| Movie Directors |
| Kevin Smith Born: 2 August 1970, Red Bank, New Jersey, USA Birth Name: Kevin Patrick Smith Salary • n/a Companies • View Askew Productions • Rhino Management Representation • Endeavor Talent Agency 6 wins & 8 nominations Clerks II - Silent Bob, Writer (written by), Producer, Director, Editor (co-editor) 2006 Southland Tales - Simon Theory 2006 Kisses and Caroms - Special Thanks 2006 Doogal - Moose (voice) 2006 Small Town Gay Bar (documentary) - Executive Producer 2006 For Catherine - Very Special Thanks 2005 Reel Paradise (documentary) - Executive Producer, Phase One Instigator 2005 Clerks: The Lost Scene (video short) - Writer, Director 2004 Jersey Girl - Writer (written by), Executive Producer, Director, Editor 2004 Daredevil, Vol. 1: Guardian Devil (video) - Writer 2003 Hardware: Uncensored Music Videos - Hip Hop Volume 1 (video) - Silent Bob (segment "Because I Got High") 2003 Daredevil - Jack Kirby, Forensic Assistant 2003 Now You Know - Married Guy 2002 Reality of Life - Special Thanks 2002 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back - Silent Bob, Writer (characters) (written by), Executive Album Producer, Lyricist (as Kevin P. Smith), Director, Editor, Composer ("Mooby Theme song") (song "Jay's Rap 2001") (as Kevin P. Smith) 2001 Donnie Darko - Special Thanks 2001 Vulgar - Martan Ingram, Executive Producer, Thanks 2000 Scream 3 - Silent Bob 2000 Tail Lights Fade - Executive Producer (uncredited), Executive Advisor 1999 Dogma - Silent Bob, Writer (written by), Producer (uncredited), Puppeteer ( / Vincent J. Guastini Productions) (as Kevin P. Smith), Director, Editor 1999 Big Helium Dog - Director, Executive Producer 1999 Cold Hearts - Special Thanks 1999 Overnight Delivery - Special Thanks 1998 Good Will Hunting - Co-executive Producer 1997 A Better Place - Producer 1997 Chasing Amy - Silent Bob, Writer (written by), Producer (uncredited), Director, Editor 1997 Mallrats - Silent Bob, Writer (written by), Producer (uncredited), Director 1995 Clerks - Silent Bob, Writer (written by), Producer, Director, Editor One of the most unique voices to emerge during the American independent filmmaking renaissance of the 1990s, Kevin Smith was born in New Jersey on August 2, 1970. Smith later attended the New School for Social Research's creative writing program, dropping out after administrators contacted his parents to report that their son had been caught launching water balloons out of his dormitory window. He subsequently enrolled in the Vancouver Film School, but again ended his stay after just four months. Returning home to New Jersey, Smith accepted a job in a local convenience store and began plotting his next move. Inspired by the success of director Richard Linklater's 1991 low-budget hit Slacker, he contacted former film-school comrade Scott Mosier, and together the duo began discussing producing their own feature. After rounding up just over 27,000 dollars -- collected from parents, credit-card advances, and the sale of Smith's beloved comic book collection -- they shot Clerks, a hilariously scabrous look at American consumer culture steeped in Smith's own experiences behind the cash register. Shooting each night in the same convenience store where the director worked by day, they completed production in just three weeks and began promoting the feature on the festival circuit. In 1994, Clerks debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, becoming the breakout hit of the event. Suddenly Smith, with his flair for raunchy yet heavily stylized dialogue, colorful characterizations, and keen cultural perceptiveness, was the toast of the indie community, swiftly acquiring Creative Artists Agency representation and a distribution deal with Miramax. After winning a court battle to replace the often-vulgar movie's NC-17 rating with a more commercially palatable "R," Clerks hit the arthouse circuit, where it recouped its initial investment many times over and became a critical smash. Soon Smith was at work on the 1995 comedy Mallrats, the second chapter in his self-described "New Jersey trilogy." Despite reprising a number of characters from the previous film -- including the director's own onscreen alter ego, Silent Bob -- Mallrats was both a commercial and critical disaster, and while members of his avid cult audience remained enthusiastic, he publicly "apologized" for making the movie at the 1995 Independent Spirit Awards ceremony. In 1997, Smith resurfaced with Chasing Amy, the final film in the trilogy and his most mature effort to date. Unlike its predecessor, the film won wide critical acclaim, with many critics praising Smith's insightful exploration of love and loss. In 1999, Smith was back in the spotlight with Dogma, a film centering on the last living descendent of Jesus Christ, a woman named Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) who works as a clerk in an abortion clinic. Unsurprisingly, the film, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, garnered more than its share of controversy even before being released theatrically. Dogma's distributor, the Disney-owned Miramax Pictures, announced that they would not release the picture and intended to sell it to another distributor. They did so, as Smith all the while maintained that the film -- which also starred Alanis Morrisette as God -- was about the importance of faith, rather than an attempt to ridicule it. Scaling down his themes somewhat, Smith dedicated his next film, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, to the stoner duo who appeared on the sidelines in each of his first four efforts. Prepped for a wide, late-August 2001 release, the 20-million-dollar road comedy seemed affable in terms of overall concept, until a sneak preview left representatives of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) up in arms over the film's derogatory language and recurring gay-sex jokes. Stopping short of issuing an apology, Smith again defended his right to portray uncouth characters: Jay and Silent Bob's homophobia, he argued, further illustrated their idiocy. Unconvinced, Smith's detractors compelled him to tack on a closing-credit anti-defamation comment and make a 10,000-dollar goodwill donation to the Matthew Sheperd Foundation. Little of this mattered to critics or fans, as JASBSB garnered mixed-to-poor reviews and decent (if precipitous) opening weekend box-office totals, proving that Smith had indeed cultivated a core audience. After a turn in front of the camera in 2003's Daredevil, Smith returned to directing with 2004's Jersey Girl. The film had plenty of buzz surrounding it because it was one of two films starring uber-couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez slated for release. However, when the other film Gigli became a failure of nearly-Ishtarian proportions and the celebrity-duo called off their wedding, that buzz turned into a stigma. Attempting to remove some of the Gigli-residue on the film, Smith retired to the editing room and excised much of Lopez's role in the film. Nonetheless, Jersey Girl was largely panned and was a box-office failure. Looking for a hit in the wake of Jersey Girl, Smith opted for a return to the film that started it all and began work on a sequel to Clerks. |
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