We can’t even keep up the man anymore. Anyway, with Sundance just a few weeks away, Kevin Smith has done what some would call a total reversal on his position of no press screenings for “Red State.” But there’s a catch. There are only 50 spots available for the screening that will take place in Kevin Smith’s house. Any potential conflict of interest issues, you see? Perhaps that’s in the eye of the beholder. You can hit up the director to request a spot via Twitter but we imagine they will go pretty quickly.
But that’s not all. Earlier today Smith launched another massive, kind of amazing screed on Twitter in which he claims that as an “artist” he is in the midst of “taking a fucking chainsaw to the career of Kevin Smith. That’s what you gotta do as an artist: when everyone’s comfy, pull the fucking chair out from under their settled asses while showing ’em something they’re not used to seeing from anybody, least of all YOU.” He goes on to explain at great lengths that he doesn’t want to engage with the journalists and once again claims movie critics that don’t like his movies don’t like anything at all. He also says that certain websites have started a “war of words” with him over his “not speaking to the press” thing. Anyway, you should really just read it for yourself. Check out the full statement after the jump:
A few movie websites this morning have chided me for talking about not doing press on RedState. Number one, that’s ironic right there: even I say I’m not doing RedState press… and press writes about it. But I never said I’m not talking: said I always talk plenty right here. So if you can always ask me anything you want right here (and often get a LONG-ASS response), what’s the damage? Besides, the only story in RedState that really needs telling is the MichaelParks story – and, as per usual, NOBODY is writing it. “Gotta wait & see on the Parks of it all. Don’t wanna be out front, first with THAT story. Now – the boring story of how KevinSmith Tweeted he’s not doing press? THAT’S news!” And one month from now, when EVERYONE ELSE is writing the MichaelParks story, these websites who wasted their time/space on a fruitless war of words with me are gonna wonder why other websites get more hits/have more followers/earn more than their site does. I’M TELLING YOU THIS FAR OUT: why the FUCK aren’t you writing the MichaelParks story? First one out there gets the top Google hits. But these swine have zero vision; it’s all “Kevin Smith is gonna hurt his career not talking to press.” Seriously: someone actually wrote that story today (naturally, it was a movie news site). This site that’s accomplished merely a fraction of what other movie sites in the online fraternity/sorority have, suggested that – since I’m not gonna play the game the normal, boring way, I’m gonna hurt my career. Once again, these motherfuckers are a day late & a dollar short? Hurt Kevin Smith’s career? Have you SEEN this: http://smodcast.com/ ? I ain’t hurting the career of Kevin Smith, I’m taking a fucking chainsaw to the career of Kevin Smith. That’s what you gotta do as an artist: when everyone’s comfy, pull the fucking chair out from under their settled asses while showing ’em something they’re not used to seeing from anybody, least of all YOU. And if you lose some people in the process, so be it: art should be a little dangerous, scary & thrilling – ESPECIALLY for the artist. You think there isn’t some tiny part of me that stops & says “You can make this SO much easier on yourself & the journey of this film if you just do what you’ve ALWAYS done and go hat-in-hand to the snark-factory…”? But nothing about RedState has been done conventionally; why should I start NOW? Best piece of advice I can give a bunch of people who only wanna shit on what I do? Go find MichaelParks and BECOME the interview of record. Stop writing about how you’re mad at me, or how I’m not doing it your way, or how I’m gonna hurt myself. Write about something original: the guy who the entire WORLD is about to wanna talk to. The money’s out there; pick it up it’s yours; you don’t, I got no sympathy for you. “Hurt Kevin Smith’s Career”? Bitch, I’ve ANNIHILATED Kevin Smith’s Career. And now? I get to remake it, all over again. And I’ve got a dopey movie blogger to thank for it: one day, one of these hymens wrote “Kevin Smith owes his career to people like me” – said people being bloggers, critics, movie journalists. I gave this some serious thought & realized I’d never know whether that theory was true or not. But while I couldn’t validate the veracity of the statement, I realized it didn’t matter: if people like this were to thank for my career, then I didn’t want that career anymore. So I made SModcast. And now RedState. And then combined the two. And realized I could do it without the help of the same people who don’t seem to have anything nice to say about not only my flicks, but ANYBODY’S flicks they see. Their game is rigged; why play it? I go to the carnival, I wanna ride the roller-coaster, not waste money on the rigged games of chance, the rewards of which are cheap, empty prizes that don’t seem nearly as cool in the light of day, away from the cotton candy haze. If they weren’t convinced that I made my own way the first time, I’m happy (and more importantly, EXCITED) to do it again, one more time – just to prove that point. And if you’re gonna make art, you SHOULD reinvent periodically anyway. Lots of jackasses writing about my craft & how I conduct it weren’t even BORN when I built my shit from scratch. They can’t possibly be expected to be impressed by shit they couldn’t witness for themselves because they were just cum when it happened the first time. So rather than continue being the same ol’ KevinSmith that all these movie sites kept insisting I was, I practiced my game, skated night & day, and learned to stay out of the scrum & figure out where the puck was going. I stopped being the KevinSmith they loved to bitch about; the KevinSmith they chided to change. So I changed. And guess what? Now they’re bitching about that? And trying to scare me with some booga-booga bullshit about hurting my career. Like I said: the game’s rigged. So why play it on THEIR terms? KobayashiMaru that shit: at the very worst, you get bitched-out by cowards. At best? You BECOME James Tiberius Kirk.