"I'm looking forward to my trip to Russia"
The creator of "Dogma", "Clerks", "Jay and Silent Bob" and "The Tusk", one of the most iconic figures in American pop culture of the 21st century, director Kevin Smith brought the newly restored "Dogma" to Cannes. Over the past 25 years, the film has gained an impressive number of fans all over the world, including Russia, but has never visited. That's where we decided to start a conversation with him on the Croisette beach, ten minutes from the festival Palace.
"For all the time that I've been making films, and it's been 31 years, I've never been to Russia."
— Kevin, do you have any idea how big your fan base is in Russia?
"Here's the thing, man. Over the years, people have been telling me this. And there were confirmations. For example, I've seen these T-shirts… I have a long T-shirt that someone brought me from Russia many years ago, and it featured pictures of Jay and Silent Bob with a Russian bear. That is, someone was doing it! But that's all I've only heard from many people, and I've never been to Russia myself. And for many years I've been thinking: How did it happen? I have to go! In all the time that I've been making films, and it's been 31 years, I've never been to Russia! But yes, I've heard that there are people there who like us.
— You should definitely visit Russia. There's even an unofficial merch of your film, you know?
"Really?" It's crazy.
Faecaloid from the movie "Dogma"
— Yes, this is that meme character from Dogma, the Shit Demon, he's a Faecaloid. There are handmade figurines of him, and there are people who have them. I personally don't have one, really, but in fact you can even buy one.
— It's so wild. Yeah, that's crazy, man. I would never have thought... I've never been there, but I'm already looking forward to the trip. Do you even have film festivals there, in Russia?
— Of course, the Moscow International Film Festival.
— Hmm... I don't think I've ever been invited to a Russian film festival.
— But it's really a very big festival. Federico Fellini won there once.
"I've heard of him!"
— Well, do you know the movie The Doors by Oliver Stone?
- yes.
— He participated in the competition of the Moscow Film Festival. I think I even got the grand prize, but still not... In general, it's a really big festival.
— Yes, but they never invited me, so I didn't have a chance to check it.
— We must definitely invite you, absolutely. But now we are talking about the anniversary of the film "Dogma", which has been re-released, this version has a premiere in Cannes. And I personally doubt whether it would be possible to make a film like "Dogma" today, in the modern USA?
— Yes, to be honest, you probably wouldn't make a movie, but an eight-episode series for online platforms or something like that. It's even possible that something like this will happen. For example, I just watched the movie "Heretic" on the plane. Have you seen him?
A shot from the movie "The Heretic", 2024
"I saw it.
— I really loved this movie. This is the kind of movie in which the entire first half is one long religious discussion. When I see this, I understand that today it would definitely be possible to remove the "Dogma".
— It's not enough to take it off, we still need to release it. A lot has changed in the last six months, and everyone can see it.
"That's right. In particular, when we shot the film in '99, there were a lot of protests, people were angry and threatened me with violence and death. But now — nothing. Very quiet. Because the movie has aged. Just think! When the film first came out, we couldn't advertise through the image of "Christ the Friend," which is in the plot, because people would freak out. Now he's sitting quietly on our poster, this poster is hanging everywhere, and no one is surprised. He's there, and the whole cast is around him, but he's big and everyone's small.
A shot from the movie "Dogma"
The marketers told me: "Are you sure about this? What about the fact that you have so many celebrities in your cast? Why make them invisible?" And I told them: who is more famous than Jesus Christ? So it seems to me that in the 25 years that have passed since we released the film, the situation has eased a bit. Because there was no concern, no arguments, no one said that the screenings of this film should be stopped immediately. And I'm glad about that, because, as you know, I'm a Catholic, and when I made the film, I didn't do it to poke the nose of the faithful into something. It may seem to some that this film is aimed at the institution of religion, at its foundations, but in fact this film is just very pro-religious. You know, it's like a child's prayer with clumsy, uncomplicated words.
"Who's going to break my leg, Rocky or Rambo?"
— Listen, but what about what the modern film industry is going through. What if Sylvester Stallone, who is now Trump's ambassador to Hollywood, comes and breaks your leg for all this?
— For making this movie? Well, if Rambo had broken my leg… I would ask Stallone, who's going to break my leg, Rocky or Rambo? Can I choose? I have the right to choose which way he breaks my leg, right? I would probably choose Rocky because I watched this movie as a kid. Yes, I think that's what I'll do when it happens. Although, if Sylvester Stallone ever shows up at my house, I'll try to convince him to star in the movie I'm about to make before he hits me. I would tell him, "Wait, wait, wait, don't hit me, I have an idea!"
— Listen, seriously! Throughout the Cannes Film Festival, everyone has been talking about Robert De Niro's speech about Trump's threat to the American film industry and American cinema.
— What are you talking about? And what did he say?
— At the opening of the festival, he said that Trump's actions threaten art, culture, and the core values of American cinema. Everyone here is shocked, and no one understands what will happen to the American film industry. Do you feel this fear?
— No, from the outside it seems that everything is going as usual in the film industry. Well, to be honest, things haven't been going well in the last five years. COVID, two strikes — of course, the film business has suffered greatly from this. There are fewer films. Studios don't release as much as they used to. But it was never exactly my world. Do you understand what I'm saying? I don't work in the film industry proper, so it doesn't matter to me what they do there. I work in a world where I have to bring together five different people to finance my film. It makes me quite independent. Whatever they do in the industry itself, it doesn't affect me in any way. The industry has not been doing me any good for 10-15 years now. So, whatever's going on with the industry, I'm interested in watching it, but I have nothing to do with it. I'm not in the industry. I'm just here, making Kevin Smith movies.
Kevin Smith
— Wait, but you still need to release your films, and there's no way without the industry.
— When it comes to the release... In general, I have been avoiding traditional rental structures for the past few years. Instead of just releasing the movie in theaters and praying like everyone else does, I'm sending it on tour. This was the case with the films "Jay and Silent Bob: Reboot" and "Clerks 3". I toured 65 cities. I took the movies with me, and every time they were shown, I'd go out and talk to people for two hours. This is my model. So it doesn't really matter what they do there in traditional cinemas. Because I'll bring the movie right to you and get a lot more for it. So we did with the "Dogma", which was re-released. I've been touring with this film for the last month, giving two screenings per night, for $50 per ticket. A regular movie ticket costs $10, by the way.
You see, I realized a long time ago that if I want to continue doing all this "shit", then the big uncles in business are not interested in me. So I'd rather do everything by myself, which is great, because that's how I started. When I was shooting Clerks, I didn't go to Universal or Warner Bros. Let it be their world, and my world is much more independent, it's a DIY world. Therefore, everything that happens in business as a whole does not have a special impact on me and has never had.
"Clerks", 1994
— But isn't there some kind of censorship in terms of humor now? The last Oscar ceremony was very, very quiet. No jokes about Trump, Republicans, values, Christians, and so on. Can you joke about anything?
— I've been doing this for 31 years. Sometimes you say things that piss people off, whether you wanted to or not. The "Dogma" in 1999 made people angry. I wasn't going to offend them now, but it happened. Moreover, they didn't watch the movie, they just heard about it, and they didn't like it in advance. It's impossible to please everyone. Some people get upset sometimes, but I do not know what to do about it. I never intentionally try to hurt anyone. I just find things that seem funny to me and emphasize them. But my comedies have never been aimed at attacking anyone, much less harassing them. After all, "Dogma" did not so much ridicule the church as it praised faith. And everything has remained the same for me, the principles are the same.
A shot from the movie "Dogma"
— I would like to ask you about Russian actors, for example, Mark Edelstein and Yuri Borisov. Maybe you saw them at the Oscar ceremony, they played in Anor. And, of course, everyone in Russia is interested, would you like to invite them to your projects?
— Give them a role, you mean? Listen, I'm always happy if there's a strong actor in any of my work. Another thing is that probably someone who was lucky enough to participate in "Anora", which was very successful, will not want to participate in my films.
— Why do you think that?
- why? Because I'm old. And Sean Baker, he's fresh and incredibly talented. (Baker is only a year younger than Smith. — Izvestia) And he just won an Oscar. But I'm not that guy.
"But you're a legend!"
— Well, in the end, what does "legend" mean? You know what I mean? I still have to figure out where to find the money for the next movie to make it. "Legend" is a good word, but it doesn't make the job any easier.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
