Kevin Smith Talks ‘Jay and Silent Bob Reboot,’ How Seth Rogen Made Him A Stoner & Much More [Interview]

There are quite a few shout outs in this latest movie of yours, including to the Marvel stuff you just mentioned, but I dug how you had the time to say “How High,” which has, oddly enough, become a significant stoner classic over the years
I am actually now a full-fledged stoner. When I made ‘Strike Back’ in 2001, I could count on two hands the number of times I smoked weed in my life. That movie was more guesswork. I didn’t become a stoner until 2008 when I made “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” with Seth [Rogen].

So not too long after that, I start to catch up and realize why “How High” is so beloved. So, this is the first View Askewniverse movie made by a real stoner. I get to handle these characters, who are stoner classics in their own right, as a stoner. ‘Reboot’ is definitely made by someone who is a wake-and-bake stoner. And, I’m happy about that. I was ecstatic to have Tommy Chong in there. He and Cheech Marin paved the way for the “stoner movie.” We wouldn’t be here without them.

It’s mindboggling to think you weren’t stoned when you wrote Jay’s rap from back in the day. However, I’m not surprised that it was Seth Rogen who introduced you to the stoner life.
Seth was the first productive stoner I ever met in my life. He changed my opinion, completely. I was born in the ’70s, grew up in the ’80s, so I was a “just say no” kid. I grew up at a time when weed was just as bad as cocaine and heroin. So there was a stereotype I played into with my characters. Seth and I were making ‘Zack and Miri,’ but he was also working on three other movies at the same time, it opened my mind at how productive and lucid you can be while high. He shattered the stereotype I had in my head about marijuana use. During the entire shoot, my friend kept telling me, “Seth wants to smoke with you,” and I was like, “why?” and, supposedly, Seth thought I was a stoner just because I made all those stoner movies from back in the day. My friend kept insisting that I smoke with him; his exact words were, “you gotta smoke with him, two stoner icons smoking together!” So, on the last day of shooting the movie, I went over to him and proposed that after wrap, we go to the editing room and smoke some of that famous weed he had. His response was, “finally ha ha ha [imitating Rogen’s laugh]. We got high, watched some of the scenes we shot throughout the production, it was just a great experience. I felt great; I liked who I was when I was smoking; all the weirdness of being a filmmaker was just gone. Suddenly, I was only Kevin Smith. It would be another four months until I would smoke again, but again that time, I just liked the feeling a lot, and I haven’t stopped since.

Are you now stoned when you shoot your movies?
Well, I decided to smoke at night, when I am all done my work for the day, I will sit back and enjoy a nice rolled up marijuana cigarette after 6 pm. I think I’ve earned it. But then, I started being like “I don’t have to wait at 6, I don’t have a 9-5 job, I could probably have some at 3 pm. Then it escalated to me saying, “Hey, wait a sec, you’re done every day at lunch, so maybe we could start smoking a little earlier. Then “Zack and Miri” came out and didn’t do well, and I decided “know what? I’m going to start smoking the moment I wake up.” At that moment, I became a wake-and-baker. So, for the better part of 11 years, I have been a wake-and-baker.

Do you think it’s made your art better?
Some people claim that my art has suffered because of it, but I think the opposite. I like my movies much more now because now I don’t regret too much about what I did or didn’t do in a particular film. It’s made me do stuff I never thought I would tackle; outrageous comedies, horror, etc. It takes away the inhibitors; you’re not as afraid to try out new ideas as opposed to second-guessing if people will be able to get it. It makes you fearless.

However, if you’re somebody that liked the earlier movies …
… then Seth Rogen ruined me [laughs]. I mean, without Seth, I don’t get to do “Tusk,” and that is my favorite movie.

So, there are people that you have two directing phases, the early years and then— “Tusk,” “Red State,” and “Yoga Hosers.” And “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot” seems to be a return to the earlier years.
Yeah, the View Askewniverse, mostly all the early stuff, then “Jersey Girl“— which I’ve had a few people telling me “don’t do that ever again”— then “Clerks 2.” By the time I was done with that movie, I had put away the Askewniverse because I wanted to do something else. ‘Zack and Miri’ was the end of that phase. I don’t know if that movie represents the beginning of stage two or the end of it stage one. ‘Zack and Miri’ is the movie that depressed me, it was supposed to make like $100 million, but it ended up doing the same $30 million a Kevin Smith movie was supposed to make. I then decided to make “Cop Out,” which was the first movie I directed, which I hadn’t also written. “Cop Out” led to “Red State,” and then I take three years off I go deep into podcasting and touring the podcast. “Tusk” then happens, “Yoga Hosers,” and here we are with Reboot. I used to refer to “Clerks 2” as “the last good time,” maybe you’re right; perhaps that era ends with “Clerks 2.” “Zack and Miri” started what people like to call “the problematic era.” If I’m lucky, maybe “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot” starts a new era. But I love all of those movies, I mean, what was the alternative? What if I didn’t do “Yoga Hosers”? For the rest of my life, I’d want to make that movie. It sits and festers in you like cancer. And so, at the end of the day, I can tell myself that I did it, but I am hoping that this is the beginning of a new era. But if it’s still part of the problematic age, then I don’t mind that too because I love all my problem children.

“Jay And Silent Bob Reboot” is open in limited release now.