If there is one guy who should have made a New Year's resolution to stay off Twitter in 2012, it's Kevin Smith. But people love his stream of consciousness tweets even if they lack the soundbyte awesomeness of fellow social media lover, Kanye West. Smith loves to talk, and he's kicked off the New Year by updating his legion on what he's got next.
As you know, Smith is intent on making his hockey movie "Hit Somebody," and has spent a lot of time talking about what will apparently be his last turn behind the camera. Last we heard, he wanted to turn the project into a two-movie, potentially R-rated magnum opus, but now, he's changed his mind (again). The writer/director responded to some inquiries on Twitter recently (rounded up by /Film) and says that, even though he's still writing the second part, he's now envisioning it as a single movie with plans to start lensing in about six months.
@pezwright asked “when do you start shooting Hit Somebody?” with Smith responding, "June, I’m thinking. Writing script two, but now gonna make one big movie instead." Asked about the running time, Smith ballparked it at around 150 minutes and perhaps most ambitiously (and maybe tongue in cheek?) said, "Looking to debut at Sundance 2013. Minus Phelps." After pretty much giving the middle finger to everyone in Park City last year with his faux auction for "Red State," a return to the festival would certainly be interesting. If it happens.
If Smith can shoot and edit a two-and-a-half hour hockey movie in six months, more power to him, but that seems pretty unlikely. And remember, Smith does often say a lot of things that don't happen (remember, circa the press rounds for "Red State" he was planning to shoot his hockey movie last summer). No word yet if his cast — which include “Red State” alums Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Nicholas Braun and Kyle Gallner — are still on board (they haven't been officially signed on) or if Smith needs to round up a new crew.
The hockey movie, based on a song by Warren Zevon, has been ambitiously described as a three-decade-spanning tale, tracking the rise of a player through the amateur ranks and into the big leagues. And sure, it could be interesting. But the market for hockey movies (that aren't made in Canada) is extremely narrow (arguably more so than "Red State") so it'll be interesting to see if Smith can overcome that hurdle. Or even get finacing. Smith himself has said he would consider studio financing for this project, but in this day and age, we don't see any major studio giving him cash for such an difficult to market project (with zero name stars). But rest assured, this is probably not the last you'll be hearing about the movie and, if anything, Smith is resourceful.
