Kevin Smith Reveals He's Writing a New 'Jay and Silent Bob' Movie (Exclusive)
We spoke to Kevin Smith about the new film he's developing and his important L.A. Comic Con panel.
Kevin Smith will be bringing back the fictional duo Jay and Silent Bob for another movie. PopCulture.com exclusively spoke to the 53-year-old director, actor, producer and screenwriter, and he said another Jay and Silent Bob film is in the works.
"Right now as we speak, I'm writing another Jay and Silent Bob movie," Smith told PopCulture. For me and Jay we always kind of have fun doing those and stuff, so I lost a bet with him. And so I'm writing another Jay and Bob movie." Smith is referring to Jason Mewes who plays Jay in the movies. The duo first appeared in the 1994 film Clerks which was Smith's directorial debut. From there, Jay and Silent Bob would star in Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks II, Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie!, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot and Clerks II which came out last year. The characters have also appeared in multiple television shows, comic books and music videos.
As Smith works on the script for the new Jay and Silent Bob film, he's speaking out on something important to him. On Sunday, Smith attended L.A. Comic Con to moderate a panel called The Art of Hope: Cancer and Comics, On and off the Page. The panel includes a mix of creatives in the comics industry who are cancer survivors as well as leading health experts. Smith was joined by Christina Annunziata MD, Ph.D. who is the Senior Vice President, Extramural Discovery Science of the American Cancer Society; Marisa Acocella who is a cartoonist for the New Yorker and breast cancer survivor; and Jason Diaz who is an ambassador of Stand up to Cancer and stomach cancer survivor. The panel is all in support of Cancer Screen Week (Dec. 4 – Dec. 8), a joint effort between the American Cancer Society, Genentech, Optum, and Stand Up To Cancer.
"I've never gone through cancer personally, but of course, cancer touches my life like it touches everybody," Smith said. "It's everywhere, pervasive, of course. And so folks that survive a physical trial, I had a massive heart attack a couple of years ago. You come out the other end if you make it and you are on fire creatively. So we figure since it's Cancer Screen Week, this would be a great way to kick it off by bringing together some folks who share that in common, the love of comics and being cancer survivors at the same time."
Smith also mentioned the comic book character's cancer story that stood out to him. "I mean, it's crazy that a character like Deadpool has become so mainstream with a deep cancer origin in his background," Smith said. "But for me, I grew up in the era of the death of Captain Marvel, which was one of the most sobering comic stories ever written and brave because it did touch on cancer, which has been with us always, of course. But it felt like in the '80s, there was an explosion, '80s and '90s, and at least maybe that's because people started addressing it as opposed to keeping it quiet. Folks who are brave enough to be like, 'Look, it's a reality. I've lived through it. Let's discuss it.' And they bring it into their art as well. And so the death of Captain Marvel is one of the first times we saw that in comic books. And comic books have always tackled issues historically since their inception. This is one of the first most memorable times that has tackled the big C."