Earlier today, Collider was invited to a special screening of Too Fat for 40, Kevin Smith’s new comedy special for EPIX. After an extended clip, Smith treated the group to a Q&A, some of which shed light on his upcoming horror movie Red State, as well as other projects.

“Visually speaking, it’s the most ambitious movie we’ve ever made,” Smith said. “Everybody’s pulling their belts, taking a massive pay cut. Some of us might not even get paid… and it breaks my heart that after all this we’ll just sell it to a studio that’ll spend twice as much on marketing as we spent to make it.”

More on Red State, his hockey movie Hit Somebody, and what’s up with the Clerks: The Animated Series after the jump:

He went on to praise the work of David Klein, the Director of Photography on Red State. “I said that about Cop Out – that it doesn’t look like anything we’ve ever done before. This movie really doesn’t look like anything we’ve done before.”

Smith also let it be known that Red State was not a comedy. “There’s some gallows humor, some dark fucking laughs. And Michael Park’s performance is not to be believed… to me, it plays like an exploitation film. When I was growing up, my favorite kind of movies were devil worshipping movies. This is an angel worship movie. You’ll see what I mean.”

He also spoke about his next film, Hit Somebody, based on a Warren Zevon song of the same name. “It’s this hockey movie,” he said. “As written – and I can’t speak to what it will eventually look like – it’s really kind of a eulogy to youth.” According to Smith, he’s close to finishing the script and the next stop is to show it to Mitch Albom, the best-selling author who wrote the lyrics to Zevon’s famous song.

“I’m a little nervous about it,” Smith admitted. “Because it’s based on something he wrote.”

Some good news for View Askewniverse fans – when asked about a return to Clerks: The Animated Series, Smith admitted it was possible. A return to the cancelled six episode ABC series was originally planned as a film, Clerks: Sell Out, but the return was made difficult when the Weinstein Bros. left Miramax.

Given the recent sale of Miramax, Smith speculated the new owners would be looking to monetize old properties as soon as possible. “Maybe we’ll go and talk to them,” he said.

Look for more with Kevin Smith in the coming days.