While the content within Kevin Smith's movies may not be for everyone, it's certainly hard to argue with his motivations, which include "making the movies he wants to make," The comic-savvy filmmaker has been expanding his work on the small screen with much the same outlook, most notably on The Flash, and Smith recently shared his thoughts on how his time with The Flash is actually helping out the feature film side of his career.
When I was a kid in the early days of indie film, they had a one for you, one for them mentality where the really good filmmakers like a Steven Soderbergh could do one of his movies, and then do one for the studios, and then go back and do another one for him. So I feel like right now, that's kind of where I am with the Berlanti shows on The CW. Being able to go into that world and play nice with others and do a job where people are happy and they like it, that's doing one for them so to speak. It proves that I could color between the lines if I had to. That just gives me more freedom to go off and fuck around in my own world and make these goofy horror movies set in Canada.
Since the widely reported on days of Clerks' slapdash production, Kevin Smith has largely kept to his own aesthetics and ideals, with only the rarest outlier like Cop Out. He hasn't always had this kind of balanced attitude about it all, though, and he hasn't spoken too highly of the studio system in the past, which makes getting proper film funding just a tad more difficult. But television is a whole different world, and a show like The Flash gives Smith the creative space to bang out a polished product on a shortened schedule, and he absolutely loves what he's doing and the people he's doing it with. So it's seemingly a no-loss situation for him.
In his conversation with ComicBook.com, Kevin Smith was clear that the praise and goodwill received from last year's Flash episode "The Runaway Dinosaur" (and hopefully this past Tuesday's "Killer Frost") will be put toward getting his next film Moosejaws in motion. As you might remember, that will be the Jaws-with-a-moose horror serving as the final film in the trilogy begun by Tusk and Yoga Hosers, two films that definitely lacked the acclaim of Smith's superhero TV work.
While last night's "Killer Frost" had some issues storywise, it was still a pretty fun romp that looked great, with shocks and reveals and emotional hardships for Barry. (Plus, that awesome Frozen gag.) I love that Smith doesn't have to choose, and is able to do both these more commercial projects that still speak to his heart, as well as his weirdo passion projects that are destined for midnight marathons. And it's not like The Flash is just helping him on the film side, as he's also got the Mallrats TV series coming, as well as the TV take on Buckaroo Banzai, so the future is only looking brighter for the Jersey native.
Now we wait to see what Kevin Smith will do next with his film career - and it won't be this - though he is directing the Supergirl episode "Supergirl Lives," which will air in January. Meanwhile, The Flash airs Tuesday nights on The CW, with next week bringing the highly anticipated Heroes vs. Aliens mega-crossover. To see what else is coming to the small screen in the future, head to our fall TV schedule and our midseason premiere schedule.
Photo Credit@The CW
