Kevin Smith released a terrible fucking movie this year called “Cop Out.” Critics rightly took him to task for that pile of garbage and ever since, Smith has been bitching and moaning like a little girl about how the press never reports anything accurately, should be forced to pay to review films and in general, is a dirty industry, with lazy people who don’t care about anything. Yawn.
Anyway, as you might know, the director is preparing to debut his latest film, the low-budget horror flick, “Red State.” And with it being Christmas season and all, Smith is one again talking about how he doesn’t want to do an extensive press jaunt for his film because writers won’t dedicate 24 hours a day to studying every single thing he says or farts on Twitter. God forbid that writers actually have other news and films to cover. His advice? Listen to his ridiculously long podcasts to get all the info you need and for us “lazy” press folk, he’ll even provide transcripts. Aw, isn’t that nice? Read his full statement below:
I’m not press-junketing at all, anywhere. In fact, I’m not doing any press outside of maybe a business piece or 2 to help sell the flick if needed, & radio (LOTS of radio). That’s what http://smodcast.com/redstate/ is about: I’m providing all the information needed to write a story, if that’s what you’re looking to do. It’s INSANELY detailed, and by the time we’re done, I’ll have pre-answered all questions about RedState – thus negating the need to speak with me about it. From nearly 20 yrs experience, I know this much: folks are gonna write WHATEVER they want, whether I sit down with them or not. So I’ll just furnish all the information I’d normally serve up one at a time to a small, jaded audience that doesn’t really give a shit unless there’s someone famous in the room, to a much larger, APPRECIATIVE audience that would actually enjoy & benefit from hearing the same information. And thus far, it’s been working out great. Folks that wanna write about RedState pull from the podcasts, folks that don’t wanna but have to (so as not to seem behind the curve or a day late & dollar short in this information-is-currency culture) are doing what they lazily always do: pulling from the OTHER blogs that actually did their homework. Sometimes, their Google searches take ‘em back to the earliest stories (like back when DermotMulroney was sort of briefly mentioned once) & it shows up in their current posting, exposing their sloppy work ethic (which, they’ll accuse me of having in MY work, without a hint of irony). So rather than subject all involved to a painful waste of resources, time & money, I’m doing the RedStateOfTheUnion Q&A’s. It’s kind of like an audio press kit. We’re even transcribing them now, for the SUPER lazy writers who’ve already bitched about having to wade through 12 hours of audio so they can write knowledgeably about a subject. Nobody needs to talk to me anymore anyway, as anyone who’s curious can always know what I’m thinking 24/7 right here on Twitter. Besides – the REALLY interesting story in RedState isn’t me; it’s MichaelParks. Or JohnGoodman. Or MelissaLeo. Or the ENTIRE cast. Or s’about how @ThatDavidKlein CRUSHED it.
Blah, blah, blah. Kevin Smith continues to shoot himself in the foot by targeting the media and frankly, the tone is becoming a little tedious. But we’ll give them this, he’s sticking to his guns. “Red State” will have two public screenings at Sundance but no press screenings, so for anyone up in Park City hoping to review the film, you’ll have to get in line. Smith is probably pleased as punch he pulled that off because it means dedicated fanboys will make sure the film gets positive word while more discerning critics might be left out in the cold.
As for the March release that was hinted at the end of his teaser trailer, Smith says that’s when he hopes to release the film but obviously, without a distributor in place yet, it remains to be seen if it will stick. He also doesn’t want to release a full length trailer for the film, preferring to keep the details in the dark, but again, that will be up to whatever distributor takes on the film.
Frankly, Kevin Smith can say whatever the fuck he wants. Our feelings aren’t hurt, we pretty much don’t really care, and it only continues to reflect badly on himself. And if continues with this screed into the new year, he risks making the big story about “Red State” not about the quality of the film (which looks like a solid change of pace for the director) but more about his continued resentment toward the very people who, early in his career, made him who he is. [/Film]