Our friends at NewsAskew have some exciting news for Kevin Smith Fans. The Clerks director has signed on to direct an episode of Battlestar Galactica. I haven’t yet gotten into that series (although everyone of my friends has pushed it on me). But from I understand most of it is pretty talky, so it should better suit Smith’s talents. (I could be wrong, am I wrong?)
“I’m kind of stoked about. It’s cool, but it is scary because it is like, What the f-? I can’t bring anything to that show,” Smith told AOL TV. “That show is genius and they have a very distinctive visual style. But you are safe as a kitten. If you go in there and say, ‘I’m going to shoot everything in one big master shot,’ they’ll go, ‘No you’re not, because that is not what we do on ‘Battlestar Galactica.” I guess it is more about performance-oriented stuff, but at the same time that cast is top notch. How do you f-– direct Mary McDonnell?”
Smith also revealed that he will not only direct an episode of the Heroes spin-off show Heroes Origins, but he has also been given full creative control to write the episode and create the character.
“Yeah. Tim Kring was like, ‘You write and direct it dude. It is your world, you do what you want.’ That of course was appetizing as hell. Last week, I went in and pitched my story and every three minutes into my breakdown I was like, ‘Now mind you, you can say no at any time and put a nail in this because I realize it might not be your cup of tea,’ but they kind of went for it. It is very in keeping with what ‘Heroes’ is, but tonally it is different than what they normally do.”
I’m glad Kring and the Heroes producers understand that 60% of Smith is his incredible writing. I can’t wait.
August 25th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Battle Star Galactica?
Kevin Smith’s style is so different from that show… Are we going to get a lot of jokes about fraking? I can’t picture him directing BSG at all.
I’m looking forward to his Heroes Origins episode though :)
August 25th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
I haven’t really seen the show (note my warning to such in the story), but isn’t the show primarily dialogue and character based? That seems to be Kevin Smith’s nitche right?
August 26th, 2007 at 12:15 am
Man, I enjoy Kevin Smith’s dialogue and characterizations within the context of the worlds he creates, but I really, really hope he takes different contexts and different plotlines into account when writing episodes for two of my favorite shows. He’s been given governance over a precious gift, and I hope to the idea of a god that he’s able to restrain himself and create pieces that can exist within the cannons of the respective shows, instead of episodes we all write off as novelties to boost viewership, only to be ultimately ignored later in the season.
Point being, I hope he seeks outside perspectives and scraps several drafts before committing anything to production.
August 26th, 2007 at 8:08 am
I admit, I got sick of the New Jersey films towards the end; the amount of toilet humor seemed to eclipse everything else. But I think the commenters above that are worried you’re going to see a “Clerks in Space” aren’t quite aware of Kevin Smith’s interests (Smith is a huge Comic and Science Fiction geek) and other creative output.
Beyond the New Jersey movies, Kevin wrote an amazing script for a Superman movie, one that was ultimately scrapped because Tim Robbins wanted something “darker” and more like the Batman movies he had directed. Kevin has also written for DC comics, with a superb run on Green Arrow. He’s far from the one-dimensional writer/director.
Between this and his comments above, I’m expecting we will see some great episodes of both shows.
August 26th, 2007 at 9:59 am
What’s a nitche? But seriously, as stated earlier, Kevin has some serious roots in comic culture, which are some of the influences of both Battlestar and Heroes, so he should excel with both. Is this a product of someone being pleased with the Reaper pilot?
August 26th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
“Heroes” I can see. I stopped watching the show halfway through when I realized that it wasn’t going to become anything more than a cheesy rehash of comic cliches that were better done elsewhere.
He doesn’t have the range and certainly lacks the visual talent to get away with “Battlestar” though. Here’s hoping that the deal falls through or his directorial effort for the show is heavily supervised by Moore or Eick or someone.
August 26th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
I’m not familiar w/Battlestar Gallactica either, though I am pumped about Kevin Smith doing Heroes. He not only did Green Arrow for DC, but he did several pieces for Marvel Comics. His Daredevil: Guardian Devil was incredible, and not at all like his work on Clerks (though I do love that too) for example.
November 18th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Nice
December 6th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
industry bollocks heros rule
December 27th, 2007 at 4:45 am
Nice!