I forget how I stumbled upon this movie, but I found and watched the trailer on the YouTubes. I was surprised to see it is a "Kevin Smith Presents" movie so that peeked my interest. I ended up watching this movie on Saturday morning and I have to say, this is probably on my top 3 movies of the year. I was blown away by how much I loved it. This Canadian dude wrote, directed and starred in it, so that made it even more interesting to me.
I suggest you seek this one out. Too good.
Below is an excerpt from an Entertainment Weekly interview with Kevin Smith
On Oct. 4, Phase 4 and Smith’s Movie Club will release The Dirties, a top prize-winner at January’s Slamdance Film Festival about two high-school outcasts who make a revenge-fantasy movie about killing the group of bullies that make their lives a living hell. When their film project only makes their situation worse, the teens contemplate taking the scary next step, plotting and videotaping their own Columbine-style massacre. Starring Owen Williams and Canadian director Matt Johnson, the movie combines a variety of genres but results in creating something entirely new. “You’ve seen found-footage genre, you’ve seen faux documentary, and you’ve seen school shootings [movies] before, but you’ve never seen it done the way that Matt Johnson has pulled it all together,” says Smith. “The last time we saw a movie kind of compelling like this, Gus Van Sant, a filmmaking master!, made Elephant, but this is so goddamn different. I looked at this and I was like, “This is the f–king future, man.”
Smith is effusive in his praise of the young filmmaker — “I get more out of standing next to Matt than Matt gets to standing next to me” — but he also chatted to EW about his own future behind the camera and why he thinks hisChasing Amy star Ben Affleck really grabbed the role of Batman. (Hint: It has something to do with a panic room.)
Click below for Smith’s lengthy Q&A and an exclusive slightly NSFW video clip from The Dirties, which will play in theaters and VOD beginning Oct. 4.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I really appreciate the opportunity to see the movie before we chatted, because it’s very difficult to express in a mere press release.
KEVIN SMITH: It is an astounding film and I’ve been saying it since we got wind of it back at Slamdance last year. You know, I came from a world of bad-looking indie films, so naturally a film that’s shot by amateurs is right up my alley. I’m not sitting there going, “Uh, this looks disgusting.” I’m like, “Oh my God, these kids figured out how to do it, just like I did.” So right away, I’m kind of dialed into the DIY nature of the project. But then, maybe three minutes into the film, you get the feeling that you’re watching something very different, something far more accomplished that you’ve been led to believe. And then halfway through the movie, you realize you’re watching brilliance.
KEVIN SMITH: It is an astounding film and I’ve been saying it since we got wind of it back at Slamdance last year. You know, I came from a world of bad-looking indie films, so naturally a film that’s shot by amateurs is right up my alley. I’m not sitting there going, “Uh, this looks disgusting.” I’m like, “Oh my God, these kids figured out how to do it, just like I did.” So right away, I’m kind of dialed into the DIY nature of the project. But then, maybe three minutes into the film, you get the feeling that you’re watching something very different, something far more accomplished that you’ve been led to believe. And then halfway through the movie, you realize you’re watching brilliance.
And anybody smart knows that you want to ally yourself with somebody who’s got talent. As my talent is on the wane, I like to hook up with people who are more talented than me. These kids are talented. Matt Johnson is a brilliant filmmaker. You quickly realize these cats don’t need much help beyond me throwing an imprimatur on there just to call some attention to it. But you can’t ignore this film. It’s so goddamn compelling and so important. In terms of first films, hands down, [it's] the best first film in my life. People will be talking about this movie as a first film, as an important flick, for years to come.
There is a lot to absorb because it’s a very serious film. And I don’t want to be flip about it, but it’s also very funny.
Isn’t that amazing? I think that’s what’s subversive and dangerous about it to some people, because you like these guys. You absolutely like the characters — and not in a Hannibal Lecter way, not in a scenery-chewing, mustache-twisting kind of way. You actually like the guy that does something absolutely horrific. And it’s only when the worm turns where you start having to go, like, “Well, do I still like him?” That’s what makes people uncomfortable. It is a minor miracle of a movie and for some people, who are like, “Man, this movie glorifies the high-school killer,” they’re missing the point completely. These cats really researched it. Matt was like, “I watched the tapes and videos of the Columbine kids and what you see in the footage is not monsters or these dark, emo-goth warriors that are ready to go out and slaughter. What you see are two kids just having a good time with each other who somewhere went off the rails.” That, to me, is chilling, because right away, you don’t want to hear that the guy who blows away 20 kids had a sense of humor and perhaps aspirations that just went crazy awry. But that’s what good art is. That’s why The Dirties rocks. Because it makes you go to weird places while you’re watching the movie. You’re sitting there laughing and then you realize, “Oh sh-t, I feel what’s coming.”
Isn’t that amazing? I think that’s what’s subversive and dangerous about it to some people, because you like these guys. You absolutely like the characters — and not in a Hannibal Lecter way, not in a scenery-chewing, mustache-twisting kind of way. You actually like the guy that does something absolutely horrific. And it’s only when the worm turns where you start having to go, like, “Well, do I still like him?” That’s what makes people uncomfortable. It is a minor miracle of a movie and for some people, who are like, “Man, this movie glorifies the high-school killer,” they’re missing the point completely. These cats really researched it. Matt was like, “I watched the tapes and videos of the Columbine kids and what you see in the footage is not monsters or these dark, emo-goth warriors that are ready to go out and slaughter. What you see are two kids just having a good time with each other who somewhere went off the rails.” That, to me, is chilling, because right away, you don’t want to hear that the guy who blows away 20 kids had a sense of humor and perhaps aspirations that just went crazy awry. But that’s what good art is. That’s why The Dirties rocks. Because it makes you go to weird places while you’re watching the movie. You’re sitting there laughing and then you realize, “Oh sh-t, I feel what’s coming.”
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