The directors latest film isThe 4:30 Movie,which serves as a love letter to small-town cinemas.
Its always been hard, he said.
Thats the one thing I could say.
Kevin Smith discusses his latest film ‘The 4:30 Movie’, which he shot in his hometown theater that he previously saved from closing down.Courtesy Ralph Bavaro
But its worth the struggle.
Its worth the fight.
Thats the movie that saved my life,' added Smith.
Austin Zajur, Kate Micucci and Siena Agudong inThe 4:30 Movie(Courtesy Ralph Bavaro)
It will be the movie that saved somebodys life, so do it.
Smiths wife Jennifer Schwalbach and daughterHarley Quinn Smithalso make cameos.
DEADLINE:What was it like departing from the View Askewniverse to make your first quintessential teen movie?
KEVIN SMITH:This is the furthest Ive reached back to tell a story.
Most of the stories that I started telling in the 90s have always been kind of 90s-facing or 90s-inspired.
So we bought that two years ago, me and my friends.
The last time they did refurbishments, it had been a couple of decades back.
So if you point a camera inside the theater, you got a period piece.
So in the movie theater, I guess the means you know, the location dictated what came next.
So, yeah, this is definitely the youngest story Ive ever told.
But this is a genre that raised me.
So really, location dictated my walk down memory lane.
DEADLINE:Is this your first period piece?
SMITH:It is.
I mean, its no Merchant Ivory, but this is the furthest weve gone back.
Just the weird things like that, even something as simple as the area code was different.
But since I never worked in a movie theater, I thought that would be pretending, stolen valor.
So I was like, you know what?
I went to the movies a lot.
I can easily write about that.
SMITH:Oh, heavens yes.
Like, What do you mean?
Itll just get more expensive to make up for the lack of people who arent going.
And as a film exhibitor, as somebody with a movie theater, I know what thats like.
So it was like an all-day event, we sold 700 seats at 69 bucks.
So the place was packed, we could have sold out the entire theater.
We had four of the theaters filled for the event.
So, when we do events, I could pack it.
A lot of the first run movies that come out you sit there.
It looks like youre going to see a Kevin Smith movie.
Theres like one or two people in the theater next to you and thats about it.
But at a certain point, how many tiles can you get to in a lifetime?
Sometimes, I just scroll through Netflix and Amazon Prime and Max.
And I was sitting there going like, what am I doing?
Im just gonna add one more goofy ass tile to this never-ending wall.
And as I scroll past the thing, someone will scroll past my thing as well.
I kind of got existential about it for second there.
I was like, why bother?
There are lots of people who wanna tell a story.
Very few movie theaters get to show a movie where the movie was made there.
And the movie theater is like one of the stars of the flick itself.
So thats a nice little kind of PS to whatever the story ofThe 4:30 Moviewinds up being.
SMITH:In the climate that weve got, its such a hostile world.
But I am 30 years in on that job, so I must be doing something right.
DEADLINE:Is there anything you’ve got the option to tell me about Twilight of the Mallrats?
But then a couple of weeks ago, my producer was having a conversation with some folks at Universal.
So, we never go anywhere.
But we can and would love to.
So can you let us take it out?
So, fingers crossed the good folks at Universal go like, You know what?
Were never gonna do anything with this.
I mean, its hysterical.
So, hopefully it can go forward and if it doesnt, I get it.
Im not spoiled where its like, I get to make everything I want!
