Kevin Smith's RED STATE gets Green Light, HIT SOMEBODY to Follow
Kevin Smith has revealed through his Twitter feed that a couple of projects he's been simultaneously developing will indeed be getting made. His Fred Phelps-inspired horror film Red State has been green lit, and he will be following that film up with the hockey film Hit Somebody, which will star his Cop Out cast member Sean William Scott.
Earlier today, Smith tweeted:
I talk about lots of stuff I wanna do that either happens years later or never happens at all. Happy to report RED STATE is not the latter.
Quickly followed by:
First draft was dated 9/5/07. Looks like we start shooting this July. Took nearly three years, but we’re finally gonna roll on RED.
Red State is said to be a film that is supposed to be completely non-commercial. This would make for a great follow up to the EXTREMELY studio based film Cop Out, which was also the first film he directed that he didn't also write. But a horror film that Smith has said is, “so bleak that it makes The Dark Knight look like Strawberry Shortcake,” has me intrigued, even with the quick witted Smith perhaps embellishing a bit.
Further 140-character missives add some detail: “Writing HIT now; shooting HIT on heels of RED STATE. #DoingFlicksAssToAss” and in response to a question about doing the film as a studio or full indie feature, he says “(*Marches across big lawn, up front porch*) I’m home, Momma.”
Back in 2007, Smith described the first draft of the script, which involves a character inspired by infamous ‘preacher’ Fred Phelps, saying:
The movie’s called ‘Red State’ and it’s very much about that subject matter, that point of view and that position taken to the absolute extreme. It’s certainly not Phelps himself but it’s very much inspired by a Phelps figure. And to me, too, the notion of using a Phelps-like character as a villain, as horrifying and scary as that guy can be, there’s even something more insidious than him that lurks out there in as much as a public or a government that allows it and that’s the other thing that I’m trying to examine in a big, big way. It’s weird because for a few months I’ve been saying ‘horror movie’ and technically it is, but it’s also not a very traditional horror movie in the sense that people have been asking me, ‘Is it a slasher movie? Is it like the Japanese horror flicks?’ It’d be much easier to just show it to them when I’m done and be like, ‘This is what I meant.’ At which point I’m sure there’ll be people saying, ‘This ain’t a horror movie!’ But to me, it is.
Red State is said to be a film that is supposed to be completely non-commercial. This would make for a great follow up to the EXTREMELY studio based film Cop Out, which was also the first film he directed that he didn't also write. But a horror film that Smith has said is, “so bleak that it makes The Dark Knight look like Strawberry Shortcake,” has me intrigued, even with the quick witted Smith perhaps embellishing a bit.
As for Hit Somebody, Smith tweeted:
Writing HIT now; shooting HIT on heels of RED STATE. #DoingFlicksAssToAss
You ca read more on that film here, but back in February, Smith explained of the story:
I'm going for the 'Forest Gump' of sports movies, but not in terms of the visual effects, but it takes place through many different eras. It starts in the '50s and ends in the '80s, and primarily it's a big Valentine to the game of hockey, and an even bigger Valentine to Canada. The whole movie is about the game and the land and how they're one and how only Canada can produce a hockey player. I've been a 'Canadaphile' for years now, and in terms of influence, it helps to have the writings of Stephen Brunt, the guy who wrote "Gretzky's Tears" and "Search for Bobby Orr," stuff like that completely helps fill in the gaps for me not actually being Canadian.
So there's your little daily dose of Kevin Smith. What do you think of him taking on a non-commercial film like Red State as his next project??? What do you think of Hit Somebody?