Kevin Smith Planning TV Show, Building Theatre In Los Angeles, Red State Shooting In August

Kevin Smith has been very busy since the release of Cop Out. He's planning a television special, building a theatre in Los Angeles, and will begin shooting his horror film Red State in August. Full details after the jump.

I've always been a huge fan of Kevin Smith's question and answer specials. Love or hate the man's movies, you'll agree that he sure knows how to tell a funny and compelling story on stage. His three "An Evening With Kevin Smith" DVD releases are a testament to that. It now looks like the filmmaker is planning the next one for television. Smith tells E! Online (found via BleedingCool):

I've been very blessed, and I've been celebrated by a bunch of people many times over the years. So much so that the idea of throwing myself a birthday party just to be like, "I'm 40, motherf–kers!" just feels, for me, kind of gauche. Instead we are going to tape a TV show. I've done three DVDs of An Evening with Kevin Smith and the next one we're doing for TV.

But will the stories have the same magic without the vulgarity? Or is the television special being planned for premium cable: HBO, Showtime...etc? In the same interview Smith claims that his horror film Red State will finally begin shooting in August:

Red State is what we're shooting in August. It's a political horror movie, essentially. We're still casting right now, but I don't want to cast anybody that anybody knows because that takes you right out of the flick. The idea is what's going to sell the movie.

And while this isn't exactly recent recent news, we haven't yet reported it on the site: Smith is also leasing and fixing up a theater space in Los Angeles. The 60-seat venue is being called the SmodCastle, and will host live tapings of Smith's weekly podcast Smodcast, live commentary screenings, pre-screenings of upcoming flicks, hockey shootouts and comedy shows. Smodcastle will be located at 6268 Santa Monica Blvd. Not too far away from /Film headquarters. I'll definitely be checking this out once it opens.

Here is a recent look at the outside:

And here is a not-so-recent look at the interior, before the fix-up: