Trivia

At the height of controversy over his film Dogma (1999), Kevin Smith and his friend Bryan Johnson participated in a protest against the film at an Eatontown, New Jersey, movie theater. Smith and Johnson hand-made signs that read "'Dogma' is dogshit" and and "To Hell With 'Dogma.'" The protest, which was supposed to attract hundreds of demonstrators, was only attended by about 15 people. Smith was recognized and interviewed by a local TV news reporter, to whom he refused to admit that he really was Kevin Smith.

Sold his comic book collection for money to film Clerks (1994) and after the film was a success he bought the collection back.

As a teenager his girlfriend's mother wrote "Kevin Smith will never be a famous writer." on a sheet of paper and told him that if he ever proved it wrong that she would eat the paper. He still has the sheet of paper, and considers the mother a close friend. However he does not speak with the former girlfriend anymore.

Survived a massive heart attack on February 26th 2018.

Cast Alan Rickman as Metatron in Dogma (1999) after learning Rickman was a fan of Chasing Amy (1997).

Has said that after his career is over he'd like to teach film and creative writing courses at a college.

Owns a comic book store, Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey.

Big fan and friend of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. When Smith finished Clerks II (2006) he invited Rodriguez and Tarantino to be among the first to view it.

Said in his DVD commentary of Dogma (1999) that actress Linda Fiorentino was very difficult to work with, even to the point that she wouldn't speak to him some days. In retrospect he says he wishes he had cast Janeane Garofalo as Bethany instead (Garofalo appears in Dogma as Liz at the abortion clinic).

Pitched a superhero movie to Miramax in 1999 and Miramax chairman Harvey Weinstein loved it. It was described as a "Justice League" type of superhero team that has to disband because of the government. Once on their own, the film would follow the same type of format used in Pulp Fiction (1994) which would be stories inter-connected. In the end, the team would have to unite to defeat one of their own, turned villainous. Smith just never got around to writing a full script. It was also pitched to HBO as a possible series.

Has maintained that had he not had the success with Clerks (1994), he would still be a clerk at the Quick Stop and RST Video in Leonardo, New Jersey.

Wrote the first eight issues of the Marvel Knights series of Daredevil. In the graphic novel edition of all eight issues, the introduction was written by Ben Affleck. Kevin began writing the Green Arrow comics for DC.

Is a huge fan of Degrassi High (1987). After Clerks (1994) got picked up and he came into some money he bought the entire series on tape. At the time it was only available commercially and not for private use, and so he ended up paying $6000 for them.

Wrote and produced with Jason Lee, a pilot for a sitcom, to star Lee, called "Hiatus". The premise had Lee's character coming back home to open up a comic book store after living in California for a few years, trying to make it as a struggling actor. Unknown to his family and friends, he was actually a porno star for a while,when he didn't land any "legitimate" work.

When asked who his favorite actor to work with was, he said his daughter, Harley Quinn Smith. After some negative critical reactions for his film _Cop Out_ (2010), he was in a particular defiant mood while filming _Tusk_(2014). Harley Quinn was set to cameo, as well as Johnny Depp. Harley Quinn suggested that her friend and Depp's daughter Lily-Rose Depp act in the scene with her. Because of that, Smith felt that he was able to forget the negative critics and have fun, and even said that she made him want to be a filmmaker "more than anyone in this world.".

The reason why there hasn't been a Jay and Silent Bob video game yet, is because Smith wants to be fully involved in the game's creation and he simply does not have the time. He does insist there will one day exist a Jay and Silent Bob video game.

His daughter plays his character, Silent Bob, as a small child in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001).

He has directed one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Clerks (1994).

Once considered buying a local movie theater in Red Bank New Jersey and showing all kinds of movies. He said one week could be Scorsese themed with Taxi Driver (1976) and Mean Streets (1973), then the next week could be superhero themed, like the original Batman and Superman movies.

Has two dogs named "Mulder" and "Scully".

Wrote a script called "Busing" in 1994 for Hollywood Pictures. It was described as "Clerks in a restaurant". Parts of this script became Clerks II (2006).

Smith long wanted to do a prequel to Fletch (1985), but Miramax producer Harvey Weinstein wouldn't let him cast Jason Lee in the lead, citing Lee's lack of box office appeal. Smith then considered directing Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009) for Disney in 2003, at the request of Ben Affleck who was set to star. This didn't sit well with Weinstein, who allowed Smith to make his Fletch prequel instead, as long as he got Affleck to star in it. 'Fletch Won' briefly went into production, but was canceled when Affleck ultimately decided to stay with Disney. Ironically, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past would later be canceled over budget issues, and was made 6 years later without Affleck, but with his then-wife Jennifer Garner. Fletch Won ended up with Warner Bros., but has remained in development hell ever since.

Had a long running feud with Jeff Anderson shortly after Clerks (1994) was released and ended just before production began on Dogma (1999). This explains Anderson's absence in Mallrats (1995) and Chasing Amy (1997).

In one of his podcasts, Smith revealed that the name of Silent Bob came, in part, from a character in Tim Burton's Batman (1989), Bob the Goon, citing in particular Jack Nicholson's (The Joker) line "Bob, gun" and the character stoically handing him a gun.

Once tried to buy a warehouse near his View Askew production office in Red Bank, New Jersey, to convert into sound stages for independent films. He even approached Miramax president Harvey Weinstein to split the bill. However, the warehouse owner wanted too much money.

Wrote all of his own dialog for the five episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001) that he appeared on.

Wrote a short story in his college creative writing course about a serial killer, who also happened to be a priest. He received the best grade in the class.

Shortly after Clerks (1994) was released theatrically, Smith taught an acting class at his old high school, Henry Hudson Regional.

Is a friend of Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Wright, Robert Rodriguez, and Ben Affleck.

In a review of Clerks (1994), one critic described his writing style as "David Mamet meets Howard Stern."

Was at one point attached to write the script for Scary Movie 3 (2003).

Favorite bands: The Police, Talking Heads, Run-D.M.C., Public Enemy, E Street Band, and The Cure.

Was approached by Dimension chairman Bob Weinstein to do a Jay and Silent Bob/Hellraiser crossover movie in the same vein as the old Abbott and Costello meets the Wolfman type crossovers. Smith declined.

In the fall of 2002, the town of Paulsboro in New Jersey named a street after him: Kevin Smith Way. This was in response to Smith using the town to film in.

Shot a pictorial of his wife, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, for Playboy Magazine.

Attended Vancouver Film School but dropped out halfway through.

He was the first and only guest on Michael Moore's Fox pilot The Michael Moore Show (1997).

Smith's daughter, Harley Quinn Smith was born. She is named after the character, Harley Quinn, in the Batman: The Animated Series (1992)(The animated series). (June 26, 1999)

While filming Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), accidentally mispronounced Eliza Dushku's last name, and subsequently simply called her "Duck Shoot."

Dogma (1999) attended a protest against his own movie: "Dogma." He even made it onto the local news, when the on-the-scene reporter asked him (not knowing it was him) his thoughts on the movie. He responded: "I don't know, but I've been told, 'not good.'".

Because so many people asked him what happened to the characters Jay and Silent Bob between the films Chasing Amy (1997) and Dogma (1999), Smith wrote a graphic novel detailing their (mis)adventures between the two films. The book is entitled "Chasing Dogma".

Did some rewrites for Coyote Ugly (2000).

Received an honorary degree (Doctor of Humane Letters) from Illinois Wesleyan University on May 7, 2000.

Is a huge fan of Road House (1989).

Kevin founded the podcast network, 'The SModcast Podcast Network' on January 1st, 2010.

Hosts a weekly podcast with friend and producer Scott Mosier called "SModcast". Guest hosts have included friends Bryan Johnson, Walter Flanagan, Malcolm Ingram, Jason Mewes, his wife Jennifer Schwalbach Smith and his daughter Harley Quinn Smith. This podcast has expanded into an entire network called "The SModcast Podcast Network" at smodcast.com.

Created an online short film contest called Movies Askew in 2005. The twelve finalists were screened in Hollywood for Smith and a famous panel of judges that included Jason Mewes and Donnie Darko (2001) director Richard Kelly. Duane Graves took home the Grand Prize for his documentary Up Syndrome (2000), granting him the privilege of working with Smith on one of his future projects.

Suspected that he was hired to write the doomed "Superman Lives" script after someone at Warner Brothers saw the exchange in Mallrats (1995) between "TS" and "Brodie" involving Superman's reproductive habits. Warner executives told Smith to cut a romantic scene between "Superman" and "Lois" on Mt. Rushmore. Kevin complained and said, "This has the best dialog in the script". Executives responded, "This is a toy movie. People don't care how good the dialog is". The script was eventually rejected by Tim Burton, who elected to personally rewrite it.

Directed Pilot (2007) just to prove to himself that he could direct a script that he did not write.

During his childhood, he was a big fan of Tom Savini's special effects work.