Seems like everyone in the ViewAskew universe was in that movie except her (she was Veronica in Clerks). She still acts; I would have thought she wouldn’t pass up a chance to be in another Kevin Smith production. Is there bad blood?
He also didn’t ask back Lisa Spoonhauer, Claire Forlani, Linda Fiorentino or Salma Hayek.
While I like his movies otherwise, it’s undeniable that Smith has no real use for women in his movies. His movies are about guys and women exist only based on what relationship they have to the guys. Even supposedly central characters like Alyssa Jones or Bethany Sloane are really only there to advance the story of the guys in the movie.
And this is not just about female characters. Reading or listening to Smith, you see the same attitude towards female peformers and women in general. No actresses have ever been invited to participate in his film commentaries and no actresses have joined his expanding group of repeat performers. They get used once and replaced. Even when he’s talking about women, he usuaully refers to them as so-and-so’s sister or girlfriend or wife.
You could probably get the word straight from him at the view askew forums… or on his blog (silentbobspeaks).
He answers questions on the forums quite frequently, but with the new flick coming out in four weeks, he might be a bit busy now.
Kevin’s really into comic books and Star Wars, so yeah…he’s not going to have a whole lot of interaction with women. 
Sure, but as far as actresses all of them except Spoonhauer might actually be working.
The other two, though, I imagine could find time to be in a Hollywood movie.
-Joe
If you listen to the audio commentary for Dogma you’ll learn why no Linda Fiorentino.
Two words: Bee Otch
Smith is the only director I know of who is incompetent enough to fail to pull good performances out of his actors (although George Lucas is also guilty of this), but then unprofessional enough to constantly speak ill of them, and how much he disliked working with them and wished he cast other people. He has gone on at great length about how much he regretted working with Jeremy London in Mallrats and Linda Fiorentino in Dogma (and how he wished he had cast Janeane Garofalo in her place). Both actors did poor jobs in their respective movies, and look very much like they didn’t want to be there. Gee, Kevin, I wonder why.
FWIW, I was a HUGE Kevin Smith fanboy in college. Memorized all his movies, bought his comics and action figures. Then I finally realized the emperor wore no clothes.
Okay, help me out with this. I’ve listened to the commentaries on all the movies and I’ve never heard any actor bashing (Lou didn’t say the Fiorentino bashing happened on the commentary, but Seven suggested as much).
The only acting that I’ve heard him refer to as being bad, would have to be his own acting as Silent Bob.
In fact, from memory, on the Dogma commentary I remember him saying he originally thought of Bethany as being much younger but that he decided to go with Fiorentino because he was so impressed with her audition.
Jeremy London was included in the Mallrats 10th Anniversary Reunion Q&A- just a little over a year ago. So, did Jeremy London agree to be involved in the reunion after Smith had trashed him, or has Smith just started trashing him in the last year??? They were very friendly at the Reunion- at least while they were onstage together.
I just don’t get the fuss over Kevin Smith. He’s a mediocre director, a terrible writer, and the acting in his films is embarrassingly bad. Watching one of his films is like watching something the quirky-and-enthusiastic-yet-not-particularly-bright-or-talented neighbor kid put together. You know, the goofy kid with the treefort who collects funny-looking bugs in babyfood jars, but who hasn’t the slightest concept of or interest in actual entomology. The only truly funny thing I can remember from one of his films is Jay’s “performance” in Clerks. And then even that got old.
Well that’s just like…your opinion…man.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a big Smith fan. I think he’s made some great movies. But he does have some flaws. His attitude towards women I’ve already mentioned (and I want to emphasize he’s not hostile towards women; he just too much “bros before hos”). I think he’s a good director but not an inspired one (Quentin Tarantino, for example, can get a surprisingly good performance out of an actor; with Smith, you get the performance the actor brought to the movie). And I think he’s too willing to recycle the same old stuff (although to his credit, I believe he realizes this and does try to move on to new ground - but if it doesn’t work he retreats back to the safe stuff).
That said, he’s got genuine talent as a writer, both in plotting and in dialogue. I think he underrates his own abilities as an actor. And he seems like a genuinely good person.
I’m a fan of Smith, as well.
I had an evening the other night where I made the b/f watch Chasing Amy. (I’d already showed him Clerks and Dogma Both of which he loved.)
And he was wowed.
Kevin Smith can do a thing that few writer/directors can do: grab you and hold you and make you watch the story. Is he wonderfully technically proficient? No.
But he’s started to hire people that are.
And his attitude towards women? He’s just kinda a guy. I’ve never been offended by anything he’s done.
Thats my eleven cents worth
Shut the fuck up, Donny.