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Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American screenwriter, film director and comic book writer.
His movies are known for their distinctive vision and dialogue, but are sometimes criticized for crude humor, limited attention to plot development, and technical amateurishness. Smith's films are often set in his home state of New Jersey and stuffed with pop culture references, particularly to comic books and the Star Wars movies. All of his movies, except his most recent, 2004's Jersey Girl, take place in the "View Askew Universe" and feature appearances from small time dope-dealers Jay and Silent Bob, the latter of which is played by Smith himself.
Smith was born and raised in Highlands, New JerseyHighlands is a borough located in Monmouth County, New Jersey. As of the 2000 census, the borough had a total population of 5,097. Geography Highlands is located at 40°24'8" North, 73°59'17" West (40. 402308, -73. According to the United States Census Bur and the cultural atmosphere of New Jersey has heavily influenced his films. As a young adult, Smith attended the New School for Social Research's creative writing program but dropped out. He then enrolled in the Vancouver Film School , but left that school as well.
Afterwards, Smith took a job as a convenience store clerk, which inspired the script to his first film Clerks. Gathering together a mere $27,000 from parents, loans and the sale of Smith's comic book collection, Smith and a friend from the Vancouver Film School Scott MosierScott Mosier is a producer, editor and all-round film maker for View Askew, a company he founded with long time friend Kevin Smith. Scott has worked on every Kevin Smith film and always has a brief screen appearance. He was born 5 March 1971. Mosier, Scot began production on the black-and-white film about two 20-something slackers, using friends and local actors and filming at night in the convenience store Smith worked at during the day.
Clerks debuted and was a huge hit at the 19941994 is a common year starting on Saturday, and was designated the International year of the Family''. Events January events January 1 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect January 6 Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the right leg by an Sundance Film FestivalThe Sundance Film Festival is arguably now the leading film festival in the United States, and ranks amongst the top five events of its type in the world. Held annually in Park City as well as Salt Lake City, Utah the festival is the premiere showcase for. After Smith won a court battle with the Motion Picture Association of AmericaThe Motion Picture Association of America MPAA is a non-profit trade association formed to advance the interests of movie studios. Its members consist of seven major studios: the Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, to get the film's rating lowered from NC17 to R (the NC17 rating, which would have allowed no one younger than 17 to see the film, was given by the MPAA almost solely due to crude dialogue), it became a success on the growing independent filmAn independent film (or indie film is a film produced without the support of a major movie studio or a big budget. Creative, business, and technological reasons have all contributed to the growth of the indie film scene in the late 20th and early 21st cen circuit, and was eventually shown during non-concert hours at Woodstock 1994.
In 1995, Smith released his first mainstream film Mallrats, chronicling the romantic difficulties of two slackers ( Jason Lee and Jeremy London) who spend their days hanging around a shopping mall. A more typical Hollywood comedy than Clerks, Mallrats was both a failure with critics and at the box office and Smith even apologized for making it. Later recanted, the apology still haunts Smith, since he didn't make it sincerely, but as a joke at an awards show.
In 1997, he released Chasing Amy, a more emotionally mature comedy about a man ( Ben Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian ( Joey Lauren Adams), which gathered moderate acclaim.
In 1999, he released the controversial Dogma about a Catholic who works in an abortion clinic ( Linda Fiorentino), selected by God to prevent two renegade angels (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) from returning to heaven by means of a loophole in Catholic dogma. Despite the fact that Smith is a practicing Catholic, members of the church protested the film as blasphemous.
In 2001, Smith released what he claimed would be his final film featuring Jay and Silent Bob, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, about the duo's attempt to travel to Hollywood to stop production on a film based on their characters. Littered with cameos from characters from previous Smith films, the director called it a "valentine" to his fans.
In 2004, Smith released Jersey Girl about a man's (Affleck) effort to raise his daughter after the death of his wife (played by Jennifer Lopez). The film opened to mixed reviews and ultimately suffered from the poor critical and box office success of the 2003 Affleck and Lopez film " Gigli".
In 2005, Smith will begin filming a sequel to his first film Clerks entitled The Passion of the Clerks . Unlike the first Clerks, the sequel is rumored to have a budget of $250,000 to $5,000,000. According to Smith, the only returning characters from the previous films will be Dante, Randal, Jay and Silent Bob.