remembers his father finding it difficult on some days to get up and go to work.

10.

Kevin Smith vowed never to work at something that he did not enjoy.

11.

Kevin Smith attended Henry Hudson Regional High School, where he was a B and C student, videotaped basketball games, and produced Saturday Night Live-style sketch comedy.

12.

Kevin Smith met Jason Mewes while working at a youth center; they became friends after discovering a mutual interest in comic books.

13.

On his 21st birthday, Kevin Smith saw Richard Linklater's comedy Slacker.

14.

Kevin Smith attended Vancouver Film School for four months, where he met longtime collaborators Scott Mosier and Dave Klein.

15.

Unlike them, Kevin Smith left halfway through the course, figuring he knew enough to proceed and wanting to save money for his first film.

16.

Kevin Smith moved back to New Jersey and got his old job back at a convenience store in Leonardo.

17.

Kevin Smith decided to set his film, Clerks, at the store, borrowing the a-day-in-the-life structure from the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing.

18.

Kevin Smith maxed out more than a dozen credit cards, and sold his much-treasured comic book collection, to raise $27,575 to make the film, while saving money by casting friends and acquaintances in most roles.

19.

At a restaurant following the screening, Miramax executive Harvey Weinstein invited Kevin Smith to join him at his table, where he offered to buy the film.

20.

Kevin Smith then focused the spotlight on the two characters who had appeared in supporting roles in his previous four films.

21.

Kevin Smith heavily reedited the film to reduce Lopez's role to just a few scenes, but the film did poorly at the box office.

22.

The $5 million film, starring Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Halloran, Rosario Dawson, Mewes, Jennifer Schwalbach and Kevin Smith reprising his role as Silent Bob, earned $25 million.

23.

Kevin Smith took the film through the MPAA's appeals process and received an R rating without having to make any edits.

24.

The film, shot from June to August 2009, involves a pair of veteran cops tracking down a stolen vintage baseball card, and was released on February 26,2010, to poor reviews; it was the first film Kevin Smith directed but did not write.

25.

In September 2010, Kevin Smith started work on Red State, an independently financed horror film loosely inspired by the Westboro Baptist Church and its pastor, Fred Phelps.

26.

Kevin Smith had said he would auction off rights to the $4 million film at a controversial event following its debut screening at Sundance but instead kept the rights to the film himself and self-distributed it under the SModcast Pictures banner.

27.

Kevin Smith explained his decision as a way to return to an era when marketing a film did not cost four times as much as the film itself, a situation he called "decadent and deadening".

28.

Kevin Smith had said before Red State that he would soon retire from directing, and announced that his last movie would be Clerks III.

29.

In 2013 Kevin Smith directed Tusk, a horror film inspired by a story Kevin Smith and Mosier read about a Gumtree ad for a man who rents out a room in his house for free on the condition that the respondent dresses as a walrus for two hours per day.

30.

Kevin Smith revealed at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con that he had written the script for a film called Moose Jaws, which he described as "Jaws with a moose", and which is planned to be the third film in his True North trilogy.

31.

Kevin Smith wrote and directed one segment, Halloween, of the 2016 horror anthology film Holidays, in which each segment takes place during a different holiday.

32.

In June 2017, Kevin Smith started shooting KillRoy Was Here, a horror film based on the graffiti phenomenon.

33.

In 2017, due to obstacles getting Clerks 3 or Mallrats 2 produced, Kevin Smith decided to write and direct a Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back sequel instead, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.

34.

On October 1,2019, Kevin Smith announced on Instagram that Clerks III was happening and that Jeff Anderson, who had retired, had agreed to reprise his role as Randal.

35.

Kevin Smith named the independent production company he created for the 2011 film Red State "The Harvey Boys" in Weinstein's honor.

36.

Kevin Smith is considered one of the writer-directors whose career Weinstein nurtured, a group that includes Quentin Tarantino and David O Russell.

37.

Kevin Smith severed professional ties with Weinstein when he was informed of his assault on Rose McGowan.

38.

In 1997, New Line Cinema hired Kevin Smith to rewrite Overnight Delivery, which was expected to be a blockbuster teen film.

39.

Kevin Smith has said that the only scene that really used his dialogue was the opening scene, which includes a reference to longtime Smith friend Bryan Johnson.

40.

Kevin Smith was an uncredited screenwriter on the 2000 comedy-drama film Coyote Ugly.

41.

Kevin Smith followed these with a series of Clerks comics.

42.

Kevin Smith wrote the miniseries Chasing Dogma, which tells the story of Jay and Silent Bob between the films Chasing Amy and Dogma.

43.

Kevin Smith has written the trade paperback Bluntman and Chronic, published by Image, which purports to be a collection of the three issues of the series done by Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards.

44.

In 1999, Kevin Smith won a Harvey Award, for Best New Talent in comic books.

45.

In 1999, Kevin Smith wrote "Guardian Devil", an eight-issue story arc of Daredevil for Marvel Comics illustrated by Joe Quesada.

46.

Kevin Smith produced a 15-issue tenure on Green Arrow for DC Comics that saw the return of Oliver Queen from the dead and the introduction of Mia Dearden, a teenage girl who would become Speedy after Smith's run had ended.

47.

Kevin Smith was announced as the writer of an ongoing Black Cat series and The Amazing Spider-Man in 2002, but because of the delays on Evil That Men Do and The Target, the plan was changed so that Smith would start a third Spider-Man title, launched in 2004 by Mark Millar instead.

48.

Kevin Smith wrote the limited series Batman: Cacophony, with art by friend Walt Flanagan, which ran from November 2008 to January 2009.

49.

In 2010 Kevin Smith wrote a six-issue Batman miniseries, The Widening Gyre, for DC, drawn by Walt Flanagan.

50.

Also in 2010, Kevin Smith published a Green Hornet story for Dynamite Entertainment based on an unused script he wrote for a Green Hornet film that never came to fruition.

51.

On March 7,2022, it was announced that Dark Horse and Kevin Smith would be teaming up to publish the books of Secret Stash Press, a new publishing line by Kevin Smith.

52.

In 1998, Kevin Smith shot two TV commercials for Coca-Cola in New Jersey.

53.

Kevin Smith has directed and starred in commercials for Panasonic.

54.

On February 27,2002, Kevin Smith released a short film for The Tonight Show, The Flying Car.

55.

Kevin Smith directed the pilot for The CW supernatural comedy series Reaper.

56.

Kevin Smith described it as "less Brimstone or Dead Like Me and more like Shaun of the Dead than anything else".

57.

Kevin Smith added that he took the job because he had always wanted to direct something he did not write, but never had an interest in doing it on the big screen.

58.

Kevin Smith produced and appeared in the AMC reality television series Comic Book Men, which is set inside Kevin Smith's comic book shop, Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, in Red Bank, New Jersey.

59.

Kevin Smith has directed 3 episodes of The Flash, 4 episodes of Supergirl and 3 episodes of The Goldbergs.

60.

In February 2017, Kevin Smith was announced to write, direct, and executive produce a TV series based on the Image Comics title Sam and Twitch for BBC America.

61.

In February 2019, Kevin Smith was announced to cowrite, with Dave Willis, an animated web series based on Marvel Comics' Howard the Duck for Hulu.

62.

In 1996, Kevin Smith worked on a script for a planned Superman film tentatively titled Superman Lives.

63.

Kevin Smith wrote several drafts but was dropped from the project when Tim Burton was hired to direct and brought his own team to write the script; Burton's attempt was later abandoned as well.

64.

Kevin Smith noted that he went to see the 1999 film Wild Wild West, which Peters produced, and was surprised to see a giant mechanical spider at the end of the film, presumably Peters's handiwork.

65.

In 2004, Kevin Smith wrote a screenplay for a film adaptation of The Green Hornet, and announced that he intended to direct it.

66.

At the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Kevin Smith would write and direct an episode of the Heroes spin-off Heroes: Origins, but the project was canceled because of the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike.

67.

Kevin Smith planned to direct a hockey drama-comedy based on Warren Zevon's song "Hit Somebody ".

68.

Kevin Smith announced at the 2011 Sundance premiere of Red State that Hit Somebody would be the last film he directed, but that he would continue to tell stories in other media.

69.

In December 2012 Kevin Smith announced that, due to difficulties finding funding, Hit Somebody would be a six-part miniseries on an as-yet unknown network.

70.

Kevin Smith announced in March 2015 that Hit Somebody would film from September to Christmas 2015, but this did not happen.

71.

On March 12,2015, Kevin Smith said he would film Clerks III in May 2015, followed in early 2016 by Moose Jaws and Anti-Claus, which he confirmed the next day.

72.

In June 2016, Kevin Smith revealed that because Universal owns the rights to the Mallrats title a sequel would not be made; instead, it would be turned into a 10-episode TV series produced by Universal Television.

73.

Kevin Smith confirmed that the film's entire cast would reprise their roles in the series.

74.

In January 2016, Kevin Smith wrapped production on a pilot episode for a planned half-hour comedy series, Hollyweed.

75.

Kevin Smith wrote and directed the pilot, which starred Smith and Donnell Rawlings, along with Kristin Bauer van Straten, Frankie Shaw, Jason Mewes, Ralph Garman, Adam Brody, Hina Abdullah, Pete Pietrangeliand and Harley Quinn Smith.

76.

In May 2016, Kevin Smith announced that he was adapting the 1984 film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension for television through MGM and said he and the company were shopping it around to networks.

77.

In July 2016, it was revealed that Amazon Studios was close to closing a deal to produce the series, but in November 2016, during a Facebook Live Stream, Kevin Smith said he would walk away from the series after MGM filed a lawsuit against the original creators but would be willing to come back on board if they wanted him.

78.

Kevin Smith made a cameo appearance in the horror film Scream 3, and was featured along with Jason Mewes in several Degrassi: The Next Generation episodes, including a special, "Jay and Silent Bob Do Degrassi".

79.

Kevin Smith played the role of Paul, a cynical divorced man, in a Showtime television series pilot, Manchild, filmed in December 2006.

80.

From 1995 to 1999, Kevin Smith played small roles in the View Askew films Drawing Flies, Vulgar, and Big Helium Dog.

81.

In 2003, Kevin Smith appeared in a cameo role as coroner Jack Kirby in the film Daredevil.

82.

In early 2005, Kevin Smith appeared in three episodes of the Canadian-made teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation.

83.

Kevin Smith appeared in the 2009 made-for-TV movie Degrassi Goes Hollywood.

84.

In 2007 Kevin Smith appeared in a number of films, co-starring as Sam in Catch and Release, starring Jennifer Garner, and appearing as The Warlock, a hacker, in the fourth installment of the Die Hard franchise, Live Free or Die Hard.

85.

Kevin Smith appeared in the second episode of season two of Veronica Mars, playing a store clerk.

86.

Kevin Smith played himself in the video game Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham as a playable character.

87.

Kevin Smith appears as himself in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Zombies, as a cameo and a playable character in the map, Rave in the Redwoods.

88.

Kevin Smith had a voice cameo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and an on-screen cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

89.

At least 12 of these segments were aired, and Kevin Smith regularly appeared on the program to introduce the pre-taped pieces.

90.

On one appearance, Kevin Smith compared Craig Brewer's Black Snake Moan to the works of William Faulkner.

91.

Kevin Smith was featured as one of the interview subjects in This Film Is Not Yet Rated, a 2006 documentary about the Motion Picture Association of America's process of rating films.

92.

Kevin Smith discussed how Jersey Girl receiving an R rating, on the basis of a conversation two characters in that film have about masturbation, which MPAA head Joan Graves told Kevin Smith she would not feel comfortable having her 16-year-old daughter watching.

93.

Kevin Smith's response was to question whether Graves' daughter had not already masturbated or learned about masturbation, arguing that his film was not teaching 16-year-olds anything they did not already know.

94.

Kevin Smith teamed with AMC and The Weinstein Company to co-host a late night talk show with Greg Grunberg, Geeking Out, which premiered in July 2016, covering San Diego Comic-Con with 8 subsequent episodes running weekly.

95.

On November 16,2019, Amazon Prime published "Bonus: Kevin Smith Explains The Expanse" as a forerunner to series 4 of The Expanse, in which Kevin helps explain the action that unfolded during the first three seasons.

96.

Kevin Smith made sold-out appearances at Carnegie Hall in 2009 and the Sydney Opera House in 2010.

97.

Kevin Smith has a website, The View Askewniverse, which went online in late 1995.

98.

Kevin Smith has an online blog, "My Boring-Ass Life", the contents of which were published in a book by the same name.

99.

On June 4,2012, Kevin Smith premiered his Hulu weekly series Spoilers, described as an "anti-movie review" series, where Kevin Smith takes a group of people to a new film and has them comment on what they have seen.

100.

On December 14,2015, Kevin Smith began posting his Fatman on Batman series on YouTube.

101.

Kevin Smith owns and operates Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey, a comic book store largely dedicated to merchandise related to his films and comics.

102.

Kevin Smith purchased the original store in January 1997 for $30,000, using the money he earned from Clerks.

103.

The store was moved to a defunct ice cream parlor on Broad St after Kevin Smith sold the Monmouth St property.

104.

Kevin Smith had announced that he would close after his lease expired and Johnson wanted to resign, but eventually relocated to Laser Blazer, a now-defunct laserdisc and DVD store in Los Angeles.

105.

In January 2009, the Los Angeles store closed, leaving the Red Bank store as Kevin Smith's only operating store.

106.

Kevin Smith dated actress Joey Lauren Adams, and declared his desire to marry her in Time magazine.

107.

Kevin Smith is married to Jennifer Schwalbach Kevin Smith, whom he met while she was interviewing him for USA Today.

108.

Kevin Smith photographed her for a nude pictorial in Playboy that consisted of photographs by various celebrities.

109.

Kevin Smith researched Christianity thoroughly, explored other religions, read the Biblical apocrypha, and tried joining a Pentecostal congregation.

110.

Kevin Smith said that upon the dog's death, he realized that dogs do not have religious beliefs.

111.

Kevin Smith is an avid hockey fan and supports the New Jersey Devils.

112.

Kevin Smith never smoked until his debut film, Clerks, in which he used the cigarettes as a prop, but did not inhale.

113.

Kevin Smith quit smoking cigarettes in 2008 after taking up smoking cannabis after working with Seth Rogen on Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

114.

Kevin Smith lost 50 pounds upon meeting his wife.

115.

Kevin Smith adopted a vegan diet, joining Weight Watchers and becoming a paid spokesperson for the brand.

116.

Kevin Smith personally selected the recipients from over nine hundred applications.

117.

Kevin Smith has directed fifteen feature films since 1994; he was the screenwriter for all but one of them, Cop Out.

118.

Kevin Smith has created and executive produced the TV series Clerks: The Animated Series, Sucks Less with Kevin Smith, Comic Book Men and Geeking Out.

119.

Kevin Smith has had many small acting roles in films and television, often playing himself or otherwise making a cameo appearance.