Kevin Smith - Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

0:00 So Kevin Smith celebrated his fifty sixth birthday yesterday. We've met him, we love him, we certainly love his work, and so it is that our theme for this month in August is Kevin Smith and the Supers. We've got some very fun episodes lined up for all of you out there. So let's talk about a film by Kevin Smith, his two thousand and one satirical Stoner Buddy action movie Jane and Bob Strike Back. Hello everybody, I'm Jeff Johnson and this is a film by podcast. I've got two friends of the show with me today. One cells Must Have Toys, one sells Must Have Art. You can find both of them at comic cons all over and they both love the view a skew averse. Ben, Welcome back, buddy.

1:25 It's good to see you. Against man. Happy to be here. Yeah, Our listeners, they they've already seen you a lot on our developing YouTube channel, our new series previously on where you join us for all things Spandex and superheroes. But Ben, when you're yeah, when you're not hanging out in front of a convenience store, you're you're in the dungeon. Yeah. In fact, if you look behind me right here, it's Dover's Dungeon. I am a streamer, video game streamer, and that's what I do for my side gig. Yeah, what I'm not selling toys when. You're not selling toys. Yeah, and you're where you selling toys. I see that.

2:05 We see the logo Ben give us. And collectibles right here. I don't know if it's backwards, but it's COLLECTIBLESO. This shop is absolutely awesome, Absolutely love it. And Uh and Ben, it's always cool to stop in your You're right there behind the counter. I mean you are in essence of clerk. You. You are Kevin Smith. You know, Ohio, Kevin Smith, Ohio. Uh. John Wright been a while, my friend. Uh. I think the last time you were on we were talking about the Charlist, the Rone in that slick action film Atomic Blonde. I love John.

2:46 Your art's amazing. I happen to have several pieces on my walls. But for our listeners just now discovering the art of John Wright, or maybe they're tuning into a film by podcast for the first time, tell us a little bit about this art. It's culture slash horror based. I'm currently working developing a script for my own title. I'm not doing that me standing out in front of local comic shop, probably Bellbook and Comic trying to talk you know, past issues on kid. Those guys are great too. It's always it's always great to see you. I know you're kind of a fixture at Horror Hound here instance in Ohio. I know you've done some other shows too, but it's the Bell Book and Comic guys are always They're never too far behind you, right, They're always It's always cool to see those guys too.

3:37 Yeah, those guys are taken me under it. He's a great guy. Yes, it's a very great guy. He has he actually has a case in our shop. Yep. Oh, okay. Interconnected here, Yeah, we're talking about Kevin Smith movie that kind of connects all his films. And I've got two guests that I thought were meeting for the first time. But you've got a little bit of interconnectivity between the two of you. That's that's awesome cool. It is super awesome. Six Smith. Yeah, Well, let's uh, let's talk three facts you may not know about Kevin Smith. You guys are gonna know all of these facts, but maybe we've got some listeners. I don't know, we've got a lot of Kevin Smith fans that listen to us. I know our one hundredth episode was a Kevin Smith two parter. A couple of seasons ago, we did Zach and Maury make a Porno, but.

4:29 Three things you may not know out there. After he completed Malrats in nineteen ninety five for Universal, he actually pitched an idea for Jalls five and they liked it so much they gave him the go ahead to write the treatment. And for reasons I'm not sure about, he he never did so something something we're gonna have to We're gonna have to ask. Him about next time we see him. Because, as I said, we've all met Kevin. He is a fantastic guy. Maybe he gives the world's best hugs. Ben I am I right in saying that. Oh yeah, I met him a couple months ago for the first time. Finally I went to Jersey. They did a podcast at his movie theater that he has there.

5:13 This podcast, Yeah, yeah, it was great, man. And then the purchase of a ticket came with a photo op and so I got in the back of the line, and uh, just so I could see if I can get a conversation in with him trying to be sneaky and uh, man, as soon as you get up to him literally and I mean this wholeheartedly, arms wide open, just big old just come here and bring it in, man, and like, I've never been more happy in my entire life. Maybe I've talked to him a couple of times, and we've even there's been once or twice I think on on Twitter a couple couple of years ago. But he might be one of the most sincere people I've ever talked to. Honestly, Uh, first time I met him in Columbus at Galaxy Con. He is just a very sincere, very heartfelt guy.

6:00 You just walk away film like you just met your best friend. You really do? Yeah? Yeah yeah Uh. Run DMC, The Cure, The Police, and Talking Heads are among his favorite music groups. I thought, for sure i'd see I hear, I'd hear friends, I'd hear. Yeah, More's Day. But no, that More's Day for sure. Oh yeah, I mean you gotta love Morris Day. Another thing. Uh He's He's been on record saying this. He believes that had it not been for the success of his first film, Clerks, he would still be working to this day as a clerk at the quick stop in RST Video in Leonardo, New Jersey. I believe that not in a bad and I don't say that in a bad way.

6:44 I just say like, he's doing what he loves, you know. I mean I think, I think that's something he's always done. Like he finds passion wherever he's at, and I dig that about him. He's a people person. He is he is. John. We've got a new format this season, and we've been we've been focused on the movies of two thousand and one and two thousand and six, celebrating twentieth and twenty fifth anniversaries, and for that reason alone, we've been going after like the big budget, well known, blockbuster type movies. And we don't need to give these long winded synopsis discussions for what these movies are about, because we we typically always talk about the underrated movies. But now I think we we've done a good job this season talking about what a movie is in exactly five words. So let's talk five words synopsis, John Wright, what is Jane's son a Bob strike Back all about?

7:42 In exactly five words? That's limited to five? Actually, I can I think I can bring. Well, you got to know you got the game is you gotta. Do five, John, you have to do five. Okay, you have to do five. Buddy road Trip, all right. Ultimate buddy road trip comedy. All right, we'll give it to you, the Ultimate Buddy road trip comedy. It's a bold statement, John, there's some good road trip comedies out there. But I'm not gonna I'm not gonna deny you. I me know it's Jane sign of Bob so Ben five words exactly. Stoner's halt production of movie. That that actually, that's that's very right there. Uh Ben, you're Ben, You're really close to what I have.

8:27 I've got lovable Stoners attack Hollywood greed. Ooh yeah, I like that. That's pretty good. Yeah. So Clerk's Maul Rats Chasing Amy Dogma first four movies kind of established that there is a connected universe that Kevin Smith is building. He dubs it the view of Skew a Verse, and uh, I think this movie kind of serves as the crossover event, uh, to legitimize the interconnectivity alls movies up to this point. It you could say it's his Avengers film at this point. Kind of Yeah, it ties together it all ties together.

9:09 It's a universe. Yeah, John, did you did you feel rewarded as a long time fan of his films up to this point when when Jane Sabab Strikes Back came out? Yeah, I really did. This was the first film of it I actually got to see. I discovered him. I discovered him through Blackbustering Moss Wow, I had gone in for Empire Records and so both She's like, oh, my brothers seen the rent Clerk, so we immediately went out Clerk. There's a lot of celebrity cameos, a lot of pop culture references. You know, Smith has Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Wes Craven playing themselves. We've got George Carlin, Mark Hamill, Kerrie Fisher, James Vanderbeek in hilarious small cameos.

9:55 Ben. Do you think a lot of these moments do they do they hold up to to today? Yeah? Absolutely so, Yeah, I do think it holds up today. I mean, like for someone that's such a small time director like Kevin Smith was and kind of like not well known yet to get those big names Chris Rock even, you know, and then the name eludes me right now for some reason. But ser We're a snape Alan Rickman. To get those people in there, that's huge, man, Like, those are names that people will never forget for the rest of you. Those are big, big names, and so yeah, I think in today's you know, people will always remember those names. For him to do that as just speaking volumes of who he is, well.

10:39 I mean this film not only is it kind of connecting universes, it's also very self aware of itself, you know, especially like the toxicity of fandom, which I think it might be ahead of its time having that kind of conversation in two thousand and one. But I don't know, John, would you don't I don't think this is a hot take to say, Jay and Sign of Bob strikes back walked so later self aware movies like Deadpoole could run. Is that is that fair to say? Yeah? Definitely, I mean there there are so many fourth Wall Brandanvie Yeah, definitely. Camera yeah, you know, and at one point, I think, if I remember correctly, Bob waves to so yeah, they're they're definitely in on it. And that's what he never He takes everything he does serious, but he never takes it, at least in this universe. So seriously as much interaction as you can project it Smith, and we'll prect it. I mean interest, he somehow found it finds you know, it's akin to the people that were at the movie that I saw, because the very last screening there had already been some people that are laughing at him stuff like that, but there was that tremendous fan of star. The audience is in on.

11:55 So John, John told us a little bit about how he discovers Kevin Smith. Ben, do you remember, uh, your relationship with discovering Kevin Smith? Like? What was was Clerk's your first movie? Was it mal Rats like John? Or it actually was Where do you come in? It was mal Rockay, So you both are Marats guys bring Marats, bringing you guys into the US universe. That's awesome. So did you you saw this in the theater? You you rented at Blogbuster? Like? John? How'd you? How'd you discover him? I had a crush on a girl that I worked with at Bob Evans at the time. I think I was only sixteen years old and I was a busterer and I really liked this girl and she would always quote. Malrats and I did. I'd never heard of it.

12:38 I didn't know what Malrats or Kevin Smith their Clerks was at the time. She's like, oh, you don't know, you have to come and watch this movie. Like, yes, cool, I'm going to go to this girl's house and watch this movie. And like I was fully invested in the movie and not her. After that because it was so good, I watched Marats and I'm like, this is amazing. You were right, thank you. So anytime I want to watch anything Kevin Smith, I always think about that girl. She interroduce me to to mall rats. Oh that's that's a hell of a first date. Like that, that girl did it that she gave you a real gift. That created what she did. She created a monster. I went back and and and and watched Clerks and I was a clerk at a gas station at the time. Yeah, and I could just identify with everything that he did from then on, like it was.

13:25 I gotta I gotta tell you, I'm kind of happy because I'm in. I'm in at ground. Zero with uh with Brad Cozo. We were working at Suncoast Motion Picture Company at the time, so we basically our job consisted of going to the mall running a video store watching movies all day there. This is this is pre internet, so we're playing six degrees a Kevin Bacon all day long and just kind of bullshitting with people that came in. We had our regulars. We were the Clerks, and we would go to Blockbuster Video and rent movies after after the mall closed. And one time someone says, there's a movie about you, guys, you gotta go rent. It's called Clerks, and I was like, okay, so we you know, we grab it. We take it back to Brad's house and we watched this brilliant film and just so happens.

14:15 I'm like, what's this guy done? Like we need more? And Brad looks it up and he's like, I think Brad like found it in Premier magazine, maybe back when we had Premier Magazine. He's like, there's a new movie coming out he's doing, like a big budget movie called mal Rats. I was like, sweet, another movie about us. Okay, let's check it out. But in on Kevin Smith from the get go, I've loved everything he's done. Let's take a quick break and then when we get bad Guys, we'll talk a little bit about the cast. Welcome back. I've got a couple of friends with me. We're talking about Kevin Smith's two thousand and one comedy Jay and Signent, Bob strike Back.

14:58 Ben John. We'd be here all night with this cast, and we're gonna be talking about Kevin Smith all month long. Mostly, So let's talk about the guy who I want to say maybe now I'm not gonna say maybe. Let's talk about the star of the movie, Jason Muse. Playing Jay John. Starting with you, this is a big gamble. I mean, think about this huge, huge gamble. You know, Dimension is basically giving Smith a lot of money and the lead. I mean, yeah, granted, we've got Ben Affleck, Mark Hamill, Matt Dan, We've got all these great names, right, but when it comes down to it, the lead of the film is Jason Muse, who's done some small, hilarious moments in four other films.

15:46 Well, you know, dog went not not a small moment. Obviously, he's he's a co star there. But this is a big movie. Smith's putting a lot of pressure on his best buddy. You know, how did Jason Muse stack up for you? And you stacked up ridibly high, especially given them he had basically Smith had basically told him, it's clean it up where you're agreed to go cold turkey illicit drugs. While the movie was shooting, He's got to carry the ways an incredibly great job in mind, as serious as you get out of me. You know, he's the heart and soul of the movie. He was the heart and soul of He kind of repeated. I thought, I think he's hilarious. This might be the funniest we've seen him up to this point.

16:28 I think Jay's just a natural. I just think he is just naturally funny, and that's I think part of who he is on screen came out naturally because that is part of who he actually is. I think that is his actual personality. And I think we all knew that guy in our friend group back in the nineties. We all knew that funny guy that hung out and partied and just said funny things. And I think that portrayed his real life on screen kind of in a way. And I think he just nailed it, and I think it came naturally for him. I don't think he struggled. We've kind of you know, I know, we've talked about it off Mike and I know there's there's stories out there where he's so nervous to work with someone like Alec Alan Rickman. He is doing his damnedest to memorize the script, know his lines forwards and backwards, and just be the consummate professional. And you know, to John's point, he kind of knocks it out of the park with Dogma.

17:22 He kind of he does steal the show. Okay, so outside of Jason Muse, he can't do what he's doing. Without someone like Shannon Elizabeth. I mean, the chemistry has got to be completely believable between them. Been your thoughts on the chemistry? Is it? Is it there between these two? Sure? I mean you can't have that good on screen chemistry and not have it off screen too. There's just no way you can't fake that type of like emotion and type of connection. You can't do that. They had definitely had some type of relationship, whether I don't think it's romantic, but I think they had some type of yeah, yeah, yeah, I think they were totally just connected.

18:03 And they I mean, I mean, he's playing he's playing Jay and he's he's all over this girl. But you know, you got to me, you gotta remember her fiance is actually he's he's like playing like a key grip in the third ah, so yeah uh, and you know, and Smith talks about like how how confident he is when the cameras rolling, but the second the camera is done rolling, he's he kind of gets shy. He's kind of quiet, he's kind of reserved around her. But I tell you when when they when they meet at movies, she. Comes walking in. First off, I don't need that scene to keep Bad Medicine as like a top three, maybe maybe top two bon Jovie song in my playlist, because it's amazing. But I totally believe the chemistry and it's and it's funny because I could see a character like Justice kind of falling for Jay's abrasiveness and his quirkiness and his his unfiltered persona. Heather Graham did not believe in that, though, which is why she said no to the role. And I'm kind of struggling with this because I'm kind of happy it worked out. Don't get me wrong. I love Heather Graham, you know, and I love Shannon Elizabeth. But if you're Heather Graham, and this is something next time.

19:22 Next time I talked to her I'm gonna I gotta ask her this. If you're Heather Graham, how do you not believe in the chemistry between these two characters? And say no, but you you do believe in the chemistry between her character and Austin Powers with someone like Austin Powers, Like, I just don't get it, John. I never knew that she was. I knew it one time, but yeah, the chemistry between the The funny thing is Jay's not really nice to her, no mean, but she just eat hook line. It's not in a ventive way. It's not in a smith always Right's very strong and this is another wa she's not. Yeah, it's I think where we see him as incredibly offensive, she just kind of sees it as enduring, like he's I think I think his inability to have a filter is what what draws her in. And I kind of dig it. I really, I really do.

20:19 I really do the scene at the quick start, look at him, He's so innocent and coming. Over well even you know, back to their you know, his his the fantasy that's going off in his head with with bon Jovi. Where I mean there that is, that's that's some kissing that they're doing. But I love the fact that his hand is sliding up her rib cage and like you see the eye roll that she does mid. Kiss as she smashes his hand back back down. It's like, it's so good, you know. Ben thoughts on the rest of the team. Though, We've got who we got here, we got we got uh Eliza Dushku, We've got We've got Gin Schwabach got missus Kevin Smith, right.

21:10 Yeah, and then Ali Ali Larder. Yeah. Uh, this is kind of is this like the sexiest heist team you've ever seen. On on on screen? Oh? Yeah, why do you think? Why do you think I became such a Kevin Smith fan in general? It wasn't because he's a good writer, actor director. It's because he knows how to cast females. Yeah, and knows how to I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. Well, no, you're right, You're right. This is again this is pre Avengers that we don't have these Marvel movies there. Their suits are are they're based off of Black. Widow, Laser and diamond stuff. Like they they just nailed that whole Cat Burglar role like you would think in a comic book. The how like Cat burglars would dress like.

21:58 I just picked up one of my I was watching it again, the scene where Jay and Bob. If you at one point, if you look over Berdie's shoulder, there's on the wall four women in skin tight blackler suits in the pose that the girls come out of it. I gotta go, yeah, I mean, that's what I was saying, Like I again, like this is who better to talk about this movie with you guys, because like you guys are like our comic connoisseurs. You're you know, lovers of Kevin Smith. And I'm not even looking, you know. I mean, there's so much coming at you in a Kevin Smith movie like this where you're trying, like I'm trying to spot all the Easter eggs, you know, like of like the cameo appearances and like the characters that we've seen even in small like you know moments in other films.

22:47 John's catching stuff on the walls. That's that's incredible, man. I you know, I gotta go back again and and and find that. Now, that's the first thing I'm gonna do when we're done and go look at that. Yeah, I gotta I gotta see that. How fun is it? To see guys like like Jason Lee playing multiple Kevin Smith characters or Ben Affleck for that matter, does it Does it work? Ben? Yeah? I mean that's I think that's kind of the point, Like that adds to the whole like fun of it, I think because Kevin Smith's whole point when he started, he just basically casted some friends and like they just had fun doing stuff like that, and they kind of put that in there as well, Oh you can play a couple roles, nobody's gonna care, it's fine. Everybody knows who you are at this point from separate movies, and it's just kind of funny to add that in there and and the audience will get it and connect with it, and I think we did.

23:38 John John, we were talking about getting rewarded for coming along the journey with Kevin Smith. How about even like at the ending when the movie, the movie within the movie comes out and here comes Alyssa Jones and Tricia Jones walking out together. It's just like you're and you're just. Like, oh, it's Trisha the Dish. Yeah, yeahop Hooper X and Hooper X Yeah, Brody It's it's yeah. Those are the kind of. Ste they all came out. Yeah, it's that's the kind of stuff I think he's doing for the for the real fans that have been there for the beginning, and it absolutely works.

24:19 It really does. One person I want to shout out. We always talk about we always say, all right, let's talk casting career. We don't. We don't really talk about crew a whole lot outside of composers. But I gotta I gotta give a shout out to Jamie Anderson here. Uh. Jamie Anderson is the director of photography for Jane Son and Bob strike Back. And you might not know the name right off. When I say it, John's nod his head, because yeah, his filmography is absolutely impressive. The guy shooting Jane Son Bob strike Back is the same guy that shot Joe Dante's Piranha in nineteen seventy eight and Sam Raimi's The Gift in two thousand. He was an assistant cameraman on Airplane Tron twilight Zone, the movie. He was even second ad on Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Back to School, The Burbs, The Running Man, Batman and Robin and joy Ride, just to name a few of his long and celebrated Philmography.

25:24 So this guy is incredible. Kevin Smith. There's a there's an amazing audio commentary which I'm gonna go ahead and say right now, every Kevin Smith movie should be in your your library because he always does incredible audio commentaries and he always has you know, his cast or his crew or in sometimes both with him, and they kind of write a love letter to Jamie Anderson on the on the audio commentary for for Jane Solobobs Strike Back, So definitely check that out. But this guy, like I'm sitting there listening to I was like, wait a minute, Jamie Anderson worked on Piranha. Okay, let me what else. Did he did? And I I just went into the rabbit hole to see what else he's worked on. And again kind of cool because Piranha, The Gift, Ferris Bueller, Back to School, joy Ride, these are movies we've talked about, We've done episodes on these, so go back. You know, our our longtime listeners know we've we've talked about this movie.

26:19 So if you if you join us for the first time, go back check it out. The heck of a Career. Yeah, absolutely, a little bit of insight because there's so much to mine from a Kevin Smith movie when it comes to like behind the scenes, and you can learn a lot from his the documentaries he puts on his uh his Blu rays, his DVDs, his like an evening with Kevin Smith. He's done several of these. Now the talk's ben I. Know, uh, you've you've you've heard him, You've heard him speak, I have John. I think you have too, haven't you? Uh not in person? Okay, okay, Well, so this is this is his biggest budget to date.

27:02 In two thousand and one. They give him twenty million dollars and that's massive for Kevin Smithan when you think about his first film, Clerks, the budget on Clerks is a little over twenty seven thousand dollars. He sold a comic book collection he borrows, I want to say it was like three thousand from his parents and then maxed out almost ten credit cards to get the budget for his first film. So I mean a heck of a gamble for a guy working at a convenience store to take on himself, which we are very thankful that he did. And oh, by the way, all you comic book lovers out there, like the three of us, thinking man he gave up his collection. As soon as the money made a profit, he turned right back around, went back to the store and bought the entire collection back.

27:46 So it's safe. It's bad where it belongs. But Dimension gives him twenty million dollars, and Smith is like, hey, don't worry. You don't need to see the first four movies to understand what's going on. It's fine, except that it's not. I mean, I guess you could watch this and enjoy it, but I couldn't imagine sitting down with someone. I would I mean, I would love to do this. You know, if there's a person out there that hasn't really watched Kevin Smith movies, I think it'd be fascinating to watch this first, just to gauge the reaction and see like, oh, you enjoyed this, you love this, Okay, well. Let me take you back. It's almost like it almost be like watching Star Wars episode four. Someone loves it, and then you're you take them back to the prequel. That'd be kind of mean spirited, now that I think about it, bad analogy.

28:37 Sorry, never mind, don't do that. People don't do that. But you get my point. It'd be interesting you know, he sells it on the idea that you don't have to watch the first four movies to the studio executives. But let's be honest, you you kind of have to. If you're gonna get all the jokes, you're gonna get all the fun out of it. I think it's kind of important too. Yeah, uh, talking about workaholic. So Smith is shooting this all day long, and then he and his producing partner Scott Mosure are editing in real time every night. He's literally cutting the film after shooting the film all day long. And I don't know if this was like to meet a deadline or if he's just he's just so jazz to be working on that.

29:20 He he can't stop, he can't turn his brain off. But imagine that you're on the set all day and then you're he's he's he's looking at it every night and and Mosure is right there with him just put it together. I think that's kind of cool, like, you know, because you gotta wonder, like, is he's showing Obviously there's dailies, but you're wondering if he's showing like little raw cuts of the film. To to people. As they as they move along, like, all right, we're not working on Sunday. Check out what we've done so far. It'd be kind of cool to find out, I think. Yeah, well, John, you you did mention the fact that this might be the most silent Bob has spoken in a film to this point. Smith's silent Bob character speaks a total of one hundred two words, and that's kind of significant. When you also mentioned the fact that the F word is mentioned two hundred and forty eight times in this movie. Yeah, I think we know Jay, you know Ben? I mean, you know, Ben, not to put you on the spot here and I'm not, you know, but I know I know on Dover's Dungeon you you know, you kind of you you game with with jam Us?

30:36 Is how much? How much is j and jam Us like where is there a fine line between the two? Or is this you know, well when he games with you? Or do you do you hear the F word two hundred and forty eight times? Or yes, yes, I do, absolutely, Okay, Okay, I mean I was trying to be nice about it. Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, Well. It's every time. I mean, I I would love to quote some of the things he says when we about I'm not going to. Yeah, I'm not going to, especially when he gets angry. Uh, and even when he's happy, and even when he's that's just Jay Man that he uses him as adjectives and and sentence enhancers.

31:22 Ben, this is probably all the more reason we should be we should be, uh following you on Dover's Dungeon. Right, you never know you never had a total a total of five times. Now we've gamed together. Oh that's awesome, man is and he's he's gotta be a good gamer, right, yeah, okay, all right, are you I'm just curious, is it like, are you going to the head? Or is it like no more? Like yes? Like teams, we're on. The same team. He loves Fortnite. Man, he loves two games, Call of Duty and FORTNITEK. Fortnite is his go to and thankfully I'm pretty decent at that. So and he likes to surround himself with people who are good as well. Well, there's a little bit of pressure there because you're playing with one of your favorite movie stars of all time.

32:05 Yeah, right, Like that's the I'm nervous. I'm scared. The first time I ever played with him, I played horribly, you know, not at me, just in general. He was just mad because we were losing, right like with Jay you suck and I exactly and then and dude, I'm telling you, I turned off turned off my stream that night. I immediately deleted the video. I was so bombed. I was so embarrassed, and I was like, he's never gonna want to play with me again, and uh lo and behold two weeks later, you know, like my name came up in chat and uh then we played and every every game we've played since then, we've won. So yeah, and John, I mean, uh, when it comes to comes to your art, you know you kind of you kind of alluded to the fact like it's it's it's movie centric, it's pop culture friendly.

32:52 You've done several pieces on Jane's on Bob just the. One actually I did when they announced Kevin's return three years too, and I have to meet Kevin. That is aqlifice sales. So I did an animated. Stop Jay Jo's YEP. I remember that, and I. Got Kevin to sign it. And when I put it down in front of Kevin, the first thing Kevin did he didn't even look up his pen, put his hands up to his side of his head. The first words out of his mouth and I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I started to cry a little bit. Smith is a hero in a lot of ways because of his struggle, just a lot of things. He signed it Johnson. Then the next day Jay to sign it. I was expecting when he started to write it, he wrote john Wood and then the F came out and I'm like, okay, here it goes. I'm not going to be able to hang this in the house and it was just a line and then said I to f me hard. He actually censored himself without me having to ask him.

33:47 How about that? Yeah? I mean, John, I love that for you too, because, like I've seen it. I've seen a. Firsthand where your art gets put in front of the you know, the actor or the you know, the person that that did the character, created the character, and they're kind of stunned. You know. I have a not to get off topic, but I remember a couple of couple of seasons. Ago at We're at Horror Hound. Eduardo Sanchez and then like the cast of blair Witch Project is there. You did some awesome blair Witch Scooby doo hybrid stuff and awesome. Man, that's so yeah, Ben, you got to check him out, you got it?

34:29 Yeah, I have to. Yeah, that's the first thing I want to do. Man, I can't check it out. Yeah, when when when we when we wrap things up, you know, John's gonna have to tell us where we can we can see all this stuff. But I remember thinking, you know, hey, you know I remember asking you. John's like, well what they think? You're like, I haven't. I haven't had time to catch up with them. You know, it's been really busy at the mooth. And I'll tell you right now, like when you when you go to one of these these shows, you're gonna you know, I mean John, John, first off, I love the fact that you You're not one of these guys. It's like, you know, are you buying? Are walking? You know, You're just like, hey, let's talk. You know, you you're very engaging. You know, you give people the chance to just come up, have a chat, you know, move through your work and they like something. Well they're gonna like something, let's be honest, but you know you're just like, yeah, you enjoy it, you know, or take some with you.

35:16 It's your call. But I know the last time, you know, back in back in spring at Horehound, we had to wait to get to you. I mean just the line was yeh was awesome. But so you can't. It's not like you can just close up shop and go walk around. But the Blair Witch piece, it's it's it's Sunday. There's like an hour or two left, and you're like, yeah, I didn't get a chance to talk with them. I'm like, well, they're gonna be leaving soon, dude. So I took, you know, some workover to the table and for like ten seconds, I got some John Wright fame, you know, I put it down and they're like you did this, and I was like, no, no, I didn't, No, I did not.

35:59 Artist is right around the corner, and you know, Heather and John like they're all like, well, we where's that we want that guy? Like, is he gonna come over? Like we want to talk to him? You know. So I was like, one second, please, I'll sell back. I was like, John, you know, I'll watch her. I'll watch your booth. Just they're asking for you. So John, I love that for you, Like you get the opportunity to to do this amazing work, but then you get to meet the the people that that inspire you. So I absolutely love that for you. Haven't many of them in person to specials. He's a very trunky. It was a very trunky in my mind whether or not they made it back to until I get into the house.

36:42 Well, let's uh something real quick. What do you got? Yeah, I want to show you guys something. You were talking about this the other day, Man and I I was like, I couldn't wait to show this off to you guys. I don't know if you can see it with my light. Is a copy of the Jay and Silent Bob straight back script. Kevin and Jay? How about that? That is the whole script for the movie. And I haven't doing your homework. Yeah, I can't take it out of the plastic. I don't want to. I never will, but I really want to go through this and look at it, just because I just wanted to show that off. Well, yeah, now that you yeah, I've got you know, I know, I've got my arrow did a gorgeous like four K blu ray. Both of them signed that actually you know, shout out to uh to their their store, you know, secret stash.

37:39 In Red Bank, New Jersey. Yeah, I'm in there. I'm just moving around, and it dawns on me that I've got a bare bones DVD version of Mall Rats, And you know, I thought to myself, why not just buy the the four K Deluxe Blu ray here at the secret stash, you know. And then Mike's you know, Mike Zapska is like, hey, look closer, and Kevin had autographed it, Jay had autographed it, and I'm like, what, okay, well how much? How much is He's like, it's It's like, it's right there, dude. He's like they just stop in sometimes and they just they just sign their name all over shit, you know, just they don't care. So you know, I'll tell you right now, Ben, I know you've been in there. You've been to the store a couple of times.

38:22 Like me, you never know what you're gonna see in there. That's just gonna have. It's already gonna be autographed. Cause they just like to make it accessible for the fans, you know that can't get to comic cons. It is the ultimate like if you're a Kevin Smith movie fan, it is the ultimate destination. Everything from every one of their movies is in there. Either on the wall or hanging on the ceiling or I mean they got the their their outfits from the movies hanging out in there. It's great, man, it's awesome. Let's take uh, let's take one more break here and we'll get back. We will talk about a scene welcome back. Uh. Okay, So this one wasn't wasn't gonna be easy. I knew it wasn't gonna be easy for me. So I want to talk about a scene. I know, Ben, you've got a scene him on John. I'm sure you gotta see him on. I'm kind of curious if we're gonna have the same one, because I know it's a possibility on a movie like this. But Ben, we're gonna start with you a scene that is in Jane'sntbob straight back.

39:23 Why did you pick the scene? Is it because of a strong performance? Is it is a great direction? Is it the pivotal moment? Why did you choose the scene that you're choosing. I think I chose this scene because it just made me belt out in laughter, because it had a word in it that isn't used very commonly in any movie ever. So when he says this line, of course, there's tons of one liners. There's so many things you can quote, so many scenes. But when he says this, I I mean, it's it's stuck in my head for the rest of my life. And I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about. Well, I think I'm pretty sure that we're talking You and I have chosen the same scene?

40:06 Are you haanging it? No, that's that's fine. Like, but before I just want to let me put a pin in your scene. Ben, sure, because because I'm I'm all but certain, you know, I'll bet my comic book collection that we're gonna talk about the same scene. John, same question, did what what? Why did you choose the scene that you that that we want to talk about or that you want to talk about. I just find it hysterical. I don't think it's the same. Okay, if you want to go ahead, tell you the scene. Yeah, let's okay, Let John tell us about your scene, because I know Ben and I've got the. Same It is when they are surroundings, you know, if you're not Jay and Simon, Bob, you're free to leave, and they're they're panicking, they don't know what to do.

40:49 Jay looks over and sees the young boy dressed in the movie and puts it on. So when they come out, there's this long, unnecessary story about how they're a gay couple but has sex with a woman on the side, so he's not. Gay. But this guy loves loves the ye. Man, you know, you know, and it's just it is so it's unnecessary but so necessary at the same time because it shows the stupidity of Will and Holly, and he even even on the guy's. Name, Uh, Judd Nelson is awesome in this same. Yeah, yeah, that's another. And it leads up to the big the big escape, and there they enter the sewer and I love the little one line when Bob gets stuck.

41:36 Yes, but but but Will and Holly goes into hug the sheriff and he's like, you know, I'll flush him into the corner and I'll radio for a backup, and he hugs him. He's like, you've taught me so much. I'm like so much. I want to know how much Feral improvised lines because you know, doggone good and well he did it all can't be scripted, and unfortunately we have the proof in front of us. But Ben's not going to open it. I don't blame, I don't blame. Yeah, I'm not never you know. And then that because that it leads to to Judd Nelson just look this asshole, let's go back to. The station drunk. Yeah. Well it's it's interesting too because after all that controversy and all that heat he took on on Dogma, he thinks, well, this is just Jane son of Bob. This is a stoner comedy who no one's gonna have any controversy except there was a lot, you know, because Glad came after him for a lot of the you know, I mean, John, This this scene is as silly as it is as hilarious.

42:39 It is that the organizations they were just they weren't. Happy with him. So he's still taking heat no matter. I think at this point, like if you're if you're Kevin Smith, it doesn't matter what you're gonna you're gonna do. Someone's coming after you. Right. The ironic thing is. It exactly exactly? Well? Uh, speaking of people coming after us, Uh, Ben, let's go ahead and lose half of our sponsors. Uh, let's talk about the scene. Uh that you picked that, I'm sure that I picked? Uh? Are we talking about Jay as the click Commander. Yes, yes, of course, yeah, alike, we might as well think alike to.

43:20 Yeah, like I said, so much rides on this film because of Jason Muse. If he doesn't work, the film doesn't work. And I absolutely love. I love what he's doing in this. This scene in particular, it's just I think his confidence, you know, as the character. It's just it's on a whole other level. You know, he is fully embracing it and like but he's like kind of pantomiming. You know. I don't know if this is gonna be a video podcast or not, so I'll be I'll be careful. But you know, what, what is it the Yeah, yeah, what is it? The the Coalition for Liberation of Internet Tweet tweet Drillers Dwellers.

44:07 Yeah. Yeah, they're like the eco activist group. Just he is so he's he's I fall off the couch laughing every time he does that scene, you know when you see this, Yes, it's absolutely amazing. It's that as. I love that we picked the same scene. Yeah, if someone if if you if you don't even have time, like, well, I don't want to watch I'm not gonna watch the movie. I'm doing a whole Kevin Smith thing, but I'm gonna skip around. Now we're at least putting it in. We're at least gonna watch his message, his video message for the for the clip. So it's it's just too good. It is too good, all right.

44:48 So as we wrap up, written by, directed by, or possibly featuring Kevin Smith, someone watches Jane Son It Bob Strike Back. They say, Guys, I love this movie. What else you know? I know this guy is kind of famous for some of these big movies, like you know this viewisk Universe. Has he done anything underrated, anything that kind of flew under the radar that I need to check out? Ben, what would you recommend for someone if you. Haven't seen it yet. It is a little bit one of his more recent pictures that he did, and it kind of flew under the radar, and I think it's super underrated. And it's the the movie that he's done that I love the most that isn't in Universe is four four thirty movie.

45:32 I love that movie. I love that movie. It's essentially Kevin Smith as a child. Of course, it's like exaggerated and like you know, added ins, but like it really. He's even come out and said, like, that's me as a kid, and it's filmed that his own movie theater, which he owns. So he cuts financial corners there, like so smart man, Like the guy's a financial genius. It's it's the coming of age teenage love story, right, it's right, and it's it's it's it's a sweet movie. It really is. It's great. Yeah, it's still feels it's it's got a real Kevin Smith flavor to it, obviously, but it's also he pulls back a little bit, you know, it's a little more friendly to you, like you, your audience.

46:12 I think I think it's just a love song to him as a as a kid and how he grew up in his love towards movies. Great choice, John, Your thoughts on an underrated Kevin Smith project, whether he wrote it, directed it, or possibly was in. It, but to go with I stumbled across this one really okay, Okay, I think it's okay and wow, he does an incredible wolf wow in his reaction to. Nick adding ketch and release to my list here, Yeah, that sounds amazing. It's really good. It was definitely underrated. Okay to add that point, Kevin Smith's cry scenes are great, man, because he did that in Dogma too, when Bethany was dead and it cuts to him. It genuinely looked like that man was crying, like it's such a sad face.

47:01 Well, I think I think he wears like and you know, from talking with him and being being up close with me, I think this is a guy that wears his heart on his sleeve. Like I think he's a He's an emotional guy, you know, and in the in the in the the best sense of the word. So, yeah, I got one here. I mean, this is this is right on the line of almost doesn't count. But because it's such a small moment, he's like it's a you could say it's a cameo. I mean, okay, uh, he played well John, I'll give you, I'll give you aht here he plays guy at gas station. That was the second choice on my list. Okay, I'm talking about a film from two thousand and nine called Fanboys, and uh features Kevin Smith.

47:46 Actually features Ja Muse as well. Uh, there are two guys at a gas station. But I forgot about that in the Sexy. Yeah, the Sexy stud Yeah. Yeah, yeah, Well for those of you that are like, what's fanboys? This? This movie was made for for movie geeks really, especially if you love Star Wars the movie. It's a comedy. It's all about a group of friends driving cross country to break into Skywalker Ranch so that their dying friend can see Star Wars episode one, The Phantom Menace before he passes away. And you know, John, you talked you kind of your five words synopsis talked about road trip buddy buddy movies.

48:30 It's absolutely a road trip buddy movie. Hilarious. It's written by Ernest Klein of a Ready Player one Fame and Adam Goldberg. So if you know those guys, you know it's riddled with eighties and nineties nostalgia. H just a just a great you know, take care of your buddy, have a good time with your friends, and something we probably all were would would have loved to have done before seeing The Phantom Menace. You know, we waited all that time for the movie. And but yeah, definitely a fun movie. I gotta imagine we both we all we all recommend Jane Slopbob straight back right. I mean, is there let me ask you this, Ben real quick?

49:11 Is there a Kevin smith movie. You don't recommend Jersey Girl? Okay, okay, wow, I did not like that. I did not like that movie. I did not. It just didn't fit to me. I didn't feel it didn't feel Kevin Smithy to me. Okay, I wasn't a fan. I know that's surprising. I'm sorry. I did not like Jersey Girl. I like watching it. I watched it once and that was it. All right? How about you, John, What is there something you wouldn't recommend. It's not something I wouldn't recommend, but probably the thing that. I okay, more surprised. And I'm not saying it's just when it hit didn't do it for me. So I need to go back to visit it.

49:51 Definitely, I'm not all right check it out again. I'll tell you there isn't a film I'm gonna not recommend, but I would say, being honest, I would say probably the least. Rewatchable for me. And I say this while also saying it's a guilty pleasure, like if it's on, I'm gonna stop what I'm no, I'm just gonna watch it yoga hoss. Oh yeah, you know what, like hold on, I'm going to change my. Change. Yeah, I didn't even finish it. I didn't. It's yeah, you know, it's part of his like the Great Northern Trilogy that he's working on. Yeah, it's fun.

50:36 You know, it's cool to see Harley Quinn in Lily Rose Depth kind of become the next the next generation, the next Jaye Son Bob in that movie. But you know, I don't know something but with the the claimation guys, like the Nazi claimation guys in the middle of the movie kind of kind of yeah, the bronzis I kind of it got a little weird for me. But yeah, same, I think that's where I turned it off. Yeah, honorable men for four thirty Like I had to. I had to go back and forth. Yeah, four thirty movie definitely. And another one I want to bring up is cop Out. I think that was so underrated. I had one. We might have to talk about that. We got more Kevin Smith coming later this month. We might have to talk about cop Out a little bit.

51:18 Not that we're going to cover cop Out, but we might have to. That might come up in a conversation. Uh, I'll tell you something. Jane Sybob Strike Strikes Back, currently streaming on Paramount Plus. Uh, you can rent it on those platforms, but uh, we. All know physical media is what the cool kids choose. So. I recommend the two disc uh special edition. This thing has Look how look how chunky that is? Yeah, we're talking, I mean that that whole side there. You can see we're talking more than five hours of deleted scenes, behind the scenes, audio commentary.

51:59 It's it is packed. So you are not going to go wrong with bonus materials when it's a Kevin Smith movie. So I definitely would recommend that, and I recommend you come back for more next week because next time on a Film Buy, we'll be talking about another drug fueled, outrageous comedy from two thousand and one movie called super Troopers. So if you've seen it, how would you pens fist pump and he's a fan. If you've seen it, yeah, how would you summarize it in exactly five words? Go to a film by podcast dot com to give us your answer. You can email us if we use your five words synopsis we mentioned it on the show, We will shout you out on the on a later episode, and we'll definitely send you some a film by swag. Please join us on social media. You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook x. We always love hearing from you guys, talking good films, debating movies, and.

52:58 Taking your request for future episodes. Guys. Again, I was excited to have this conversation with the two of you. I'm excited because I know both of you will be back later this month on Kevin Smith related projects. Ben for our for our listeners that are gamers or maybe new to the gaming world. A little bit more info on on Dover's Dungeon. Tell tell us how this works quick. I'm so Dover's Dungeon. Just if you don't, if you're not familiar with Twitch, Twitch it's just a streaming app you can people can stream movies on it if they want and talk over it. They can just go in and talk to people. It's mostly video games. So go to Twitch, download the app, make a profile. Follow Dover's Dungeon please. It's very entertaining.

53:45 It's a lot of fun. You'll get to see Jason Hues on there a few times. So yeah, it's a lot of fun. If you like video games, it's definitely the place to be. All right, we will certainly do that. We'll put some information in the show notes about Dover's Dungeon where you can get more of a Ben's amazing gaming channel. John, how do we find your art and how do we get some on our. Walls if we can? You know, whether I know you're at the comic cons, But yeah, what else? What other options do we have right now? It's just mainly Facebook, Facebook dot com, the art of n JWR shoe Us, the art of John Wright. You can message me there. I post stuff as I do it. I take commission. Work will be a Horrorhound. It'll be a CINCINNTI Comic Expo and a little show over in Indiana towards the end of October called Horror at the Ohio.

54:30 All right, well, looking forward to uh to seeing you soon. John. I know we've got a couple of shows that we're both going to be at. And always looking forward to more of your art. I love like listeners. If you have not seen, if you're not following him. On Facebook, it is pretty cool because John, you know, he'll show you like the bare bones, like the preliminary sketch and it's like, hey, what do you guys think I'm working on now? And it's you know, it's funny because everyone's like, oh, I know what this is, or I can tell what thattline is. And it's kind of cool to watch your art kind of take shape, you know, every every other day or so you're like, hey, a little more progress, and hey, you know, from like concept or like the conceptual design to like the finished product.

55:14 It's always cool. You know, you do commissioned work. I've got I've got a piece myself, So you know, you guys got to hit John right up, and and we're gonna have more of you guys, Ben. I know, I think we're like a couple of weeks out, you're gonna be back. We're gonna be talking about Clerks too. It'll be celebrating its twentieth anniversary. And John, John, I know you're gonna be real busy with a couple of upcoming shows. But can I can I possibly get you to join us on our Patreon channel to discuss Red State? Okay, okay, good, okay good. I've been dying to talk Red State. For the longest time. And I know at the last show, You're like, man, you should do Red State. And I was like, Okay, that's happening. That's happening.

56:01 So yeah, John right, we'll be back. We're going to talk about Red State later this month. We got a lot Kevin Smith for you guys. So to all of you out there listening to the show or watching the show, depending on you know, if you're catching this on YouTube or not following us on social media, subscribing to our Patreon, we absolutely thank you and snoogans to you.