A film being made in Warsaw, Bracka street

Filmmaking (often referred to in an academic context as film production) is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program. Filmmaking takes place all over the planet in a huge range of economic, social, and political contexts, and using a variety of technologies and cinematic techniques. Typically, it involves a large number of people, and takes from a few months to several years to complete, although it may take longer if there are production issues, and the record for the longest production time for a major film is The Thief and the Cobbler's 28 years development.

Parts[link]

Film production occurs in three stages:^[1]

• Pre-production—Preparations are made for the shoot, in which cast and film crew are hired, locations are selected, and sets are built. This is also the stage in which the lol ideas for the film are created, rights to books/plays are bought, etc.
• Production—The raw elements for the finished film are recorded.
• Post-Production—The film is edited; production sound (dialogue) is concurrently (but separately) edited, music tracks (and songs) are composed, performed and recorded, if a film is sought to have a score; sound effects are designed and recorded; and any other computer-graphic 'visual' effects are digitally added, all sound elements are mixed into "stems" then the stems are mixed then married to picture and the film is fully completed ("locked").

Development[link]

In this stage, the project's producer finds a story, which may come from a book, play, another film, a true story, original idea, etc. After identifying a theme or underlying message, the producer works with writers to prepare a synopsis. Next they produce a step outline, which breaks the story down into one-paragraph scenes that concentrate on dramatic structure. Then, they prepare a treatment, a 25-to-30-page description of the story, its mood, and characters. This usually has little dialogue and stage direction, but often contains drawings that help visualize key points. Another way is to produce a scriptment once a synopsis is produced.

Next, a screenwriter writes a screenplay over a period of several months. The screenwriter may rewrite it several times to improve dramatization, clarity, structure, characters, dialogue, and overall style. However, producers often skip the previous steps and develop submitted screenplays which investors, studios, and other interested parties assess through a process called script coverage. A film distributor may be contacted at an early stage to assess the likely market and potential financial success of the film. Hollywood distributors adopt a hard-headed business approach and consider factors such as the film genre, the target audience, the historical success of similar films, the actors who might appear in the film, and potential directors. All these factors imply a certain appeal of the film to a possible audience and hence the number of "A.I.S." (or "Asses in Seats") during the theatrical release. Not all films make a profit from the theatrical release alone, so film companies take DVD sales and worldwide distribution rights into account.

The producer and screenwriter prepare a film pitch, or treatment, and present it to potential financiers. If the pitch is successful, the film receives a "green light", meaning someone offers financial backing: typically a major film studio, film council, or independent investor. The parties involved negotiate a deal and sign contracts. Once all parties have met and the deal has been set, the film may proceed into the pre-production period. By this stage, the film should have a clearly defined marketing strategy and target audience.

Pre-production[link]

In pre-production, every step of actually creating the film is carefully designed and planned. The production company is created and a production office established. The production is storyboarded and visualized with the help of illustrators and concept artists. A production budget is drawn up to plan expenditures for the film. For major productions, insurance is procured to protect against accidents.

The producer hires a crew. The nature of the film, and the budget, determine the size and type of crew used during filmmaking. Many Hollywood blockbusters employ a cast and crew of hundreds, while a low-budget, independent film may be made by a skeleton crew of eight or nine (or fewer). These are typical crew positions:

• The director is primarily responsible for the storytelling, creative decisions and acting of the film.
• The assistant director (AD) manages the shooting schedule and logistics of the production, among other tasks. There are several types of AD, each with different responsibilities.
• The casting director finds actors to fill the parts in the script. This normally requires that actors audition.
• The location manager finds and manages film locations. Most pictures are shot in the controllable environment of a studio sound stage but occasionally, outdoor sequences call for filming on location.
• The production manager manages the production budget and production schedule. They also report, on behalf of the production office, to the studio executives or financiers of the film.
• The director of photography (DoP) is the cinematographer who supervises the photography of the entire film
• The director of audiography (DoA) is the audiographer who supervises the audiography of the entire film. For productions in the Western world this role is also known as either sound designer or supervising sound editor.^[2]

• The production sound mixer is the head of the sound department during the production stage of filmmaking. They record and mix the audio on set - dialogue, presence and sound effects in mono and ambience in stereo.^[3][4] They work with the boom operator, Director, DoA, DoP, and First AD.

• The sound designer creates the aural conception of the film,^[5] working with the supervising sound editor. On some productions the sound designer plays the role of a director of audiography.
• The composer creates new music for the film. (usually not until post-production)
• The production designer creates the visual conception of the film, working with the art director.^[5]
• The art director manages the art department, which makes production sets
• The costume designer creates the clothing for the characters in the film working closely with the actors, as well as other departments.
• The make up and hair designer works closely with the costume designer in addition to create a certain look for a character.
• The storyboard artist creates visual images to help the director and production designer communicate their ideas to the production team.
• The choreographer creates and coordinates the movement and dance - typically for musicals. Some films also credit a fight choreographer.

Production[link]

A director performing dual roles as director and camera operator gives instructions during the filming of a scene.

In lol production, the video production/film is created and shot. More crew will be recruited at this stage, such as the property master, script supervisor, assistant directors, stills photographer, picture editor, and sound editors. These are just the most common roles in filmmaking; the production office will be free to create any unique blend of roles to suit the various responsibilities possible during the production of a film.

A typical day's shooting begins with the crew arriving on the set/location by their call time. Actors usually have their own separate call times. Since set construction, dressing and lighting can take many hours or even days, they are often set up in advance.
The grip, electric and production design crews are typically a step ahead of the camera and sound departments: for efficiency's sake, while a scene is being filmed, they are already preparing the next one.

While the crew prepare their equipment, the actors are wardrobed in their costumes and attend the hair and make-up departments. The actors rehearse the script and blocking with the director, and the camera and sound crews rehearse with them and make final tweaks. Finally, the action is shot in as many takes as the director wishes. Most American productions follow a specific procedure:

The assistant director (AD) calls "picture is up!" to inform everyone that a take is about to be recorded, and then "quiet, everyone!" Once everyone is ready to shoot, the AD calls "roll sound" (if the take involves sound), and the production sound mixer will start their equipment, record a verbal slate of the take's information, and announce "sound speed" when they are ready. The AD follows with "roll camera", answered by "speed!" by the camera operator once the camera is recording. The clapper, who is already in front of the camera with the clapperboard, calls "marker!" and slaps it shut. If the take involves extras or background action, the AD will cue them ("action background!"), and last is the director, telling the actors "action!".

A take is over when the director calls "cut!", and camera and sound stop recording. The script supervisor will note any continuity issues and the sound and camera teams log technical notes for the take on their respective report sheets. If the director decides additional takes are required, the whole process repeats. Once satisfied, the crew moves on to the next camera angle or "setup," until the whole scene is "covered." When shooting is finished for the scene, the assistant director declares a "wrap" or "moving on," and the crew will "strike," or dismantle, the set for that scene.

At the end of the day, the director approves the next day's shooting schedule and a daily progress report is sent to the production office. This includes the report sheets from continuity, sound, and camera teams. Call sheets are distributed to the cast and crew to tell them when and where to turn up the next shooting day. Later on, the director, producer, other department heads, and, sometimes, the cast, may gather to watch that day or yesterday's footage, called dailies, and review their work.

With workdays often lasting 14 or 18 hours in remote locations, film production tends to create a team spirit. When the entire film is in the can, or in the completion of the production phase, it is customary for the production office to arrange a wrap party, to thank all the cast and crew for their efforts.

Post-production[link]

Here the video/film is assembled by the video/film editor. The modern use of video in the filmmaking process has resulted in two workflow variants: one using entirely film, and the other using a mixture of film and video.

This is the final stage, where the film is released to cinemas or, occasionally, to consumer media (DVD, VCD, VHS, Blu-ray) or direct download from a provider. The film is duplicated as required for distribution to cinemas. Press kits, posters, and other advertising materials are published and the film is advertised and promoted.

Film distributors usually release a film with a launch party, press releases, interviews with the press, press preview screenings, and film festival screenings. Most films have a website. The film plays at selected cinemas and the DVD typically is released a few months later. The distribution rights for the film and DVD are also usually sold for worldwide distribution. The distributor and the production company share profits.

Independent filmmaking[link]

Filmmaking also takes place outside of the mainstream and is commonly called independent filmmaking. Since the introduction of DV technology, the means of production have become more democratized. Filmmakers can conceivably shoot and edit a film, create and edit the sound and music, and mix the final cut on a home computer. However, while the means of production may be democratized, financing, traditional distribution, and marketing remain difficult to accomplish outside the traditional system. In the past, most independent filmmakers have relied on film festivals to get their films noticed and sold for distribution. However, the Internet has allowed for relatively inexpensive distribution of independent films. As a result several companies have emerged to assist filmmakers in getting independent movies seen and sold via mainstream internet marketplaces, oftentimes adjacent to popular Hollywood titles. With internet movie distribution, independent filmmakers who fail to garner a traditional distribution deal now have the ability to reach global audiences.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Filmmaking

• Audiography
• Cinematic techniques
• Cinematography
• Director of audiography aka Sound Director, Director of Sound
• Film crew
• Film director
• Film editing
• Film producer
• Film school
• Film studies
• Film
• First look deal
• List of film-related topics
• Movie production incentives in the United States
• Post-production
• Pre-production
• Screenplay
• Screenwriter
• Television studies

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

• Campbell, Drew: Technical Film and TV for Nontechnical People. Allworth Communications 2002.

External links[link]

Wikibooks has more on the topic of Filmmaking

• Filmmaking at the Open Directory Project

Wikibooks[link]

• Movie Making Manual

Wikiversity[link]

Wikiversity has learning materials about Filmmaking

• Wikiversity Courses in Filmmaking

Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2009
Born	Quentin Jerome Tarantino (1963-03-27) March 27, 1963 (age 49) Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Occupation	Film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, actor
Years active	1988–present
Notable work(s)	Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds
Influenced by	Sergio Leone, Brian De Palma, Howard Hawks, John Woo, Jim Jarmusch, Jean-Luc Godard, Elmore Leonard, Samuel Fuller, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Sam Peckinpah, Jack Hill, Douglas Sirk, Jean-Pierre Melville, Enzo G. Castellari, Sergio Corbucci[1]

Quentin Jerome Tarantino^[2] (pronunciation: /ˌtærənˈtiːnoʊ/; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. He has received many industry awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA and the Palme d'Or and had been nominated for an Emmy and Grammy.

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tarantino was an avid film fan. His career began in the late 1980's, when he wrote and directed My Best Friend's Birthday. Its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence. His films include Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (2003, 2004), Death Proof (2007), and Inglourious Basterds (2009).

His movies are generally characterized by stylistic influences from grindhouse, kung fu, and spaghetti western films. Tarantino also frequently collaborates with his friend and fellow filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.

Early life[link]

Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Tony Tarantino, an actor and amateur musician who was born in Queens, New York, and Connie McHugh, a nurse.^[3] Tarantino's father is of Italian descent and his mother is of Irish and Cherokee ancestry.^[4][5][6] He was raised by his mother, as his parents separated before his birth.^[7] When he was two years old, he moved to Torrance, California and later to the Harbor City neighborhood where he went to Fleming Junior High School in Lomita and took drama classes.^[7] He attended Narbonne High School in Harbor City for his freshman year before dropping out of school at age 15, to attend an acting class full time at the James Best Theater Company in Toluca Lake.^[8] Quentin grew bored with the James Best Acting School and quit after two years, although he made a point of keeping in touch with all his acting friends. Then he landed a job which threatened to interfere with his long-term acting ambitions. ^[9]

As an employee of the Video Archives, a now-defunct video rental store in Manhattan Beach, he and fellow movie enthusiasts, including Roger Avary, discussed cinema and customer video recommendations at length. He paid close attention to the types of films people liked to rent and has cited that experience as inspiration for his directorial career.^[10] Tarantino has been quoted as saying, "When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films.'"^[4]

Film career[link]

After Tarantino met Lawrence Bender at a Hollywood party, Bender encouraged him to write a screenplay. Tarantino directed and co-wrote a movie called My Best Friend's Birthday in 1987. The final reel of the film was almost fully destroyed in a lab fire that occurred during editing but its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In January 1992, Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was an immediate hit. The film garnered critical acclaim. Reservoir Dogs was a dialogue-driven heist movie that set the tone for his later films. Tarantino wrote the script in three and a half weeks and Bender forwarded it to director Monte Hellman. Hellman helped Tarantino to secure funding from Richard Gladstein at Live Entertainment (which later became Artisan). Harvey Keitel read the script and also contributed to funding, taking a co-producer role, and a part in the movie.^[11]

Tarantino has had a number of collaborations with director Robert Rodriguez.

Tarantino's screenplay True Romance was optioned and eventually released in 1993. The second script that Tarantino sold was Natural Born Killers, which was revised by Dave Veloz, Richard Rutowski and director Oliver Stone. Tarantino was given story credit, and wished the film well.^[12] Following the success of Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino was approached by Hollywood and offered numerous projects, including Speed and Men in Black. He instead retreated to Amsterdam to work on his script for Pulp Fiction. After Pulp Fiction was completed, he then directed Episode Four of Four Rooms, "The Man from Hollywood", a tribute to the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode that starred Steve McQueen. Four Rooms was a collaborative effort with filmmakers Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, and Robert Rodriguez. The film was very poorly received by critics. He appeared in and wrote the script for Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn, which saw mixed reviews from the critics yet led to two sequels, for which Tarantino and Rodriguez would only serve as executive producers.

Tarantino's third feature film was Jackie Brown (1997), an adaptation of Rum Punch, a novel by Elmore Leonard. A homage to blaxploitation films, it starred Pam Grier, who starred in many of that genre's films of the 1970s. He had then planned to make the war film provisionally titled Inglourious Bastards, but postponed it to write and direct Kill Bill (released as two films, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), a highly stylized "revenge flick" in the cinematic traditions of Wuxia (Chinese martial arts), Jidaigeki (Japanese period cinema), Spaghetti Westerns and Italian horror. It was based on a character (The Bride) and a plot that he and Kill Bill's lead actress, Uma Thurman, had developed during the making of Pulp Fiction. In 2004, Tarantino returned to Cannes, where he served as President of the Jury. Although Kill Bill was not in competition, Vol. 2 had an evening screening, while it was also shown on the morning of the final day in its original 3-hour-plus version with Quentin himself attending the full screening. Tarantino then went on to be credited as "Special Guest Director" in Robert Rodriguez's 2005 neo-noir film Sin City for his work directing the car sequence featuring Clive Owen and Benicio del Toro.

The next film project was Grindhouse, which he co-directed with Rodriguez. Released in theaters on April 6, 2007, Tarantino's contribution to the Grindhouse project was titled Death Proof. It began as a take on 1970s slasher films,^[13] but evolved dramatically as the project unfolded. Ticket sales were low despite mostly positive reviews.

Among his producing credits are the horror flick Hostel (which included numerous references to his own Pulp Fiction), the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Killshot (for which Tarantino was credited as an executive producer although Tarantino was no longer associated with the film after its 2009 release.)^[14] and Hell Ride (written and directed by Larry Bishop, who appeared in Kill Bill Vol. 2).

Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds is the story of a group of guerrilla U.S. soldiers in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Filming began in October 2008.^[15] The film opened on August 21, 2009 to very positive reviews^[16] and the #1 spot at the box office worldwide.^[17] It went on to become Tarantino's highest grossing film, both in the United States and worldwide.^[18]

In 2011, production began on Django Unchained, about the revenge of a slave on his former master. The film stemmed from Tarantino's desire to produce a spaghetti western set in America's Deep South; Tarantino has called the proposed style "a southern",^[19] stating that he wanted "to do movies that deal with America's horrible past with slavery and stuff but do them like spaghetti westerns, not like big issue movies. I want to do them like they're genre films, but they deal with everything that America has never dealt with because it's ashamed of it, and other countries don't really deal with because they don't feel they have the right to".^[19] Tarantino finished the script on April 26, 2011, and handed in the final draft to The Weinstein Company.^[20] Agency William Morris Endeavor reported Christoph Waltz was cast to play a German bounty hunter,^[21] with Stacey Sher, Pilar Savone, and Reginald Hudlin producing. Although Will Smith and Idris Elba were heavily rumored to be up for the title role, Jamie Foxx has since been confirmed to play Django.^[22] Tarantino regular Samuel L. Jackson will play Stephen, a house slave. Leonardo DiCaprio has also been officially cast in the role of Calvin Candie, the primary antagonist in the film. Kevin Costner had been cast as Ace Woody, a "vile and sadistic trainer of slaves who are forced to fight in death matches for a plantation owner (DiCaprio)" before he later dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, and has been replaced by Kurt Russell.^[23] Kerry Washington has been cast as Broomhilda, the "long-suffering slave wife of Django."^[24] Other cast members include Dennis Christopher as Candie family lawyer Leonide 'Leo' Moguy, Laura Cayouette as Candie's sister, Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly, M.C. Gainey and Tom Savini as Big John and Ellis Brittle, two of the slave owners who separate Django and Broomhilda, Anthony LaPaglia and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Australian brothers, Jano and an unnamed character, respectively,^[25] who encounter Django while escorting slaves to a fight.^[26][27] However, Gordon-Levitt has not fully committed to the film, due to possible scheduling issues,^{[28][29][30][31]} and Gerald McRaney and Michael K. Williams in unknown roles. Tarantino-collaborator RZA was cast as a slave named Thadeus. According to ReservoirWatchDogs.com, Sacha Baron Cohen was cast in the role as gambler Scotty Harmony who wishes to purchase Django's wife from Calvin Candie.^[32] Reportedly, Tarantino is also interested in including Lady Gaga in the film to some degree.^[33] The film is said to be inspired by the 1966 film Django, directed by Sergio Corbucci. James Remar is also involved in the film. The film is scheduled to be released on December 25, 2012.

Producer[link]

In recent years, Tarantino has used his Hollywood power to give smaller and foreign films more attention than they might have received otherwise. These films are usually labeled "Presented by Quentin Tarantino" or "Quentin Tarantino Presents". The first of these productions was in 2001 with the Hong Kong martial arts film Iron Monkey which made over $14 million in the United States, seven times its budget. In 2004 he brought the Chinese martial arts film Hero to U.S. shores. It ended up having a #1 opening at the box office and making $53.5 million. In 2006, the latest "Quentin Tarantino presents" production, Hostel, opened at #1 at the box office with a $20.1 million opening weekend, good for 8th all time in January. He presented 2006's The Protector, and is a producer of the (2007) film Hostel: Part II. in 2008 he produced the Larry Bishop helmed Hell Ride, a revenge biker film.^[34]

In addition, in 1995 Tarantino formed Rolling Thunder Pictures with Miramax as a vehicle to release or re-release several independent and foreign features. By 1997, Miramax shut down the company due to "lack of interest" in the pictures released. The following films were released by Rolling Thunder Pictures: Chungking Express (1994, dir. Wong Kar-wai), Switchblade Sisters (1975, dir. Jack Hill), Sonatine (1993, dir. Takeshi Kitano), Hard Core Logo (1996, dir. Bruce McDonald), The Mighty Peking Man (1977, dir. Ho Meng-Hua), Detroit 9000 (1973, dir. Arthur Marks), The Beyond (1981, dir. Lucio Fulci) and Curdled (1996, dir. Reb Braddock).

Other potential projects[link]

Before Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino had considered making The Vega Brothers. The film would have starred Michael Madsen and John Travolta reprising their roles of Vic (Mr. Blonde) from Reservoir Dogs and Vincent from Pulp Fiction. However in 2007, because of the age of the actors and the onscreen deaths of both characters, he claimed that the project (which he intended to call Double V Vega) is "kind of unlikely now".^[35]

In 2009, in an interview for Italian TV, after being asked about the success of the two Kill Bill films, Tarantino said "You haven't asked me about the third one", and implied that he would be making a third Kill Bill film with the words "The Bride will fight again!"^[36] Later that year, at the Morelia International Film Festival,^[37] Tarantino announced that he would like to film Kill Bill: Vol. 3. He explained that he wanted ten years to pass between The Bride's last conflict, in order to give her and her daughter a period of peace.^[38]

Personal life[link]

Tarantino has been romantically linked with American actress Mira Sorvino,^[39] directors Allison Anders and Sofia Coppola, actresses Julie Dreyfus and comedians Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho.^[40] There have also been rumors about his relationship with Uma Thurman, whom he has referred to as his "muse".^[41] However, Tarantino has stated that their relationship is strictly platonic.^[42] Tarantino stated "I'm not saying that I'll never get married or have a kid before I'm 60. But I've made a choice, so far, to go on this road alone. Because this is my time to make movies."^[43] He also has said that he plans to retire from filmmaking at age 60, to focus on writing novels and film literature. He also is skeptical of the film industry going digital, saying, "If it actually gets to the place where you can't show 35 mm film in theatres anymore and everything is digital projection, I won't even make it to 60."^[44]

On February 18, 2010, it was announced that Tarantino had bought the New Beverly Cinema. Tarantino allowed the current owners to continue operating the theater, but he will be making programming suggestions from time to time. He was quoted as saying: "As long as I'm alive, and as long as I'm rich, the New Beverly will be there, showing films shot on 35mm."^[45]

Influences and style of filmmaking[link]

In an awards ceremony in the Critics Choice Awards celebrating Tarantino, he said he got his start in filmmaking in his 20s. Music is an important part of his filmmaking style. He said he would listen to music in his bedroom and create scenes that correlated to the music playing.^[46]

In the 2002 Sight & Sound Directors' poll, Tarantino revealed his top-twelve films: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Rio Bravo; Taxi Driver; His Girl Friday; Rolling Thunder; They All Laughed; The Great Escape; Carrie; Coffy; Dazed and Confused; Five Fingers of Death; and Hi Diddle Diddle.^[47] In 2009, he named Kinji Fukasaku's violent action film Battle Royale as his favorite film released since he became a director in 1992.^[48]

In August 2007, while teaching a four-hour film course during the 9th Cinemanila International Film Festival in Manila, Tarantino cited Filipino directors Cirio Santiago, Eddie Romero, and Gerardo de León as personal icons from the 1970s,^[49] citing De Leon's "soul-shattering, life-extinguishing" movies on vampires and female bondage, particularly Women in Cages. "It is just harsh, harsh, harsh," he said, and described the final shot as one of "devastating despair".^[49] Upon his arrival in the Philippines, Tarantino was quoted in the local newspaper as saying, 'I'm a big fan of RP [Republic of the Philippines] cinema.'

Actor Steve Buscemi has described Tarantino's different style of film making as "bursting with energy" and "focused,"^[50] a style that has earned him many accolades worldwide. According to Tarantino, a recurring hallmark in all his movies is that there is a different sense of humour in all his movies, which gets the audience to laugh at things that aren't funny.^[51] Michael Winner, whilst appearing on an episode of Piers Morgan's Life Stories (an ITV production), stated that Quentin Tarantino was a "big fan" of Death Wish.

Racial epithets in Tarantino's work[link]

Spike Lee questioned Tarantino's use of racial epithets in his films, particularly the racially offensive epithet, "nigger". In a Variety interview discussing Jackie Brown, Lee said: "I'm not against the word... and I use it, but Quentin is infatuated with the word. What does he want? To be made an honorary black man?"^[52] Tarantino responded on Charlie Rose by stating:

As a writer, I demand the right to write any character in the world that I want to write. I demand the right to be them, I demand the right to think them and I demand the right to tell the truth as I see they are, all right? And to say that I can't do that because I'm white, but the Hughes brothers can do that because they're black, that is racist. That is the heart of racism, all right. And I do not accept that ... That is how a segment of the black community that lives in Compton, lives in Inglewood, where Jackie Brown takes place, that lives in Carson, that is how they talk. I'm telling the truth. It would not be questioned if I was black, and I resent the question because I'm white. I have the right to tell the truth. I do not have the right to lie.^[53]

In addition, Tarantino retaliated on The Howard Stern Show by stating Lee would have to "stand on a chair to kiss my ass."^[54] Samuel L. Jackson, who has appeared in both directors' films, defended Tarantino's use of the word. At the Berlin Film Festival, where Jackie Brown was being screened, Jackson responded to Lee's criticism by saying:

I don't think the word is offensive in the context of this film ... Black artists think they are the only ones allowed to use the word. Well, that's bull. Jackie Brown is a wonderful homage to black exploitation films. This is a good film, and Spike hasn't made one of those in a few years.^[55]

Tarantino has defended his use of the word, arguing that black audiences have an appreciation of his blaxploitation-influenced films that eludes some of his critics, and, indeed, that Jackie Brown, another oft-cited example, was primarily made for "black audiences".^[56]

According to a 1995 Premiere magazine article, actor Denzel Washington also confronted Tarantino on his usage of racial slurs in his pictures, but mentioned that Tarantino was a "fine artist."^[57]

Recurring collaborators[link]

Actor	Reservoir Dogs	Pulp Fiction	Four Rooms	Jackie Brown	Kill Bill	Death Proof	Inglourious Basterds	Django Unchained
Michael Bacall						N	N	N
Zoe Bell					N	N	N
Michael Bowen				N	N
Steve Buscemi	N	N
Paul Calderón		N	N
Laura Cayouette					N			N
Omar Doom						N	N
Julie Dreyfus					N		N
Kathy Griffin		N	N
Sid Haig				N	N
Samuel L. Jackson		N		N	N		N	N
Harvey Keitel	N	N					N
Jonathan Loughran					N	N
Michael Madsen	N				N
James Parks					N	N		N
Michael Parks					N	N
Tina Rodriguez						N	N
Eli Roth						N	N
Tim Roth	N	N	N
David Steen	N							N
Bo Svenson					N		N
Uma Thurman		N			N
Christoph Waltz							N	N
Bruce Willis		N	N

Awards[link]

Tarantino in Paris at the César Awards 2011.

• Reservoir Dogs was given the Critic's Award at the 4th Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival in 1993.^[58]

• Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.^[59] The film was nominated for seven Oscars, winning one for Best Original Screenplay, which was shared jointly by Tarantino and co-writer Roger Avary.

• In 1996, Tarantino was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor in From Dusk till Dawn, but lost against Marlon Brando in The Island of Dr. Moreau.

• In 2005, Quentin Tarantino won the Icon of the Decade Award at the 10th Empire Awards.

• On August 15, 2007, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presented Tarantino with a lifetime achievement award at the Malacañang Palace in Manila.^[60]

• In 2009, his film Inglourious Basterds was nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, winning one for Best Supporting Actor.

• In March 2010, Tarantino was awarded the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic along with Lucy Liu and Andy Vajna for producing the 2006 movie Freedom's Fury.^[61]

• In February 2011, Tarantino received an honorary César from the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma.^[62]

Filmography[link]

Reception[link]

Critical[link]

See also[link]

• Quentin Tarantino Film Festival, a film festival in Austin, Texas hosted by Tarantino.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Greene, Richard; Mohammad, K. Silem, eds. (2007). Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy. Chicago: Open Court Books. ISBN 0-8126-9634-4 .
• Waxman, Sharon, ed. (2005). Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors and How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System. HarperEntertainment .

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (August 2011)

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Quentin Tarantino

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Main reference sites[link]

• Quentin Tarantino at the Internet Movie Database
• Quentin Tarantino at Rotten Tomatoes
• ReservoirWatchDogs.com Quentin Tarantino news blog / fan community
• Quentin Tarantino discography at Discogs
• Quentin Tarantino at Last.fm
• Quentin Tarantino on AnyClip

Interviews and essays[link]

• Collection of Quentin Tarantino interviews on YouTube at ReservoirWatchDogs.com
• Anatomy of a Tarantino Film at BrokenProjector
• FilmFocus Interview
• "I call the shots here" by Quentin Tarantino, March 4, 2007
• Remaking History: An Interview with Quentin Tarantino by Rene Rodriguez, August 18, 2009
• Quentin Tarantino: A Life in Pictures, filmed career retrospective by BAFTA, January 11, 2010
• Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez discuss their double feature, "Grindhouse", on Charlie Rose April 5, 2007
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being Cool: Appropriation and Prospects of Subversion in the Works of Quentin Tarantino
• 7 Stylistic Trademarks by Quentin Tarantino Thorough essay on the essential stylistic trademarks in each of Quentin Tarantino's films

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This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since July 2011.</li> The notability of this article's subject is in question. If notability cannot be established, it may be listed for deletion or removed. Tagged since August 2010.</li> Very few or no other articles link to it. Please help introduce links to this page from other articles related to it. Tagged since February 2009.</li>

Joel Gilbert (from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, born on April 15, 1964) is an American film director, writer, and foreign policy analyst. Through his production company, Highway 61 Entertainment, Gilbert wrote and directed three political documentaries as well as music history related films. Gilbert's 2012 release "Dreams from My Real Father: A Story of Reds and Deception" makes the case that President Obama's real father was Frank Marshall Davis, a Communist Party USA propagandist who likely shaped Obama’s world view during his formative years. Gilbert says the film is "the first cohesive understanding of Obama's deep rooted life journey in socialism, from his childhood to his Presidency." Gilbert’s previous film, Atomic Jihad: Ahmadinejad's Coming War for Islamic Revival and Obama's Politics of Defeat (2010), was featured at the CPAC Conference in Washington D.C. and was a winning film at the Hudson Institute Film Festival in New York City on May 31, 2010. In 2008, Gilbert produced Farewell Israel: Bush, Iran and the Revolt of Islam (2008), a history of Islamic-Jewish relations from the 7th Century to today.

Music [link]

Gilbert performs in the Bob Dylan Tribute show, "Highway 61 Revisited." The group has toured in the USA, Ireland, England, and Europe. His bandmates include former Bob Dylan band members Scarlet Rivera (violin), Rob Stoner (bass), John Jackson (guitar) and Winston Watson (drums). Highway 61 Revisited toured California State Prisons in 2004 ("Take No Prisoners Tour"), the USA (Forever Young Tour 2005), Ireland and the United Kingdom in 2006 ("Rolling Thunder Revisited Tour"), and at the opening of the Bob Dylan exhibit at Experience Music Project in Seattle (2005). The band appears at festivals, casinos, night club and theatres in the USA and Canada, while performing at House of Blues venues regularly.

Education [link]

Joel Gilbert is a graduate of the University of London where he studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies and the London School of Economics (BA 1986). Gilbert has an MBA degree from George Washington University in Washington D.C. (1991). Gilbert is a contributing editor for the popular national security and foreign policy website familysecuritymatters.org, and appears as a regular foreign policy consultant on national radio and TV shows, including The Jerry Doyle Show and The Michael Reagan Show.

Films [link]

• "Dreams from My Real Father" (2012)
• "Bob Dylan Revealed" (2011)
• Paul McCartney Really Is Dead: The Last Testament of George Harrison (2010)
• Atomic Jihad: Ahmadinejad's Coming War and Obama's Politics of Defeat (2010)
• Bob Dylan Never Ending Tour Diaries: Drummer Winston Watson's Incredible Journey (2009)
• Inside Bob Dylan's Jesus Years: Busy Being Born... Again! (2008)
• Farewell Israel: Bush, Iran and The Revolt of Islam (2007)
• Bob Dylan 1966-1981: The Unauthorized Documentaries (2006 Box Set)
• Bob Dylan 1975-1981: Rolling Thunder and The Gospel Years (2006)
• Bob Dylan World Tours 1966-1974: Through the Camera of Barry Feinstein (2005)
• Bob Dylan 1966 World Tour, The Home Movies: Through the Camera of Mickey Jones (2003)

Books [link]

• Low Angels: The Real Story of the Music Business (1995)
• The Acoustic Bob Dylan, His Music Styles and Guitar Techniques (1991)

Discography [link]

• Rolling Thunder and the Gospel Years Soundtrack (2006)
• Masters of Dylan (2005)
• The World’s Only Bob Dylan Tribute Band (2001)

References[link]

External links [link]

• Highway61ent.com
• www.obamasrealfather.com
• bobdylanrevealed.com
• paulreallyisdead.com
• atomicjihad.com
• bobdylandiaries.com
• bobdylanjesus.com
• Farewellisrael.com
• Highway61revisited.com

Kevin Smith
Smith promoting Red State at Midtown Comics Grand Central in Manhattan, March 4, 2011.
Born	Kevin Patrick Smith (1970-08-02) August 2, 1970 (age 41) Red Bank, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Director, screenwriter, producer, actor, comedian, author, podcaster
Years active	1994–present
Spouse	Jennifer Schwalbach Smith (1999–present)

Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob. Although primarily known for the View Askew film series, Smith also wrote, directed and produced films such as the buddy cop action comedy Cop Out, as well as the horror film Red State. His first several films were mostly set in his home state of New Jersey, and while not strictly sequential, they frequently feature crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon in what is known by fans as the "View Askewniverse", named after his production company View Askew Productions, which he co-founded with Scott Mosier.

Smith is also the owner of Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash comic book and novelty store in Red Bank, New Jersey. He co-hosts several weekly podcasts that are recorded at various locations around the world and released on SModcast Internet Radio. Smith is well known for participating in long, humorous Q&A sessions that are often filmed for DVD release, beginning with An Evening with Kevin Smith.^[1]

Early life[link]

Kevin Smith was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, the son of Grace (née Schultz), a homemaker, and Donald E. Smith (1936–2003), a postal worker.^[2][3][4] He has an older sister, Virginia, and an older brother, Donald Smith, Jr. He was raised in a Catholic household,^[5][6] and attended Henry Hudson Regional High School in Highlands.^[7][8]

Career[link]

As a filmmaker[link]

In an interview with Robert K. Elder for The Film That Changed My Life, Smith attributes the film Slacker as his main inspiration to becoming a director.

It was the movie that got me off my ass; it was the movie that lit a fire under me, the movie that made me think, “Hey, I could be a filmmaker.” And I had never seen a movie like that before ever in my life.^[9]

His first film, Clerks, was shot for the sum total of $27,575 in the convenience store where Smith worked. It went to the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, where it won the Filmmaker's Trophy and was picked up by Miramax before the festival's end. In May 1994, it went to the Cannes International Film Festival where it won both the Prix de la Jeunesse and the International Critics' Week Prize. Released in October 1994 in two cities, the film went on to play in 50 markets, never playing on more than fifty screens at any given time. Despite the limited release, it was a critical and financial success, earning $3.1 million.^[10] Initially, the film received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, solely for the graphic language. Miramax hired Alan Dershowitz to defend the film, and at an appeals screening, a jury consisting of members of the National Association of Theater Owners reversed the MPAA's decision, and the film was given an R rating instead.

Smith's second film, Mallrats, did not fare as well as expected after the remarkable success of Clerks. It received a critical drubbing and earned merely $2.2 million at the box office, despite playing on more than 500 screens. The film marked Jason Lee's debut as a leading man. Despite failing at the box office during its theatrical run, Mallrats proved more successful in the home video market.

Widely hailed as Smith's best film, Chasing Amy marked what Quentin Tarantino called "a quantum leap forward" for Smith. Starring Mallrats alumni Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams and Ben Affleck, the $250,000 film earned $12 million at the box office and wound up on a number of critics' year-end best lists, and won two Independent Spirit Awards (screenplay and supporting actor for Lee).

In 1996, Smith worked on a script for a Superman movie. He did a couple of drafts but his script was dropped when Tim Burton was hired to direct. Burton brought his own people to work on the project. Smith still sees the whole experience on working on the Superman project as a positive one however; he has said that he was well paid and it was a lot of fun. (In April, 2009, Smith discussed his Superman experiences at Clark University—a YouTube video critic A.O. Scott of the New York Times called "extraordinary."^[11]) In the end, neither Smith's nor Burton's vision for Superman was filmed. In the 2007 Direct-to-DVD animation release of Superman: Doomsday, Smith has a cameo as an onlooker in a crowd. After Superman defeats The Toyman's giant mechanical robot, Smith scoffs, "Yeah, like we really needed him to defeat that giant spider. Heh. Lame!" This was a reference to a giant spider that producer Jon Peters wanted Smith to put in the Superman movie when he was attached, that was later put into the 1999 feature film flop Wild Wild West, which Peters also produced.

In 1997, Smith was hired by New Line to rewrite Overnight Delivery, which was expected to be a blockbuster teen movie. Smith's then-girlfriend Joey Lauren Adams almost took the role of Ivy in the movie, instead of the female lead in Chasing Amy. Eventually she lost out to Reese Witherspoon, and Overnight Delivery was quietly released directly to video in April 1998. Kevin Smith's involvement with the film was revealed on-line,^[12] but he remains uncredited. He has said that the only scene which really used his dialogue was the opening scene, which includes a reference to long-time Smith friend Bryan Johnson.^[12]

Smith's fourth film, Dogma, featured an all-star cast and found itself mired in controversy. The religious-themed 1999 comedy, which starred a post-Good Will Hunting Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, as well as Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, George Carlin, Alan Rickman, Linda Fiorentino, and Smith regulars Jason Lee and Jason Mewes, raised criticism by the Catholic League.^[13][14][15]

Smith at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

The film debuted at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, out of competition. Released on 800 screens in November 1999, the $10 million film earned $30 million.

Smith then focused the spotlight on two characters who had appeared in supporting roles in his previous four films, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back featured an all-star cast, with many familiar faces returning from Smith's first four films. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon appear as themselves filming a mock sequel to Good Will Hunting. The $20 million film earned $30 million at the box office and received mixed reviews from the critics.

In 2004, Smith wrote a screenplay for a new film version of The Green Hornet, and announced prematurely that he had originally intended to direct as well.^[16] The project, however died after the film was placed into turn around following the poor box office of Jersey Girl. Smith's screenplay was turned into a Green Hornet comic book miniseries.^[17]

Jersey Girl with Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, George Carlin and Raquel Castro, his first outside of the View Askewniverse, was meant to mark a new direction in Smith's career. However, the film took a critical beating as it was seen as, in Smith's own words, "Gigli 2", due to the fact that it co-starred Affleck and his then-girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez. Despite Smith heavily re-editing the film to reduce Lopez's role to just a few scenes, the film did poorly at the box office. Budgeted at $35 million, it earned only $36 million.

In the 2006 sequel, Clerks II, Smith revisited the Dante and Randal characters from his first film for what was his final visit to the View Askewniverse. Roundly criticized before its release, the film went on to win favorable reviews as well as two awards (the Audience Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Orbit Dirtiest Mouth Award at the MTV Movie Awards).^[18] It marked Smith's third trip to the Cannes International Film Festival, where Clerks II received an eight minute standing ovation.^[19] The $5 million film, starring Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Halloran, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes, Jennifer Schwalbach and Smith himself – reprising his role as Silent Bob – earned $25 million.

That same year, Smith was featured in This Film Is Not Yet Rated, a 2006 documentary about the Motion Picture Association of America process of rating films. Smith's interview was in reference to Jersey Girl receiving an R rating,^[20] and Clerks originally receiving an NC-17 rating.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno was originally announced in March 2006 as Smith's second non-Askewniverse comedy.^[21] The film, which began shooting on January 18, 2008 in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, and wrapped on March 15, 2008, stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as the title characters who decide to make a low-budget pornographic film to solve their money problems. The film, which was released on October 31, 2008, ran into many conflicts getting an "R" rating, with Rogen stating:

Smith took the film through the MPAA's appeals process and received the R rating, without having to make any further edits.^[23] Zack and Miri Make a Porno was considered a box office "flop"^[24][25] in part because of "tepid media advertising for a movie with the title PORNO",^[24] and, in the aftermath of the film's "flaccid" performance, the business relationship between Smith and producer Harvey Weinstein became "frayed".^[26]

It was announced in 2009 that Smith had signed on to direct a buddy-cop comedy starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan called A Couple of Dicks and written by the Cullen Brothers.^[27] Due to controversy surrounding the original title, it was changed to A Couple of Cops,^[28] before reverting back its original title, A Couple of Dicks, due to negative reaction,^[29] before finally settling on the title Cop Out.^[30] The film, which was shot between June and August 2009, involved a pair of veteran cops tracking down a stolen vintage baseball card,^[31] and was released on February 26, 2010 to poor reviews; it was the first film that Smith has directed but not written. With a worldwide domestic gross of $55,583,804, Cop Out is Smith's highest grossing film to date.^[32]

In September 2010, Smith started work on Red State, an independently-financed horror film inspired by the Westboro Baptist Church and their Pastor Fred Phelps.^[33][34][35] In February 2010, he talked about his project with Cinssu,^[36][37] Film producers and moguls Bob and Harvey Weinstein who had thus far been involved in the distribution of most of Smith's films, with the exception of Mallrats and Cop Out, declined to support Red State.^{[38][39][40][41][42]} The film stars Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo and Stephen Root. Smith had indicated that he would auction off rights to the $4 million film at a controversial event following the debut screening of the film at Sundance but instead, kept the rights to the film himself with plans to self-distribute the picture "under the SModcast Pictures" banner. The film was released via Video on Demand on September 1, 2011 through Lionsgate, will be released in select theaters again for a special one-night only engagement on September 25, 2011 (via SModcast Pictures), and was released on home video October 18, 2011.^[43][44] Kevin Smith listed Mel Gibson as a role-model he looked up to, and his inspiration, for how he planned to distribute this movie, citing Gibson's The Passion of the Christ as an example of a successfully self-distributed movie.^[45] He further explained his decision as a way to return to an era when marketing a film did not cost four times as much as the film itself, a situation he has described as "both decadent and deadening".^[46] The film was released in January 2011. The premiere drew protests from a half-dozen members of the church, along with many more who counter-protested Westboro members.^[47]

Smith will direct a hockey drama-comedy based on the song "Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)" by Warren Zevon. The song, which is about a hockey player famous for fighting in the rink, was co-written by Tuesdays With Morrie author Mitch Albom, who is working with Smith on the film.^[48]

Although Smith had previously mentioned other projects he had planned,^[49][50][51] he announced at the Sundance premiere of Red State that Hit Somebody will be the last movie he ever directs, and that he will continue to tell stories in other media.^[52][53] In August Hit Somebody was announced as a two part film titled Hit Somebody: Home and Hit Somebody: Away with part one being PG-13 and part 2 being Rated R,^[54] but later decided to make it one movie and hopes to premiere it at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.^[55]

Smith further explained his retirement from directing, citing distribution politics, and the manner in which making films like Zack and Miri "adulterated" his own identity as a filmmaker, saying, "I don’t have the same passion for it I used to. I don’t have any stories left to tell." Smith further emphasized that he sees himself as a writer rather than a director, and that Harvey Weinstein developed his career as a celebrity auteur because "my films were never strong enough to stand up on their own."^[46]

Comics and magazines[link]

Smith has been a regular contributor to Arena magazine. In 2005, Miramax Books released Smith's first book, Silent Bob Speaks, a collection of previously published essays (most from Arena) dissecting pop culture, the movie business, and Smith's personal life. His second book, My Boring-Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith, published by Titan Books, was another collection of previously published essays (this time blogs from Smith's website www.silentbobspeaks.com) and reached No. 32 on the New York Times Best Sellers List.^[56] Titan released Smith's third book Shootin' the Sh*t with Kevin Smith: The Best of the SModcast on September 29, 2009.^[57]

Smith at the 2008 Comic-Con convention

A life-long comic book fan, Smith's early forays into comic books dealt with previously established View Askew characters, and were published by Oni Press. He wrote a short Jay and Silent Bob story about Walt Flanagan's dog in Oni Double Feature No. 1, and followed it with a Bluntman and Chronic story in Oni Double Feature #12. He followed these with a series of Clerks comics. The first was simply Clerks: The Comic Book, which told of Randal's attempts to corner the market on Star Wars toys. The second was Clerks: Holiday Special, where Dante and Randal discover that Santa Claus lives in an apartment between the Quick Stop and RST Video. Third was Clerks: The Lost Scene, showing what happened inside Poston's Funeral Parlor. This story was later animated in the TV series style and included as an extra on the 10th Anniversary Clerks DVD.

Smith then wrote the mini-series Chasing Dogma, which tells the story of Jay and Silent Bob between the films Chasing Amy and Dogma. He has also written the trade paperback Bluntman and Chronic, published by Image, which purports to be a collection of the three issues of the series done by Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards (of Chasing Amy). It includes a color reprinting of the story from Oni Double Feature No. 12, purported to be an early appearance by Chasing Amy characters Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards. These stories have all been collected in Tales From the Clerks (Graphitti Designs, ISBN 0-936211-78-4), which also includes a new "Clerks" story tying in to the Clerks 2 material, and the story from Oni Double Feature #1. They were previously collected by Image Comics in three separate volumes, one each for Clerks, Chasing Dogma and Bluntman and Chronic. In 1999, Smith won a Harvey Award, for Best New Talent in comic books.^[58]

In 1999, Smith wrote "Guardian Devil", an eight-issue story arc of Daredevil for Marvel Comics, which was illustrated by Joe Quesada. Kevin Smith followed this by producing a 15-issue tenure on Green Arrow for DC Comics that saw the return of Oliver Queen from the dead and the introduction of Mia Dearden, a teenage girl who would become Speedy after Smith's run had ended.

Smith returned to Marvel for two mini-series: Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do and Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target, both of which debuted in 2002. The former was six issues long, but after the third issue was published two months after the initially scheduled release date, the final issues were delayed for at least three years, prompting Marvel to release an "in case you missed it" reprinting of the first three issues as one book prior to the remaining issues' release. The delay in part was due to Smith's movie production schedule (in this case, work on Jersey Girl and Clerks II) causing him to shelve completion of the mini-series until the films were completed. He was announced as the writer of an ongoing Black Cat series^[59] and The Amazing Spider-Man^[60][61] in early to mid-2002. However, because of the delays on Evil That Men Do and The Target, the plan was switched so that Smith would start a third Spider-Man title,^[62] launched in 2004 by Mark Millar instead. While Spider-Man/Black Cat was ultimately completed in 2005, Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target remains unfinished, with one issue published.

Smith wrote the limited series Batman: Cacophony, with art by friend Walt Flanagan, which ran from November 2008 to January 2009. As announced at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, the series featured the villains Onomatopoeia (a character created by Smith during his run at Green Arrow), The Joker, Maxie Zeus, and Victor Zsasz.^[63] The trade paperback of Batman: Cacophony became a New York Times Bestseller in their Hardcover Graphic Books section.^[64]

In 2010 Smith subsequently wrote a six-issue Batman mini-series called The Widening Gyre for DC, and a Green Hornet story for Dynamite Entertainment, the latter of which was based on an unused script he wrote for a Green Hornet film project that never came to fruition.^[17][65]

In August 2011, Dynamite Entertainment debuted The Bionic Man by Smith, which was based on a 1998 script he wrote that was rejected by Universal as being "more like a comic book than a movie."^[66]

Television[link]

In 2000, Smith and Mosier teamed up with television writer David Mandel to develop an animated television show based on Clerks. called Clerks: The Animated Series that aired on ABC in May 2000. It aired only two episodes before being canceled as a result of poor ratings. The six produced episodes were released on DVD in 2001.

During the mid-1990s Smith directed and starred in a series of commercials for MTV, alongside Jason Mewes, in which they reprised their roles as Jay & Silent Bob. In 1998 he directed best friend Jason Mewes as "Gary Lamb – Ground Activist" in a series of Nike commercials. That same year, he also shot commercials for Diet Coke. Two years later, he directed "Star Wars" toy commercials for Hasbro. He has also directed^[67] and starred^[68] in commercials for Panasonic. In 2004 he also shot a public service announcement for the Declare Yourself organization.^[69] These advertisements brought Jay and Silent Bob out of their "semi-retirement."

On February 27, 2002 Kevin released a short film for The Tonight Show called "The Flying Car".

Kevin appears in and produces the unscripted series Comic Book Men which is set inside Smith's comic book shop Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey. The first season ran for six one-hour episodes,^[70] the premiere of which aired on February 12, 2012, following the return of The Walking Dead's second season on AMC.^[71] On May 9, AMC announced that Comic Book Men was renewed for a second season of 16 half-hour episodes.^[72]

Acting roles and other appearances[link]

As an actor, Smith is known for his role as Silent Bob in Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, and Clerks II. He made a cameo appearance in the horror film Scream 3, and was featured along with Jason Mewes in several Degrassi: The Next Generation episodes, including a special, "Jay and Silent Bob Do Degrassi" (also as a fictional version of himself).

Smith also appeared in an mtvU show titled Sucks Less With Kevin Smith. The show gives college students ideas for things to do on the weekends. Smith also played the role of Paul, a cynical divorced man, in a Showtime television series pilot, "Manchild", filmed in December 2006. However, it was not picked up by the network.^[73]

From 1995 to 1997, Smith played small roles in the View Askew movies Drawing Flies, Vulgar, and Big Helium Dog.

In 2001, he appeared in friend Jeff Anderson's Now You Know. After an August 2001 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to promote Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Smith returned to the show for monthly segments as a correspondent. The "Roadside Attractions" segments featured Smith traveling to random locations around the country and showcased places like Howe Caverns in upstate New York and the Fish Market in Seattle. While five of these segments were included on the Jersey Girl DVD, at least twelve were aired on the actual show. Smith regularly appeared on the program to introduce the pre-taped pieces.

In 2003, Smith appeared in a cameo role as coroner Jack Kirby in the film Daredevil. In 2006, he voiced the Moose in the CGI cartoon Doogal.

In early 2005, Smith appeared in three episodes of the Canadian-made teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation. In the episodes, Smith, portraying a fictionalized version of himself, visited the school to work on the (fictional) film Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh! Smith wrote all his dialogue for the shows he appeared in. All three episodes were collected on a DVD entitled Jay and Silent Bob Do Degrassi. Smith and Mewes also appeared in two more episodes the following season, when they returned to Degrassi for the Toronto premiere of the fictional Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh! movie.

From July 2006 on, Smith has guest reviewed on Ebert & Roeper, in place of Roger Ebert, who was recovering from thyroid cancer treatment. These spots have been notable for the arguments between Smith and Richard Roeper over certain films, with Smith often citing Roeper's poor review of Jersey Girl to discredit his review of the film at hand. On his most recent appearance, Smith compared Craig Brewer's Black Snake Moan to the works of William Faulkner.

In addition to appearing on Degrassi: The Next Generation, Smith is an avid fan of the original Degrassi series, Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High and references to the original are present in some of his early films. He also appeared in the 2009 made for TV movie Degrassi Goes Hollywood.

Smith directed the pilot for The CW Television Network show Reaper. TV.com's summary of the show is "A twenty-something slacker finally scores a job as the devil's bounty hunter." He describes it as "less Brimstone or Dead Like Me and more like Shaun of the Dead than anything else". He went on to say that the reason he took the job was that he has always wanted to direct something he did not write, but never had an interest in doing it on the big screen.

At the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Smith would write and direct an episode of the Heroes spin-off, Heroes: Origins,^[74] but the project was canceled because of the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike. That year, Smith appeared in a number of films. He co-starred as Sam in the film Catch and Release, starring Jennifer Garner.^[75] Later that year, he appeared as a hacker called The Warlock in the fourth installment of the Die Hard franchise, Live Free or Die Hard.^[76] At year's end, he appeared briefly in friend and fellow writer-director Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, in which he played the legless conspiracy theorist General Simon Theory. That same year, Smith also did voicework for the CGI film TMNT as a diner chef. He was also seen as Rusty (a friend of lead Jason Mewes) in Bottoms Up with co-star Paris Hilton.

Smith has also cameoed in the second season premiere of the sitcom Joey, where he played himself, on an episode of Law & Order in 2000 (episode "Black, White and Blue"), Duck Dodgers (2003 as Hal Jordan, voice only) and Yes, Dear (2004, as himself and Silent Bob). Smith appeared in the second episode of season two of Veronica Mars, playing a store clerk. He stated on his Web site that Veronica Mars is some of the best television work ever produced.^[77] Additionally, he appeared as Silent Bob in an episode of Yes, Dear, standing while smoking a cigarette as the end credits rolled.

Smith has appeared in five Q&A documentaries: An Evening with Kevin Smith, An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder and Sold Out: A Threevening with Kevin Smith. The fourth installment, Kevin Smith: Too Fat for 40 was broadcast on epix on October 23, 2010. The fifth Q&A, Kevin Smith: Burn in Hell also broadcast on Epix beginning February 11, 2012. The first is a collection of filmed appearances at American colleges, while the sequel was shot at two Q&A shows held in Toronto and London. The third and fourth were filmed in Red Bank, New Jersey at the Count Basie Theater on Smith's 37th and 40th birthdays, respectively. The fifth was filmed in Austin, Texas at the Paramount Theater. The first two DVD sets were released by Sony Home Video, while the third was put out by the Weinstein Company. Smith appears with Marvel Comics guru Stan Lee in Marvel Then & Now: An Evening With Stan Lee and Joe Quesada, hosted by Kevin Smith. The film is similar in tone to the Evening with Kevin Smith series. Proceeds from the sale of the film benefit The Hero Initiative, a charitable organization that aids ill or aging comic book creators.^[78]

Public appearances[link]

Smith's longest Q&A session took place April 2, 2005, at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey.^[79] The sold-out event was over seven hours long, took place from 8 pm through 3 am (which due to daylight saving time, was actually 4 am). Following the Q&A, he opened Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash for a meet-and-greet with the numerous remaining audience members, which ended around 6:30 am. Smith then hopped a plane and did another Q&A at the Raue Center For The Arts in Crystal Lake, Illinois, that night. Planned for two hours, it lasted just over five hours, ending a little after 1 am Central time.^[80]

In 2009 Smith made a sold out appearance at Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House in 2010.^[81][82]

On the Internet[link]

On February 5, 2007, Smith and Scott Mosier began SModcast, a regular comedy podcast. SModcast has since spawned into a podcast network called the SModcast podcast network which began in 2010, it's own digital radio station called SModcast Internet Radio (S.I.R) in 2011 and an internet television channel SModCo Internet Television (S.I.T.) in 2012

Smith has a website, The View Askewniverse, which opened in late 1995. He also has an online blog, "My Boring-Ass Life", the contents of which were published in a book by the same name. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back's fictional website MoviePoopShoot.com became real in 2002. It became Quick Stop Entertainment and was the home of SModcast until it was sold and SModcast moved to a dedicated website SModcast.com, which also carries the other SModcast network podcasts in early 2010.

Secret Stash[link]

Smith owns and operates Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey, a comic book store largely dedicated to merchandise related to his films and comics. The current location is its second. The store was moved to a defunct ice cream parlor on Broad St. after Smith sold the Monmouth St. property. The New Jersey location is managed by Smith's long time friend Walt Flanagan, who appears frequently in Smith's films. A second Secret Stash in the Westwood section of Los Angeles was opened in September 2004 and was managed by long-time associate Bryan Johnson, who has appeared in Smith's films as Steve-Dave.^[83] Smith had announced that he would close after his lease expired and Johnson wanted to resign, but eventually relocated to Laser Blazer, a DVD store in Los Angeles.^[84] In January 2009 the West Coast Store closed, leaving the east coast store as Smith's only operating store.

Controversies[link]

2010 Southwest Airlines incident[link]

On February 13, 2010, Kevin Smith was on board a Southwest Airlines flight in Oakland bound for Burbank when he was removed from the plane, allegedly over concerns he was too obese to fly safely.^[85] Per Smith, he was able to put both armrests down in accordance with Southwest Airlines policy, and both passengers on either side did not object to his presence. Smith was then removed from the flight after being told he was a safety concern. After being booked on a later flight and being offered a $100 Southwest Airlines voucher, which he turned down, Smith lashed out at Southwest Airlines on his Twitter account.

Southwest Airlines representatives later released two statements regarding the incident via their blog.^[86] In the first statement, Southwest claimed that Mr. Smith "has been known to (...) purchase two Southwest seats" and cited its "Customer of Size" policy which requires that customers who cannot put their armrests down purchase two seats. In his podcast, Smith stated that he regularly purchased two seats, and had done so the previous week, because he preferred not having to sit next to anyone, not due to his size. In releasing this statement, Southwest disclosed Smith's personal travel details without his permission. The first statement also claimed that the flight captain has personally determined that Smith was too large to fly. In its second statement, Southwest contradicted this claim, stating that the captain had not singled out Smith.^[87]

Smith later released an entire episode of SModcast devoted to the subject, giving a lengthy description of the incident, in which he claimed that he had been able to lower the armrests completely and comfortably and claimed to have been repeatedly lied to by airline personnel. He also referred to the airline as the "Greyhound of the Air" and vowed to never fly the airline again.^[88]

In his podcast, Smith stated that on his return flight a large female passenger was told to ask him if it was all right that she was sitting next to an empty seat he had bought between them, and it was suggested by Southwest staffers that she may need to purchase an additional seat due to her size, even though she had been placed next to an already-purchased empty seat. She was also the subject of an episode of SModcast.^[89]

Smith also released 24 video statements on YouTube further describing the incident.^[90] A year after the incident, the media reported that he had lost 65 pounds through controlled diet and regular exercise, including walking up and down a hill near his home in the Hollywood Hills,^[52] but Smith refuted this notion, saying that he had simply put on more weight and then lost it.^[91]

[edit] Cop Out controversy

A talent rep associated with the production of Cop Out reported conflicts on set between Smith and Bruce Willis, saying of Smith, "He smokes way too much pot. He sat behind his monitor. He didn't interact with the actors. The actors felt they were on their own."^[92] Smith defended his use of marijuana while working, claiming "I dealt with every actor who wanted to be dealt with on that set" and pointed to the amount of projects he worked on while making Cop Out to counter claims he was unproductive because of marijuana.^[93] Smith admitted in an interview that heavy marijuana-smoking had become an integral part of his work ethic after claiming that he watched actor Seth Rogen on the set of Zack and Miri Make a Porno use marijuana as a tool to become a more creative and "productive" worker, saying "The moment I start smoking, I start working. ... That way, no one could ever take it away from you."^[94]

In response to the critical drubbing his 2010 film Cop Out received, Kevin Smith lashed out at the community of film critics on his Twitter account saying, "Writing a nasty review for Cop Out is akin to bullying a retarded kid. All you’ve done is make fun of something that wasn't doing you any harm and wanted only to give some cats some fun laughs."^[96][97] Smith also implied on Twitter that he may charge critics for advance screenings of his films, a service which has typically been provided free; this subsequently ignited a strong response from some critics condemning his stance as "dishonest" and "disingenuous".^[96]

Personal life[link]

Smith is married to Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, and photographed her for the magazine Playboy. Their daughter, Harley Quinn, was born June 26, 1999, and was named after the character from Batman: The Animated Series, who was created by friend and fellow writer Paul Dini.^[98] They live in the Hollywood Hills,^[52] in a house Smith purchased from longtime friend Ben Affleck in 2003.^[99]

Although Smith was raised Catholic, he has said on "Back to the Well", the Clerks II documentary, that now he only goes to Mass on the day before he starts production of a movie, and the day before it premieres. He never smoked until his debut film, Clerks, in which he used the cigarettes as a prop, but never actually inhaled. In fact, he has said that prior to filming Clerks, he was a staunch non-smoker.^[100] He quit smoking cigarettes in 2008 after taking up smoking cannabis. Smith only began smoking pot at age 38 after working with Seth Rogen on Zack and Miri Make a Porno.^[101]

Kevin Smith is a hockey fan and loyal New Jersey Devils fan. Smith has also expressed an admiration for his second-favorite team, the Edmonton Oilers.^[102]

Filmography[link]

Recognition[link]

Bibliography[link]

Books[link]

Books by Smith include:

• Silent Bob Speaks (2005)
• My Boring Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith (2007)
• Shootin' the Sh*t with Kevin Smith (2009)
• Tough Shit: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good (2012)

Comics[link]

• Daredevil: Guardian Devil (with Joe Quesada, Marvel Comics, 1998–1999)
• Green Arrow: Quiver (with Phil Hester, DC Comics, 2001–2002)
• Green Arrow: Sounds of Violence (with Phil Hester, DC Comics, 2002)
• Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do (with Terry Dodson, Marvel Comics, 2002, 2005–2006)
• Batman: Cacophony (with Walt Flanagan, DC Comics, 2008–2009)
• Batman: The Widening Gyre (with Walt Flanagan, DC Comics, 2009–2012)
• Green Hornet (with Jonathan Lau, Dynamite Entertainment, 2010)
• The Bionic Man (with Jonathan Lau, Phil Hester, Dynamite Entertainment, 2011–2012)

Trade paperback introductions:

• Hitman: 10,000 Bullets (by Garth Ennis, DC Comics, 1996)
• Preacher: Until the End of the World (by Garth Ennis, Vertigo Comics, 1995)

References[link]