You truly never know what’s going happen when making a movie like Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. Writer/director/co-star Kevin Smith certainly knows that lesson first hand after decades of making movies, and his latest story to that effect plays into the fact that Smith had a big cameo planned for the film that involved none other than Snoop Dogg himself. Though as it turns out, that cameo never happened, and for some pretty hilarious reasons.
I was given the honor to speak with Kevin Smith recently, on behalf of CinemaBlend, to discuss Jay and Silent Bob Reboot and all of the fun stories that went into how and why the movie was made. As this film is already stacked with cameos from folks like Val Kilmer, Rosario Dawson, Shannon Elizabeth, and Supergirl’s Melissa Benoist, I was curious about just which surprise guest was the hardest to land in the film’s litany of famous faces. Which opened the door to Smith telling the following story:
We almost had Snoop Dogg, and in order to have him, we needed to give him a private jet, because he don’t fly commercial. We had no money in the budget for that whatsoever, so we made this sponsorship deal where a weed company is referenced in the movie, so they us money that we were going to use for Snoop Dogg’s private jet. But then Snoop Dogg ghosted us. We just lost contact altogether with him and his camp. I guess he just ultimately didn’t want to make the trip. So we had this kind of jet standing by that was gonna be used by nobody, and that’s when the Ben thing happened.
“The Ben thing” is, of course, a reference to the fact that ReelBlend co-host Kevin McCarthy kicked off the process of reuniting Kevin Smith with his longtime collaborator Ben Affleck, which in turn landed him a role in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. Smith, sending a text inspired by Conan The Barbarian, asked his old friend to come back to the fold. And Affleck thankfully accepted.
Strangely enough, the big ticket cameo from Ben Affleck in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot looked like it almost didn’t happen itself. In fact one particular snag could have prevented the return of Holden McNeil, despite Affleck’s want to be in the film. Though, as Kevin Smith would explain in his continuing remarks, Snoop Dogg had inadvertently paved the way for this joyous occasion to take place.
So we were talking, and he goes, ‘My only problem is I have a hard time flying commercial. How big is this movie? Can you get a jet?’ And I was like, ‘This movie’s not big at all, but oddly enough you’ve asked a question at the exact right time. I could get you a jet here.’ And I explained [to him] that, ‘We had a jet standing by for Snoop, and now we don’t know where he is, but if you need a ride, I could get you down to New Orleans.’ So Ben flew to New Orleans to shoot that eight page Chasing Amy sequel that takes place right in the middle of that movie.
Cameos are one of the most interesting “what might have been” scenarios when it comes to any film like Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. Knowing that Snoop Dogg almost had a spot in the follow-up to 2001’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is one of those instances, teases the audience to think about what a meeting of the minds between these two parties would have looked like.
Imagine: these colossuses of Chronic, these mastermind of Marijuana, mixing it up on the big screen. Surely, this would have been a scene for the ages, as Kevin Smith knows how to use a cameo to great effect in his films. However, if this “what if” scenario had to die in order to give us Ben Affleck’s return to the View Askewniverse, then it’s a sacrifice that’s more than acceptable.
The story about how Snoop Dogg’s cameo gave way to the return of Chasing Amy’s Holden McNeil is pretty hilarious; but it leads to an even bigger tale about how Smith was allowed to nail the ending to Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. However, that’s a story for another day, as it not only shows how one simple change can turn a good film into an even better one; it’s also a spoiler-heavy tale that talks about the more emotional side of the film’s plot.
If you want to see Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, you’re about to have two pretty big chances to get in on the magic. Tickets for the October 15th & 17th nationwide release of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot are available, and you can pre-order them at the Fathom Events’ website.
