For the
longest time, Kevin Smith has been talking up
his first foray into the world of horror. The story, still under construction,
concerns a spooky fundamentalist psycho type, although I might have been a
little redundant in that description. The most notable thing about it, however,
is that it would easily mark the most significant departure from his comfort
zone yet being that The Green Hornet fell apart reportedly due to Smith’s
insecurity. And maybe that’s finally dawned on Smith as well, because from recent
talk, it appears that Red State – once due to be Smith’s
very next film – could be slipping down the release pipe a bit as his much more
familiar Zack and Miri Make a Porno comedy script has come together
completely and has the momentum of the two.
Smith
explained to the MTV Movies Blog that “I
went to go work on Zack and Miri, so
I’m still working on the script for
We’re not sure. We were going to shoot
first and then Zack and Miri second,
but we might flip-flop ‘em, [do] Zack
and Miri first. Script’s done [and] it’s out to actors now. We’ve just
submitted our budget so we’re trying figure out if we’ll shoot in the fall or
in the winter.” All of which sounds innocuous enough, but remember that The
Green Hornet took a similar path wherein Smith took forever to work on
the script after talking it up, somehow completely lost his way, and then quietly exited the project to do
more familiar material. And if Zack and Miri ends up being even a semi-hit, I
could totally see the same happening here.
Still, in
the same interview, Smith at least has it in his head that he wants to err..eschew View Askew vets if/when Red State gets underway. He joked
that “I think it would be tough to settle
into a horror movie if you’re like, ‘Hey! That’s the Snootchie-Bootchies guy’.”
Just get the script finished, Kev.