A Jay & Silent Bob Movie Happened Thanks To This Kevin Smith Cameo

Before the dawn of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, franchise films used to be made in a much more improvised manner. These days, we’re used to studios and filmmakers having a multi-year plan in place for an interlocking series of films and their respective franchises, and while this system can create some rewarding emotional and narrative payoffs, it’s not allows for so much spontaneous freedom. With this freedom, filmmakers were able to follow their muse to places they had never thought of going before, and not just characters or moments thought of on the fly; in some cases, an entire film came about based on a chance encounter.

That’s exactly what happened to Kevin Smith during his prime years making movies set in his View Askewuniverse, named after the View Askew production company he created when he started making movies. Initially, these films were mostly interconnected in a more Easter Egg fashion, with the only major connective tissue being the appearance of Smith’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern meets Laurel and Hardy (with a dash of Cheech and Chong) duo. oh Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith himself) in each film. Eventually, Jay and Silent Bob began appearing in other films and television that were not made by Smith and were not specifically part of the View Askewniverse, although the presence of the characters clearly opened the door for loose inclusion. .

One of these films was “Scream 3” by Wes Craven. with the comedic duo featured in a cameo as part of that franchise’s ongoing embrace of the meta-blurring of lines between real life and reel life. It was during the shooting of this cameo that Smith had a bit of an epiphany about his films, leading to writing and directing the fifth View Askew film, “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” which brought the Askewniverse itself into a more coherent one. whole.

The appearance of Jay and Silent Bob in “Scream 3” was not part of any master plan by either Smith, Craven, or anyone else involved in the film. It just so happened that Smith and “Scream” were both under the Miramax/Dimension Films banner, and back and a recent interview with Smith for Entertainment Weeklythe people in the studio who came up with the cameo:

“So, we were asked by the people at Miramax, ‘Hey man, do you want to pop up in the next “Scream” movie as Jay and Silent Bob?’ And they were like, ‘I got into it,’ meaning Craven.”

While shooting the cameo scene, where Jay and Silent Bob bump into Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) while touring the studio where “Stab 3” is being filmedSmith couldn’t help but marvel at how his novel characters looked among the sound stages. As he recalled:

“And you have to remember most of the films I did, all the films I did, none of them were on much. So as we walked around the sound stages I was like, ‘This would be f—ing dope man — do a whole movie like on a sound stage… Jay and Silent Bob are jumping around and doing things.’ Where did ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’ come from.”

Although the entire footage of “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” has not been set in and around the soundstages, Smith made sure to write a long set for the film where the duo breaks on behalf of Miramax, fulfilling the vision he had for it. the “Scream 3” set.

The majority of the cameos seen in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” involve previous View Askewniverse characters and the actors who play them – Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Alanis Morissette among them – or from heroes of geek culture and Smith’s comedy. , such as Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill from “Star Wars,” and stand-up legend George Carlin. So while Wes Craven’s appearance in the film may seem a little out of place on paper, it makes sense when one realizes that this is Smith’s way of paying back the director for the indirect inspiration he provided. In true meta fashion, Craven turns up as himself, directing “Scream 4” (a full decade before he made “Scream 4”) where the orangutan somehow known as Suzanne plays Ghostface. Smith made sure to shout the tribute in his interview:

“That’s why Wes Craven is in ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.’ I paid it back.”

As Smith goes on to say, all of this means that Jay and Silent Bob are not just part of View Askewniverse, but that they are also part of the “Scream” franchise.as well as the series “Degrassi” (appearing in “Degrassi: The Next Generation”) and the DC comics TV Arrowverse, turning up as security guards in an episode of “The Flash.” If Kevin Smith wasn’t open to spontaneity, then neither he nor his creations could have flourished as much as they did. While the lovable duo’s latest appearances have been relegated to “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot” and “Clerks III,” keep your eyes peeled; the doors are open for Jay and Silent Bob strike almost anywhere next.