Apart from being a well-regarded director and obsessive hockey fan, Kevin Smith has turned into a sort of spokesman for the nerd/ geek community. He’s given access to long-term plans. His opinion is always asked on even the most minor superhero-related controversies, and he’s even invited on sets to view productions in progress. Recently, that latest perk took him to the set of Star Wars Episode VII, and let’s just say the trip went pretty well for all involved.
The director obviously wasn’t able to comment on anything he saw while he was there, but whatever the hell happened left him misty-eyed and pumped up enough about the future of the Star Wars franchise to say, "The Force is WITH this movie." Check out the teary selfie he posted to his Instagram below…
The obsessive fandom of Kevin Smith comes with both its pros and cons, at least in terms of judging an in-development film like Star Wars Episode VII. He’s got far too much pride and too much geek credibility to ever change or mask his genuine feelings for the sake of a big budget production, but as someone who obsessively loves things like Star Wars and Batman, he’s predisposed to going really, really positive and really, really negative. When seeing something new and outside the box, the last thing you would expect would be neutrality.
That being said, Kevin Smith crying tears of joy on the Star Wars set is certainly better than the alternative. I would much rather have him on board with a production like this than step inside and freak out over all the little details and decisions that are overtly being made wrong. If nothing else, he should be providing some level of encouragement and a reason to be about 5% more optimistic.
We know quite a bit about Episode VII, but we still don’t know some basic information related to plot and which of the many esteemed actors will be playing which roles. With unlimited piles of money and a renewed emphasis on producing material that follows the spirit of the original works, however, there are many who are expecting the franchise to be completely revitalized after it was all but left for dead following George Lucas’ less than stellar second trilogy.
We’ll keep you updated on Star Wars news over the next year, and something tells us Kevin Smith will too.
