Last week I was invited to participate in a roundtable interview with Kevin Smith. While our 15 minute roundtable interview was supposed to revolve around the upcoming Cop Out Blu-ray and DVD release, Smith was kind enough to allow our interview to go a full half hour longer than planned so we could ask him about numerous topics, including his upcoming projects. Look for the full interview soon but first check out some updates from Smith on his future projects.

  • Smith says he wants to keep all casting news and major announcements for Red State secret. He says that after the Southwest incident he has no interest in ever seeing his name in a newspaper again and would rather the audience learn first hand about the cast then make a big announcement.
  • Smith wants actors who aren't totally unknown but actors who the audience shouldn't recognize.
  • Smith says that for the first time in his career he has the ability to cast major A-list "legends" in Red State but has no desire to.
  • Smith says he's still writing Hit Somebody and he's on page 81.

Continue reading for full quotes on Smith's future projects and make sure to check back soon for the full interview to see what Smith has to say about the Cop Out Blu-ray and the very cool "Maximum Comedy Mode" featured on the disc, his thoughts on 3D and Twitter and much more. Cop Out hits Blu-ray and DVD July 20.

For those just tuning in, Kevin Smith's next project, Red State, will be the director's first horror film. Not many details about the project have emerged but we do know that it will be a "political horror" movie where the villain is a powerful church leader. His next film after Red State is a hockey film called Hit Somebody. Slated to star Sean William Scott, the film is based on the Warren Zevon song of the same name. The film will follow one hockey goon's quest to score a goal and will stay somewhat close to the story presented in Zevon's song.

On not making any major announcements for Red State:

"This time I'm just trying to just do it differently where I'm like "lets kind of quietly make the movie and see what happens". You know, let everyone know when it's done."

On casting unrecognizable actors in Red State:

"For the first time since Clerks I'm trying to go, not unknown, but actors who aren't like, you're gonna see them on screen and not know their name...it's a weird kind of in between neither place that I'm reaching for. It's not complete unknown and it's not remotely fucking recognizable, name recognizable...It's really tough to find actors whose name you don't know. You know you can go to Law and Order and grab anybody from the cast and they've done five or six episodes and shit but you'd still recognize them and you'd be watching the movie and be like "that's that dude, I've seen that dude on Law and Order!" "

On the A-List talent that wants to be in Red State and why they want to be in the project:

"It's ironic, this is the first time this has ever happened to me. I've gotten calls from every agency thus far in town pitching me huge fucking talent. Big talent, like Academy Award winning talent, like serious actors, not like fucking "hey man, this dude is huge right now!" I'm talking legends and shit because there's a part in the movie that calls for an older guy....Huge fucking names though and each time I'm just like "Why?! Why are you calling me?! This is suspicious. I don't get these calls." And they're like "Well because your name is such...people want to work with you!" I was like "Don't bullshit, why are you calling." And he was like "Nothing's happening right now" and I was like "Really?" And they're like "Nothing is happening in this town, nobody's working right now." I was like "really?" He was like "honestly dude you're one of the only games in town." He's like "it's ironic that you can have your pickings of grade A talent right now and you keep talking about wanting to cast people I've never heard of." And I was like "that's the key with this one." "

When asked if he was still working on Hit Somebody, Smith replied:

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on page 81...Writing it right now."

-