Kevin Smith is taking a leap away from comedy with his upcoming horror film Red State, and if the director gets his way, the movie’s distribution will be just as unconventional. Smith has already announced that he plans to wrap up the film’s first Sundance screening by auctioning it off to a distributor while the audience is still in the theater, but now the jorts-clad auteur — who recently decided to dispense with press screenings altogether after Cop Out’s critical lambasting — has declared that he’ll be refusing print interviews to promote the movie.
Tweeted Smith:
The irony? Whatever you think of Smith’s merits as a filmmaker, he’s undeniably engaging as a raconteur and conversationalist, and by cutting off press access when he’s got a media-friendly aesthetic leap to tout, he’s hobbling one of his film’s greatest promotional assets right out of the gate. Still, at least he’s learned an important lesson: When you’re trying to drum up buzz, beef is best served early.
I’m not press-junketing at all, anywhere. In fact, I’m not doing any press outside of maybe a business piece or 2 to help sell the flick if needed, & radio (LOTS of radio). That’s what http://smodcast.com/redstate/ is about: I’m providing all the information needed to write a story, if that’s what you’re looking to do. It’s INSANELY detailed, and by the time we’re done, I’ll have pre-answered all questions about RedState — thus negating the need to speak with me about it. From nearly 20 yrs experience, I know this much: folks are gonna write WHATEVER they want, whether I sit down with them or not. So I’ll just furnish all the information I’d normally serve up one at a time to a small, jaded audience that doesn’t really give a shit unless there’s someone famous in the room, to a much larger, APPRECIATIVE audience that would actually enjoy & benefit from hearing the same information … So rather than subject all involved to a painful waste of resources, time & money, I’m doing the RedStateOfTheUnion Q&A’s. It’s kind of like an audio press kit. We’re even transcribing them now, for the SUPER lazy writers who’ve already bitched about having to wade through 12 hours of audio so they can write knowledgeably about a subject. Nobody needs to talk to me anymore anyway, as anyone who’s curious can always know what I’m thinking 24/7 right here on Twitter.
The irony? Whatever you think of Smith’s merits as a filmmaker, he’s undeniably engaging as a raconteur and conversationalist, and by cutting off press access when he’s got a media-friendly aesthetic leap to tout, he’s hobbling one of his film’s greatest promotional assets right out of the gate. Still, at least he’s learned an important lesson: When you’re trying to drum up buzz, beef is best served early.
Kevin Smith [Twitter via /Film]