We’re just 20 days away from the biggest pop culture convention of the year with Comic-Con 2012 coming next month, and slowly but surely studios and TV networks are firming up their rosters of films and series that will take San Diego by storm. This week it’s AMC announcing their line-up of panels for the convention, and the trio of programs hitting the Con is no surprise.

The Walking Dead will make a triumphant return to the convention with an hour-long panel in Hall H moderated by Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick and including special guests like cast members Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Denai Guerrero and David Morrisey along with Executive Producer and Showrunner Glen Mazzara, Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd, Executive Producer Robert Kirkman and Co-Executive Producer and Special Effects Make-up Supervisor Greg Nicotero.  But that’s not all. Hit the jump for more.

It appears comic books and zombies are still all the rage for fans of AMC programming. Obviously The Walking Dead is already a hit, but apparently the talk show hosted by Chris Hardwick that follows every episode of the hit drama with special guests and fans of the series is big enough to keep around as well. AMC just announced that it has renewed Talking Dead for a second season and the Pawn Stars inspired nerd-fest Comic Book Men has also been picked up for a second season. Hit the jump for comments from both Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick and Comic Book Men creator and executive producer Kevin Smith.

On March 21^st, Collider was invited along with a handful of other outlets to the set of the new CBS Films comedy Get A Job, directed by Dylan Kidd (Rodger Dodger) and following four recent college graduates (played by Miles Teller, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Brandon T. Jackson and Nicholas Braun) who discover that their lofty expectations and the realities of adulthood are two very different things.

While we’ll post what he had to say about making that film closer to its release, which is expected to be sometime next year, we did want to share what actor Nicholas Braun had to say about his lead role in Kevin Smith’s hockey film Hit Somebody.  Check out what he had to say about the script after the jump:

Morgan Spurlock took his camera to Comic-Con in 2010 and joined forces with geek icons Stan Lee and Joss Whedon to turn the footage into the documentary Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope.  The trailer was released tonight.  I was struck by the fact that, unlike Spurlock’s other docs, he doesn’t appear on screen in this one.  If the trailer is any indication, Spurlock instead assigned the dominant voice to Kevin Smith, likely as official an authority on Comic-Con can be.

The massive cultural phenomenon is obviously ripe for exploration.  And Spurlock seems most drawn to the aspects of the convention that I as a movie blogger have little exposure to, like the intense costumes or the actual comic industry dealings.  Most of the reviews from festival premieres have been positive, save our own.  All in all, early signs suggest A Fan’s Hope lives up to the title.  Watch the trailer after the jump.

In addition to his endless promotion of Red State and his rising empire of podcasts ranging from his activities with Jason Mewes to reflections on Saturday Night Live with Jon Lovitz, it looks like filmmaker Kevin Smith is now heading back to television. Previously his highly regarded indie film Clerks headed to ABC as an animated series, and now Smith will chronicle the happenings inside his comic book shop, Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash and a new unscripted series on AMC aptly titled Secret Stash. The one hour series captures the world of the local comic book store and will document the daily banter of the store’s employees and devoted customers along with the fun and emotion of buying and selling collectibles and comic memorabilia that happens in comic book stores all across the country. The first season will have six one-hour episodes and is expected to air early next year.

Smith, who always has a way with words, says, “Draper.  Meth.  Zombies.  This show couldn’t be on a better network.  AMC is to television what Miramax was to cinema back when I first got in the game: they’re the premier destination for any story-teller looking to spin an offbeat yarn that no other outlet has the stones to touch. And as if I didn’t love them enough, now they’re putting my friends on TV!   I’m ecstatic, proud, and extremely lucky to be in bed with a network I watch religiously anyway.  And if they’d pushed just a little harder in the negotiations, I’d have done this show for no payment beyond early access to every episode of Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead.  Details on AMC’s greenlight of another unscripted series called JJK Security after the jump.

Confidence is a crucial quality in a filmmaker.  Unlike the artistic expression of a painting or a novel, a film requires marshaling a small army to execute thousands of decisions in order to achieve a filmmaker’s vision.  Kevin Smith is not a filmmaker who exudes confidence.  After the noble failure of Jersey Girl, he retreated to the safety of Clerks II and then followed it up with the simple-yet-enjoyable Zack and Miri Make a Porno and the widely-despised Cop Out.  His new film, Red State, is a radical departure for Smith and yet he lacks the confidence to properly execute the action-horror-thriller he’s devised.  Visually and aurally impressive and featuring a phenomenal performance from Michael Parks, the film never completely comes together as it’s undermined by poorly-timed humor, clumsy exposition, and a refusal to trust the audience with ideas more complex than “fascism is bad.”

Actor, writer and director Kevin Smith has lashed out at Bruce Willis on Marc Maron’s podcast, claiming that working with the action icon during shooting for his recent film Cop Out was “soul crushing”. It’s not new gossip, although officially denied, there were reports at the time that not all was hunky dory on set. Now that the hype surrounding the movie has cleared, Kevin Smith has more or less explicitly stated that there were problems, and those problems were caused by Bruce Willis. During his conversation with Maron about the movie, Smith referred to marketing issues when “one guy wouldn’t even sit for a f*cking poster shoot”. Prompted for a name by Maron, Smith said:

“Everyone knows who it is.  Put it this way, remember the really funny guy in the movie?  It ain’t him.  He’s a f*cking dream.  Tracy Morgan, I would lay down in traffic for.  Were it not for Tracy, I might’ve killed myself or someone else in the making of that movie.”

It could be a clash of egos, because there’s no denying that both of these men have massive egos, but if we’re to believe Smith’s reports, Willis was no barrel of laughs on set. Hit the jump for the low down.

We have a couple of bits of casting news to send your way tonight.  First up, Kevin Smith has announced that Kyle Gallner (Red State) will play a character similar to “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky in Smith’s upcoming hockey-film Hit Somebody.  Per Cinema Blend, Gallner will make a turn as a budding hockey star who is just entering the NHL.  The actor joins a cast that already includes fellow Red State co-stars Nicholas Braun and Ralph Garman.  Speaking of Red State, the film is scheduled to debut at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival which runs January 20th-30th.

Next up, Golden Globe-winner Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) has signed on to star alongside Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the horror/thriller Dibbuk Box.  Directed by Ole Bornedal (Nightwatch), Dibbuk Box tells the story of a family who discovers that a mysterious box they purchased at a yard sale contains a spirit that is determined to “devour its human host.”  According to Deadline, Sedgwick will play the mother of the child who becomes attached to the death box.  Dibbuk Box is currently slated for a Halloween release on October 28th.

New posters for Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood and Kevin Smith’s Red State have landed online.  While neither is that different from their previous offerings (Red Riding Hood here, Red State here), the Red Riding Hood layout features an ominous view of Amanda Seyfried making her way through a snow-filled forest.  As for the Red State sheet, it is another installation in the film’s character posters and it features James Parks in his role as Mordechai.

To check out the posters, hit the jump. Red Riding Hood also stars Lukas Haas and Gary Oldman and is scheduled to hit theaters on March 11th.  Red State also stars Melissa Leo, John Goodman, and Kevin Pollak and is currently looking at an unspecified March release.

Kevin Smith has released the first teaser trailer for his upcoming horror movie Red State.  Premiering at next month’s Sundance Film Festival, Red State is a huge departure for Smith as the flick is about “a group of misfits [who] encounter extreme fundamentalism in Middle America.”  The film stars Michael Parks, Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Kevin Pollak, Anna Gunn, Stephen Root, and Smith’s Hit Somebody lead Nicholas Braun.  Parks is said to play a Fred Phelps-type preacher who leads a family of followers.

If you’ve been following the development of Red State, you know Smith had a really tough time getting the financing together due to the difficult subject matter.  And after watching the trailer, I can see why.  Red State looks nothing like his previous films and I’m definitely catching this at the first press screening at Sundance.  While I loved Smith’s first few films, I’ve been very disappointed with his recent output.  And his attitude about critics hasn’t helped his cause.  Saying all that, I’d love for him to rebound with Red State.  Judge the trailer for yourself after the jump.

Earlier today, we told you about how a Disney-less Miramax had teamed up with former Miramax owners Bob and Harvey Weinstein to develop sequels based on some of the more successful titles in the Miramax library. One of those titles that was mentioned in the press release was Kevin Smith’s debut Clerks.  While it’s hard to believe that the Brothers Weinstein would move forward with a Clerks sequel without Smith’s involvement, they do have the right to do so. After the news broke, Smith took to his twitter to give his two-cents on the subject, as well as some interesting information on the rights of his other titles. On the subject of Clerks, Smith had this to say:

I guess if someone was going to exploit the library for sequels, remakes, tv, I’d rather it be the devil I know. Nice to know there’s a home for ‘Clerks III’ if I ever wanted to make it, but hope it doesn’t become a home for a Clerks-anything if I’m not involved.

Hit the jump for more from Smith, including what would happen if Miramax decided they wanted to make another Jay and Silent Bob film, and some humorous musings on a Jersey Girl sequel.

Hot off the heels of news that Kevin Smith’s upcoming horror film Red State was recently accepted into the Sundance Film Festival, new images have been revealed from the film and a new poster has been unveiled by Smith himself. The poster was released by Smith via Twitter as a “thank you” to fans who pledged $1000 to The Wayne Foundation in less than 30 minutes. The Wayne Foundation is a charity devoted to stopping pederasts, with a mission to provide young women who have fallen victim to commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking with a means of leaving the sex industry for good.

The poster unveiled by Smith features Red State actress Kerry Bishe, and is one of four posters that Smith plans to release next week starting Monday. The headline of the poster, “The Virgin”, asserts Smith’s statement on his “Red State of the Union” podcast that the film begins very much like an 80’s horror film.  Smith’s podcast has been the source of a great deal of news concerning the film, particularly his description of the flick as essentially about “sex, religion, and politics.”  The images from the film that were released showcase Smith’s stellar cast, and confirm that the film is a drastic departure from his previous catalog of films. Hit the jump the check out the poster and images, as well as a bit more on the flick.

While Kevin Smith recently wrapped filming (and completed a first cut) of his horror film Red State, he’s also looking ahead to his hockey-centered film that will be his follow-up. Hit Somebody is a script that Smith has been working on for a while, that’s based on the Warren Zevon song of the same name, with lyrics written by Mitch Albom.  Via his most recent edition of his Hollywood Babble-On podcast with Ralph Garman, Smith revealed that he’s found his lead in actor Nicholas Braun, who Smith recently worked with on Red State. In fact, Smith said that he found “so much of [his Hit Somebody] cast making Red State,” so expect to see a few familiar faces once Hit Somebody rolls around (including podcast co-host and Red State cast member Garman, Smith confirms). Smith had this to say about casting Braun as his lead:

He’s this really really great actor who I love to death and he is the perfect lead for this script…he’s such a good guy, he’s a sweetheart and he’s fuckin so dope in [Red State]

Braun’s credits include Sky High and the short-lived TV series 10 Things I Hate About You. He’ll next be seen in the upcoming high-school dramedy from Disney, Prom.  Seann William Scott was previously attached to star in Hit Somebody after working with Smith on Cop Out, but chose to star in Jay Baruchel’s hockey comedy Goon instead when Smith decided to film Red State first.  For more on Smith’s upcoming projects, including more info on the plot of Red State, hit the jump.

Director Kevin Smith quietly wrapped shooting his latest film Red State last week, and in what has to be a near-unprecedented move, he screened the entire film for the cast and crew at the wrap party.  It’s no secret that Smith is the editor on all of his films, and usually edits while the film is still shooting.  But with Red State it appears he was able to cut the entire flick by the end of the wrap, credits and all.

Late this morning, Smith cryptically asked via his Twitter account “trick or treat?”  Minutes later, after apparently garnering an overwhelming number of “treats”, Smith posted a link to his blog where he unveiled the fantastic teaser poster for Red State as well as a statement regarding the flick.  Smith’s just coming off the premiere of his EpixHD comedy special Too Fat for 40, about which we had the opportunity to sit down with the man himself to discuss.  For more from Smith, the teaser poster, and info on Red State, hit the jump.

Kevin Smith seems to be in his Dalai Lama period. After years getting in much publicized rows with critics and the internet, his attitude toward movies and life at once seems more hardened and more accepting. “I don’t need people to validate me anymore,” Smith says. “I did at one point, but I don’t now.” Smith’s secret? “I started smoking weed at thirty eight. I highly recommend it.”

Collider was recently invited to a special screening of Kevin Smith’s new comedy special for EPIX, Too Fat for 40. After an extended clip of the special, Smith treated the group to a Q&A in which the cult director discussed his life, his approach to comedy and his views on the world in general.

The special is somewhere between a real stand up show and the popular Evening with Kevin Smith series. “[About the Evening with Kevin Smith series] one guy on the internet said, ‘he’s so conceited, he has three DVDs of him talking’. So I was like ‘fuck that guy, I’m not going to do them any more’. But that is so stupid. To spite some guy who’s not even into it. So when Epix called, it was great. I had three years’ worth of stories built up.”  Continued after the jump: