NEW YORK COMIC CON 2012 INTERVIEW: Kevin Smith Trusts Zack Snyder With Wife's Life, Child's Life and 'Man of Steel'

The first full length trailer to Man of Steel is a little over a week away, debuting on the big screen with The Hobbit on December 14th. At New York Comic Con, I had the opportunity to participate in a round table interview with writer/director/producer/actor/and fan boy icon Kevin Smith to talk up his hit show Comic Book Men, which just wrapped up its second season on AMC last Sunday.

As always, Smith was laid back, chatty, good natured and fun, and held nothing back while chatting up us online reporters. I have had several audiences with him over the years through Access Hollywood, including New York City press junket interviews for Dogma and Jersey Girl, and it's refreshing to see he has not changed. At NYCC, he had a lot to say about a lot of things, some directly related to his show, and some not.

Knowing his history with Warner Bros. regarding the aborted Tim Burton big screen reboot of Superman that was to star Nicholas Cage (yep), for which Smith wrote a discarded early draft for (check out the video below for his version of the ordeal), I snuck in the very last question before our slot was up to inquire about what his thoughts were on the Zack Snyder's upcoming Man of Steel starring Henry Cavill. As of this writing, all we have seen is the artsy teaser trailer, scant official images and a slew of paparazzi shots from the film set.

But here is Smith's reaction, prediction, hopes, and advice regarding Warners choice of Snyder to take the reigns of the world's most iconic superhero (and although broken up into sections here, this was a single answer to my final question).

"I trust Zack Snyder with my wife’s life and my child’s life if I had to. He’s a talented individual who knows how to tell a story."

"I saw the first teaser for the movie and I thought I was watching a fucking Irish Spring commercial. But then all of a sudden I said ‘Oh I see what you’re going for here.’"

"I trust him man. I think he’s amazing. He’s the dude like just how you know Marvel has Joss (Whedon) now and stuff. DC should just put a harness around Zack Snyder and be like ‘Do every one of these big books. Every one of the DC books.'"

"I think he did a great job with Watchmen. I think he did a great job (I know its not a DC book), with 300. I think he’ll do a great job with Superman. I think obviously DC’s New 52 loosened us all up about what Superman is, because Grant Morrison has redefined it a few times at this point, but even most recently with the new books."

"You won't have so many people now going 'Where’s that Dick Donner Superman??” you know? A lot of our generation, that’s what we were looking for. We thought we wanted it on the last movie and that’s what Bryan Singer gave us. And when he gave us exactly what we all thought we wanted, a lot of people bitched or yawned, or something like that."

"So it’s nice to see Zack coming in with a shakeup take that isn't the same fucking story we've seen in film. I trust that he knows what he’s doing and that it will be really fucking cool. And I’m not even a Superman guy. Like when it comes to those characters, he’s not way up on my list. But he's a icon, I am a DC guy and I hope they do him well 'cause that means we get one step closer to doing Justice League."

"Like if I’m DC right now and Warner Bros., I’m stealing every idea from Marvel films. I’m not even being fucking shy about it. I'm being like 'Oh, that’s how you make a billion dollars or more? Fuck it, lets go!" Just steal their plan. It’s a great plan. You start making your movies separately, bring ‘em all together in a fucking team movie, go back out to separates, come back in to the team movie."

"Hopefully they pick up on it soon. There’s no such thing as like ‘Can't steal a good idea.' Shit that’s what this country, half the world, is founded on: Take a good idea, make it just a little bit like your own. Let them do that, DC and Warner. If they ape the Marvel model, I know every fan boy in this room will be happy, and I think the box office will be a lot happier too."

"I'm not going to say it begins with Zack Snyder, because I’m not gonna put the pressure on him for this Man of Steel flick, but he’d be my choice. Him, or I tell ya, fuck it Timur (Bekmambetov), the guy who did Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Give that guy a Justice League movie. Holy shit, just visually arresting. He knows fucking what to do with that camera. Brings you into the story right away. He did Wanted, so he already knows how to do a comic book movie with villains and heroes and shit."

"So I don’t know, thats what I’d like to see, and I know nobody asked."

"I look forward to Superman."

I hope we will all be looking forward to Superman in Man of Steel after the new trailer hits.

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NYCC 2012 INTERVIEW: Kevin Smith Talks 'Comic Book Men' Season Two Return (and Following 'The Walking Dead')

On Friday I caught up wth Kevin Smith and his Comic Book Men cohorts Walk Flanagan, Mike Zapcic, Bryan Johnson and Ming Chen at New York Comic Con for rountable interviews to talk up tonight's season two premiere of their hit AMC show.

There was much discussed during the fun, laid back Q&A's, and to no one's surprise Kevin had a lot to say on a lot of different topics, Comic Book Men related or otherwise. So I will bring you much more from those interviews soon. But as far as tonight's sophomore year kickoff goes, here is what Kevin had to say about the last minute opportunity of getting to NYCC for promote it, and as expected, in the blunt manner he is famous for putting forward. 

"We weren't even supposed to be here. I sound like Dante, 'We weren't even supposed to be here today,' but we weren't until like two weeks ago I think," Smith said, catching himself quoting Dante Hicks from Clerks. 

"But basically there was no intention of coming to the Comic Con until the dust cleared from this season's shooting, and we were like 'Hey, we have time and I guess we start on Sunday.' It's not us going like 'Superman will save us!' but we do live in the Metropolis of The Walking Dead. So we never feel all that like 'We gotta push this show,' because we are in the wake of a f**king juggernaut," he pointed out in regards to the rollover viewers tuned into AMC on Sunday nights.

  

"Even if we retain a little piece of its audience, we're fine. So there's never like a sense of like 'Holy sh*t! We gotta press this show really hard.' But New York Comic Con is happening, these guys are like 45 minutes outside of the city, I was gonna be on the East Coast for the Boston show I'm doing tomorrow night. So I was like 'Let's be at the New York Comic Con again,' and boom, we got to be involved."

Despite Smith's confidence in the secure post-Walking Dead time slot, if a show doesn't click with a audience, people won't watch it. Comic Book Men fits in perfectly to the Sunday night line-up anchored by the blockbuster television Zombie juggernaut, its immediate re-run, and then the Chris Hardwick hosted live re-cap show Talking Dead.

Comic Book Men airs on AMC on Sundays at 11:30PM.

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Gallery 1988's Crazy4Cult Opens In NYC

Score another victory for Pop Culture enthusiasts. Following six years of success in Los Angeles, Gallery 1988's popular Crazy4Cult exhibit has finally made its way to the East Coast for a limited run in New York City's Meatpacking District. Founded by Jensen Karp and Katie Cromwell, this must-see show has numerous imaginative works from over 200 artists inspired by cult film related imagery.

I caught up with Gallery1988's Jensen Karp about the history of the exhibit on Thursday evening, as final preps were being made shortly before the opening night festivities were set to begin.

"In the past artists were inspired by the pioneers and the masters. Nowadays you find a lot of influence from pop culture icons, whether its Nintendo, movies, or TV, and we sort of encourage artists to do that," Karp said, who came up with the idea for the show with Kevin Smith and Scott Moiser, the creative team behind Clerks and Mallrats. "Now we are here in New York bringing the sixth annual. We bypassed LA this year and brought it to a new coast."

"Abstract art does not speak to me at all," he admitted. "I like the Sistine Chapel, but I don't want it in my house. But I would love a piece based on the ‘Burbs or Repo Man. I was a film student at USC and I thought if we did artwork that was prints and paintings based on cult movies people would come. I would buy it. That was six years ago." 

The hot summer August weather on opening night had no effect on the turnout of eager fans who formed a line that wrapped around the block, all in hopes to be among the first in the door. "People have been sleeping out since 10pm last night. It's cool that the fury we have in LA is happening in another city, " Karp said.

A quick look at the diverse art in the gallery quickly reveals that among the many popular images that would be familiar to most passing movie fans like RoboCop, Edward Scissorhands, Doc Brown, and Marty McFly, there are also as many clever, more obscure, pieces that will hit home with the true pop culture aficionado.

Case in point there is "Check Please!" a painting by Derek Deal based on a classic scene from the end of Spaceballs, when the film parodies the chest bursting sequence from Alien complete with a song and dance man Xenomorph. On the 3D end of the art, there is a clever re-created POV from They Live as seen through the special sunglasses worn by Roddy Piper.

The canvas of films represented is vast, but it's evident there is a popular niche regarding some films that have multiple works represented based upon their characters, The Princess Bride, Back To The Future, Escape From New York, The Goonies, Donnie Darko, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, and Little Shop Of Horrors just to name a few.

"We've been told a hundred times how this isn’t our city and how it's supposed to be all pompous art galleries. People just don’t know the new world. People who speak to that just don't know the internet and what people are looking for. We’re that age group. For us it’s a no brainer. We like it when people tell us we can't come," Karp asserted.

Gallery 1988 has card carrying pop culture figures like Christopher Guest and Joss Whedon who are not only fans that support the cause, but have purchased some of the limited edition prints. "Kevin Smith is a huge buyer. We’ve sold to Judd Apatow and J.J. Abrams. Sam Jackson has walked in and hung out at the show."

There show typically has a 60/40 split toward prints over paintings. Some editions have a run of under 100, though mostly under 50. "There's original paintings, there’s a one of a kind plush in there and sculptures. We don't ever limit the medium."

Karp also makes a distinction regarding the passionate people who have their imagery on display. "We don’t really have fan artists. We do artists that are fans."

"While we do most of our business on the internet, there is something about coming to the show and seeing it in person. And we wanted to bring it to our other favorite city."

Gallery1988's Crazy4Cult exhibit runs from August 9th - September 1st, located at 64 Gansvoort Street.

LINKS:  Gallery1988 Website, Crazy4Cult NYC Full Artwork Listing

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