Kevin Smith's 'Red State' starts filming (Update: confirmation from Kev)
Posted Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 5:11 PM Central
Last updated Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 6:20 PM Central
by John Couture
It's been two years since the release of writer/director Kevin Smith's last original project, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, but I'm happy to report that Kev tweeted this yesterday:
Rolled our first few feet of film on RED STATE, featuring Michael Angarano & Anna Gunn - great actors, even in wide, MOS establishing shots.
And all the View Askew fans around the world rejoice and fill up their Fleshlights. It's not that Smith has been sitting around doing nothing these last couple of years. He directed Bruce Willis in a huge studio movie Cop Out, he turned his little podcast into what is now known as the Smodcast empire of podcasts and he's not-so-quietly led a revolution of Hollywood talent onto the social network known as Twitter.
The last accomplishment shouldn't really come as much of a surprise as Smith has long been on the leading edge of the Internet and accessibility to fans. In fact, I've been lucky enough to meet him a couple of times and even attended one of his early film festival events known as Vulgarthon. It's true, he's one of the nicest and accommodating people in the business.
But, it's his work on a new, original project that probably excites his fans most. As mention, Kevin has long shared tidbits of his work on his movies with his fans, but this is really the first movie of his to film after the explosion of social media.
And so far, it looks like Smith is maintaining that lifted veil of secrecy that has won him scores of fans. In fact, he recently took another film site to task for reporting faulty information and implored that people come the source, as it were, for the information.
So, with that in mind, we'll keep you informed of the major details along the way, but for the most timely information, I suggest following Kevin Smith on Twitter. The cast as we know it via Kev's tweets and reveals in his podcast include John Goodman, Michael Parks, Michael Angarano, Anna Gunn, Kyle Gallner, Nick Braun and Stephen Root, whom he worked with previously on Jersey Girl.
Several other sites are reporting that Kevin Pollak and Melissa Leo have been offered roles, if not already cast. However, we could not confirm by press time with Smith, we will update the story with further cast confirmations. [See below]
Not much is known about Red State other than it's a departure from his usual fare and loosely based on Fred Phelps, the radical religious leader of Westboro Baptist Church. Smith has called it a horror movie of sorts.
Whatever Red State is, consider us waiting with baited breath. There is no release date set yet, but with filming underway and Kevin being notorious for editing on the fly, it wouldn't surprise us in the least to see Red State at Sundance and Cannes next year ahead of late Summer theatrical release.
Are you excited for Kevin Smith's latest project?
Update: Confirmation from Kevin himself
We reached out to Kevin via Twitter this afternoon for a Kevin Pollack and Melissa Leo casting confirmation. Being his usual accommodating self, he responded in about a half hour with the following:
Via @VideoETA "Can you confirm casting/offers to Pollack and/or Melissa Leo?" I cannot confirm offers; I can confirm they're both cast.
So there you have it. Thanks, Mr. Smith, for the speedy reply.