Date: August 18, 2004
Source: IESB.NET
Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes at the World Premiere of Bourne Supremacy © IESB.NET 2004
Kevin Smith shocked fans when he told Empire Online that he did not want to direct The Green Hornet which he is currently writing for Miramax. Now, it sounds like he’s 50/50. Though a little burned out after the big budget experience of Jersey Girl, Harvey Weinstein has encourages Smith not to jump the gun.
Smith recalled, “I called up Harvey and was just like, ‘You know what, dude? With all due respect, I think I’m going to step away from Green Hornet. I appreciate the offer and I appreciate the confidence in me, but it’s not in me right now. I just want to make something small.’ And Harvey said, ‘Well, before you jump off the project altogether…’ and he respected it too. He was like, ‘Look, I get what you’re saying and I respect it and I respect you for saying it. But before you leave the project altogether, why don’t you at least write it and then see how you feel. That way we’ll at least have a script so if you’re not going to do it, we can pass it on to another director. And if you do feel like doing it when you’re done writing, then it’s there for you to do.’ And I was like, ‘All right, that makes sense.’ So now I’ve got about 50 pages left on the first draft and I’ll see how I feel when it’s done.”
Smith’s explanation goes deeper as he explains the place he was in when he gave the Empire interview. “Basically, what happened was, post Jersey Girl, I just started feeling a little burned on big budget movie making, because 35 million bucks isn’t a lot of money by studio standards, but it is to me. And I felt like if we had made that movie for 20 million bucks, we would have been in profit with the theatrical release. As it stands now, on DVD, I’m sure Miramax will make all its money back because DVD counts for 50% now of revenue, the revenue streams for movies studio-wise. So I know it’s going to do well, I know they’re going to get their money back and make a little bit of scratch, but still, I feel like we underperformed at the box office. Whether that was because of all the Bennifer backlash or whether it was because the critics handed us our asses because it wasn’t as edgy as some of our other flicks, and it was a bit too mainstream for me to have made or something like that. Whatever the reason, we underperformed. It should have done better than it did.
“So, either way, I just felt like wow, 35 million bucks, I just don’t feel comfortable with large budgets. It’s just not me. I like to be able to make movies where I’m talking about real obscure shit, and they shouldn't spend a lot of money to do that. We should be able to pull of talkie little movies for way, way less. So I got to this place where I was like, ‘I just don’t know. If Jersey Girl Was 35, Green Hornet’s going to be easily 50 or more.’ So I was flattered by the offer and the shot to write and direct it and that Harvey had enough confidence in me, but at the same time, I was just like maybe I said yes for all the wrong reasons. Maybe I said yes just because I was flattered and stuff. Did I really get into this business to make big movies like that? Not really. I got into this business to make movies like Clerks where people sit around and talk and shit. It’s not like I saw Batman and said, “I’ve got to become a filmmaker.” I saw Slacker and said, “I’ve got to become a filmmaker.”
Should Smith decide not to direct Green Hornet, he plans to move on to Fletch.
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