Kevin Smith Talks ‘Tusk,’ Filmmaking, and Visiting the ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ Set

Kevin Smith always gives an annual Hall H Q&A every Comic-Con, and while you can always get tickets to a Kevin Smith show year-round, there’s something special about seeing him in his home turf. This year was a little special though, because Smith combined his typical Q&A with a panel for his latest movie, Tusk. Tusk is special for a few reasons. One, it’s a movie that came out of nowhere years after Smith announced his retirement from filmmaking at the Sundance premiere of Red State. It’s also a movie that exists because of a podcast, Smodcast episode 259 to be exact. A U.K. man put out an ad for a roommate, but requested the roommate wear a walrus costume. Over the course of the podcast, Smith came up with an idea for a horror movie where a crazy man turns a guy into a walrus. He asked Twitter if he should actually make the movie, and the hashtag #Walrusyes came back a resounding positive.

At the 2014 Comic-Con, Smith showed the trailer and brought out stars Genesis Rodriguez and Haley Joel Osment. Earler in the Q&A he’d told the story about visiting the set of Star Wars: Episode VII, but wondering if J.J. Abrams invited the wrong Kevin by mistake. We discussed all of that, and the status of Clerks 3, and bookended the interview with a set of hugs because Smith and I go back almost 15 years of interviews.

Tusk is in theaters September 19, 2014.

– By Fred Topel


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