Well, this is a turn up for the books. It was last year that Kevin Smith had announced his retirement from the world of movies with Clerks 3 being his swansong. However, with that movie up in the air and his new horror movie Tusk impressing critics worldwide, the former indie-darling has found a new love for making movies and the second part of his Canadian based horror trilogy Yoga Hosers is currently in production. Not only that, but he’s turned a corner on his views of film critics.
After the critical backlash against his “studio effort” Cop Out, Smith said that he was done with the system of allowing film critics to watch his work “for free” and then “sh*t all over it” and said that critics can only see his movies if they pay along with everyone else. But since all the positivity surrounding Tusk, Smith seems to have turned the other cheek.
“In the last few years I’ve gone after critics left and right, but this movie has changed my perspective,” Smith said in an interview with Variety. “And not because of what they said about me, but because of things like the response to Michael Parks. For a 74-year-old actor to read something from a total stranger that makes them breathless and puts tears in their eyes… Well, I’ll shut my mouth til the end of time about critics.”
In particular, Smith highlighted one review that called Parks’ performance “career crowning”.
Tusk is out in the US on September 19th, with a cast that includes Justin Long (Jeepers Creepers), Michael Parks (Red State), Genesis Rodriquez (The Last Stand), Haley Joel Osmont (The Sixth Sense), Harley Morenstein (Epic Meal Time), Ralph Garman (Family Guy) and Johnny Depp (The Lone Ranger). No UK date has been announced.
Originally published September 17, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
