Looks like Kev finally got this one off the ground and he said on twitter that this starts filming next week.
from cinematical
But 'Red State' - the supposedly grim and unflinching horror movie that Smith is fast gearing up to direct from his own script - might be the film with which Smith makes believers out of even his most diffident fans.


'Red State's' logline reads, "A group of kids encounters a crazed preacher (based on Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church) who gives a whole new meaning to the term "extreme fundamentalism," and Smith has always maintained that the film is going to be a direct and potentially significant horror portrait that won't submit itself to poop jokes or any of the other auteurist staples of Smith's cinema. Smith has been kicking the script around for years, but the project has been kept close to the vest, and details about plot or tone remain largely unknown. What we can tell you is that Smith has always evidenced a real faith that 'Red State' could be the film that takes him to the next level, and recent news of the cast he's trying to assemble suggests that he's shooting for the moon (or at least, like, The International Space Station).
cast
Michael Angarano
Kyle Gallner
Stephen Root
Melissa Leo
Nicholas Braun
Michael Parks
Ralph Garman
Matt L. Jones
Kevin Pollak
Really looking forward to this

I'm definitely interested in seeing this one.

Red State seems like such an outdated term.

I hate to be that guy but it's Kevin Pollak.

I'll be interested to see how this turns out. I don't believe he has the directorial chops to pull off a first rate horror film.

I thought I read somewhere that Smith compared this script to Race With The Devil when he was writing it.

If that's true, I'll definitely see it.

Heh, I like the list of Actors names in the thread title that... aren't particularly recognizable.

I can't say that anything about this excites me. I think Smith is extremely talented on many levels. However he "shoe horned" himself into the schtick that brought him to Hollywood and has seemed rather embittered about it recent years. Now that he has matured he seems resentful that he should have to earn the respect that he so desperately wants.

Smith has not managed to translate his success into mainstream films mainly due to his selection of material. I don't see this turning out any different. I hope that I'm wrong.

Kevin Smith and a horror movie? Two of my favorite things.

I'm in.

it doesn't refer solely to conservative states. In an interview Smith mentioned that Red was more a reference to blood.

intrigued

at "Leo" in the title. That's just a tad misleading.

Maybe I'm odd, but upon reading it I immediately assumed that "Leo" referred to Melissa Leo, mostly because all of the other names are clearly surnames and, thanks to her fairly recent Oscar nomination, Ms. Leo is hardly obscure.

I also assumed that "Pollock" referred to Kevin Pollak, and not the dead painter or an Atlantic whitefish.

All of Smith's recent films have been hyped as the "film that will take his career to the next level". But none of them did. I don't see how a horror film is going to take his career to the next level when horror is not what he is known for. Frankly, the subject, with Fred Phelps and all, sounds like it would make a better comedy, or a horror/comedy hybrid. That guy's begging to be made fun of.

I don't see Mr. Horror in the cast list.

Not sure how you can work a horror movie around smoking pot and sex with your wife -- but hey, I'll give it a look.

You think a puffy, red-eyed Kevin Smith trying to stuff a limp dick into you doesn't qualify as horror?

It's still a term with resonance in our consciousness, like "freedom fries" and greenhouse gas, so it's fair for him to play with the phrase. Some Phelpsian phrase like God Hates You might have indicated a different tone than what Smith wanted.

I saw that..and thought...somebody else that isn't LEOnardo DiCaprio, right?

I'm intrigued. I don't think he's made anything worth a damn since Chasing Amy, so this will be an interesting change of pace. The only thing he's done that I haven't seen is Cop Out, which I actually have right now from Netflix. I'll probably watch it on Monday, but I don't have high hopes.

Fixed that for you.

I think Kevin Smith needs to stop trying to find the "film that will take his career to the next level" and just try to make a decent movie that suits his best talent...his ability to write good dialog.

I totally disagree. Cop Out was a step, and for taking that step I still commend Smith, but it's such a minor, miniscule step it's mildly embarrassing, plus the effort itself was ultimately lackluster.

"The next level" doesn't necessarily mean Oscar nominations or something. It just means expanding his horizons a little farther than dick jokes or even comedy. The guy's been making movies since 1994, and as I told my friend, if a person were alive in 1994 and Clerks. really spoke to you, I have a hard time imagining that person being just as big a fan of Smith today and not being an embarrassing person to be around (sincere apologies if that describes anyone in this thread). At some point during The Town it amazed me that, although he's been on more movie sets than Smith, Affleck has created two pictures that outclass even the classiest moment in anything Smith has done to date. Affleck tries, and Smith dithers.

Red State sounds intriguing. I'm willing to see this and Hit Somebody, because they sound like interesting, horizon-expanding movies for Smith. I just think the guy needs a wake-up call, because in the past few years he's turned into a slightly bitter, slightly paranoid pot addict whose directorial career is increasingly covered in flop-sweat and strain. It'd be nice to see him buckle down and act professionally again.

John Goodman joins the cast of Red State.

Sounds entertaining though the title is pretty outdated, more readily associated with general right wingers more so than religious fantatics any more (living in the south, there is a huge distinction between the two.)

Phelps is ripe for mocking.