Press Junket Potluck: Kevin Smith talks Tusk

When Kevin Smith talks, one cannot help but just sit back and listen. After all, not for nothing has the famously loquacious writer/producer/director has made a name for himself as a popular draw in public speaking engagements (immortalized on an ever-growing series of DVD's), which then paved the way for a project that, in recent years, has superseded his efforts as a filmmaker: building SModCo, a network of consistently popular podcasts, a number of which he hosts himself. Ironically, it is through the popularity of his podcasts--specifically, one episode in particular--that Smith has returned to filmmaking after a three-year absence, with Tusk, a part-horror, part-comedy, all-WTF man-as-walrus, walrus-as-man movie idea he spontaneously thought of and then further developed live on the fly across the cyberspace airwaves. Appropriately enough, when Smith sat down for a roundtable interview at the film's press day on Monday, September 15, what ensued was not so much an interview but rather an in-depth podcast, where he engagingly and rather thoroughly discussed all the various minutiae behind the movie's unusual conception, development, and eventual production before a small audience. Since text transcription can never do justice to Smith's singular gifts as a raconteur, below is the audio of the session, which is an amusing entertainment unto itself.

Tusk opens in cinemas nationwide today, Friday, September 19, from A24.

Buy the Tusk movie poster here.
Buy the Tusk VOD here.
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(Special thanks to Kevin Smith, Ginsberg Libby, and A24)

Briefly... on the Red State situation

As with many, my initial reaction to Kevin Smith's decision to self-distribute his long-gestating horror film Red State was surprise--but not in the same way most (rather exaggeratedly outraged) observers have expressed. No, my surprise comes in that just about no one ever had the faintest suspicion Smith would follow such a route, especially within the context of his long history of challenging, breaking, and/or redefining traditional boundaries--whether embracing filmmaker/fan interaction long before the advent of social networking over at his official site; or running his own film and entertainment news outlet for a few years; or building a public speaking side career so successful so as to spawn a DVD franchise and, in recent years, a veritable network of podcasts that has grown to invite live audiences. Taking all that into consideration, theatrical self-distribution--piggybacked on his established drawing power as a live speaker--seems not so much insanity than an organic brand extension, albeit his boldest and riskiest. Whatever the outcome, undoubtedly it'll certainly be fascinating and instructive (from all angles, positively and negatively) to watch the situation play out in the coming months.