Zack and Miri

Director Kevin Smith has been popping up on his website almost daily, answering readers questions about the forthcoming comedy. Heres the latest batch, courtesy of www.newsaskew.com

Will you personally do a lot of interviews and so on to promote this film or will it be more the actors for interviews etc?
Kevin said: “I imagine I’ll be out there doing interviews to promote the flick, as per usual.”

When do you have to have the movie ‘locked’?
Kevin said: “Like, the day before it hits theaters (some folks make changes right up until then). But we’re scheduled to be done by second week of September.”

Any talk on Z&M being part of any of the film festivals this year?
Kevin said: “The only fest it’d be eligible for, schedule-wise, would be Toronto. But there’s been no talk about doing any fest screenings, really.”

Are you working on Z&M daily right now? What I mean is there something that needs doing every day?
Kevin said: “Today, we broke the film down into reels to send to the composer so he can get to work on some cues, then laid in some CG shots. Earlier this morning, I was cutting the ‘net teasers.”

Any chance if the test screenings go well that the release date might be bumped up to late summer/early fall?
Kevin said: “Nope. Too crowded there.”

Will you publish the script? No, I’m not looking to read it before it comes out, I mean “eventually”.
Kevin said:: “I’m game to do so.”

How did the Weinstein co. set your budget? Did you say “I need $25 Million” or did they just toss a briefcase at you full of cash?
Kevin said: “Scott and Laura budgeted the flick based on five day work weeks and salary projections, and we arrived at $25mil (which is actually kinda cheap).”

Why is this budget set so much higher than your previous films (excluding Jersey Girl)? Did the Weinstein Co. like the script more, or did you know you would need more money than on previous films?
Kevin said: “To be fair, it’s only five mil more than “Jay and Silent Bob” (and ten million less than “Jersey Girl”). And most of that price difference, as you might imagine, has more to do with salaries than anything else.
“Clerks II” cost five million largely because a) we were in one location the whole time, with limited movement, and b) nobody really got paid (I did the movie for free, when all was said and done). This flick’s a bit more complicated than that flick, and it stars a guy who gets more than scale at this point, so the budget’s bound to be bigger.”

What ever happened to the Chasing Amy 10th Anniversary DVD?
Kevin said: “The Disney/Weinstein rift happened. We were game, but the folks at Disney Home Video slowed it all to a stand-still. Jerks.”