Genre: Comedy
Cast: Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Joey Lauren Adams, Ben Affleck, Jeff Anderson, Jules Asner, Diedrich Bader, Jason Biggs, George Carlin, Ever Carradine, Matt Damon, Eliza Dushku, Shannon Elizabeth, Dwight Ewell, Will Ferrell, Renee Humphrey, Steve Kmetko, Jason Lee, Tracy Morgan, Alanis Morissette, Judd Nelson, Brian O'Halloran, Chris Rock, Seann William Scott, James Van Der Beek, Scott Mosier, a monkey.
Director: Kevin Smith
Screenwriter: Kevin Smith
Distributor: Dimension Films (Miramax)
Release Date: August 24, 2001
Website: www.newsaskew.com/va5
Premise: This is to be the final live-action feature film set in Kevin Smith's "View Askewniverse," following Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma.
News: [ 26.Sep.01 ] The site for FHM magazine has posted a video about the girls of 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.' It includes comments from Eliza about their characters and what it was like to work with Kevin as an actor/director. They've also thrown in a few scenes from the movie, including the one where Sissy, Missy and Chrissy first meet Jay and Silent Bob... Kevin Smith also confirmed yesterday that the DVD and VHS release date for J&SBSB will be on February 12.
[ 24.Sep.01 ] 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' is nearing the end of it's North American run, and looks to achieve a domestic box office target of over $30M. Kevin mentioned on the View Askew boards last week that the DVD looks set for a spring 2002 release.
[ 14.Sep.01 ] This is more of Eliza talking with Cinescape about her first meeting with Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier, and how she got cast as Sissy in 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.'
Speaking of stakes, Eliza Dushku is all too familiar with them - but those of a different kind. The actress played the vampire slayer Faith in season three of the popular WB series BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, now starting its sixth season on the UPN network. Dushku’s experience on BUFFY helped in her role of Sissy for JAY AND SILENT BOB. In the film, she is part of the butt-kicking trio of beautiful international jewel thieves that frame Jay and Silent Bob for robbery. Although Dushku admits, like with BUFFY, much of what you see on TV and film isn’t really her.
"It was a very BUFFYish kind of fighting," says Dushku in regards to her work in the film. "The two stunt doubles do the main master shot and then they just do pop shots of us in there and say, ‘Okay do this, now duck and kick.’ They were such troopers those girls."
When Dushku met Smith at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, she was unsure whether the director was a fan of her work in BUFFY or whether he had seen her in TRUE LIES, THIS BOY’S LIFE or BYE, BYE LOVE. She says meeting the director and his producer Scott Mosier for the first time was an experience she’ll never forget.
"They said, ‘Look hot.’ So I put on this stuff and I go down there and I’m trying to be sweet because I’ve been known to have a bad attitude in the past, and you know, you want to get the part. So, I’m like, ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ and Kevin’s like, ‘Hey, so you’re on BUFFY, right?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ And then he totally starts being this cynical jerk and I’m like, ‘Hey, are you guys making a movie?’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t know. Are we? We just wanted to see how many girls we could get to come down to the Four Seasons.’ They were just being so cynical. As much as he was making fun of BUFFY, he was like, ‘We’re going to season three of the show and I’m sure we’re going to see you.’ I was like, ‘Oh, I see.’ And we actually hit it off because we went head to head and I wasn’t really taking his sh**, and we actually got to like each other."
Actress and ex-journalist, as well as wife of the director, Jennifer Smith defends her husband’s casting methods.
"She was down there with them for like four hours and I’m like, ‘I know that she’s in the movie.’ They loved her. He was waiting for someone that he could bond with and someone that would give it back to him and she was perfect."
[ 1.Sep.01 ] The interview that Extra conducted with Eliza is available on their website. Real Player is required to view it... News Askew has posted a new print ad for 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' that again features Eliza... Jennifer Schwalbach Smith has been posting some messages on the official View Askew message boards, and she's revealed a few things about the developement of the characters that she, Ali Larter and Eliza played in J&SBSB. Namely, that in one of the earlier drafts, all three of them were meant to be "getting down." Er, check out the following threads if interested. Thread 1 - Thread 2 - Thread 3
[ 26.Aug.01 ] According to studio estimates, 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' has come in third at the box office this weekend, behind 'American Pie 2' and 'Rush Hour 2.' Estimates have them taking in $11.1M, $1.7M behind AP2. It did manage an average of $4,014 per theatre, just below AP2's $4,055 (AP2 and RH2 played on 300+ more screens.)
[ 25.Aug.01 ]According to figures posted over at View Askew and News Askew, 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' took the top spot at the box office on Friday night, but it didn't open as well as Kevin or the studios had hoped. (Only about $400K in front of 'American Pie 2' but about $1.5M ahead of the closest new release, 'Summer Catch.') So go see it again today, if you want to see another one of Eliza's movies go to number one. Kevin has sweetened the deal by offering a signed and personalized poster of J&SBSB to everyone who sends in ticket stubs from Friday and Saturday night. Check out his message for more info on how J&SBSB is doing... And this poster was at the bottom of Mysterio's final report on 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' at Ain't It Cool News. I guess Eliza did make the poster in some areas (and nudging out Will Ferrell.) Check out Mysterio's report for another entertaining read... or at least for the mention of Eliza in the article's introduction by Moriarty.
[ 20.Aug.01 ] TV Guide Online has posted an article about Eliza, with a mention of her appearance in J&SBSB and her penchant for bad girl roles. Check out the article and accompanying picture at TV Guide Online.
Buffy Bad Girl's Secret
Everybody is kung-fu fighting! Or at least, dusky Eliza Dushku seems to be doing so in most of her roles. Best known as the feral Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she's also kicked up her heels as rough-and-tumble cheerleader Missy in Bring It On. Next up, she dons a catsuit as Sissy, a bad-ass jewel thief in director Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (opening Friday).
Unlike so many of today's starlets, Dushku has eschewed boring, bimbo girlfriend parts in lieu of playing violent femme fatales. Why is she such a devotee of the Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! school of acting?
"I think it's my coloring," she smirks to TV Guide Online. "I think it's the dark hair. You don't see a lot of blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls playing the tough, edgy character roles. And the fact that I grew up in Boston with three older brothers and I have this deep, smoky voice — and I've always been an outspoken junior toughie.
"I always kind of knew how to hold my own playing touch football with my brothers," she adds, grinning. "I guess these little girls who grew up in Hollywood — not to stereotype these girls — but they don't have that."
Toward the end of Jay and Silent Bob, she and co-star Shannon Elizabeth indulge drooling male moviegoers with a bit by catfighting Angel-style. Of course, they didn't do all that scrapping without some backup. "Are we actually in the movie?" jokes Dushku. "[This scene] was very Buffy-ish kind of fighting where the two stunt doubles do the main master shot. That was totally the amazing, talented women who came in and they were like, 'Oh, so I just bounced off the wall and cracked my skull, but sure, I'll do it again!' They're such troupers." — Daniel R. Coleridge
[ 9.Aug.01 ] A French site, Canal Plus, has posted streaming video files of the press junket interviews conducted with the 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' people. They've included one with Eliza, Jennifer and Ali (and a quick appearance by Jason Mewes.)
[ 24.Jul.01 ] Buried admist Mysterio's report on the recording of the score for 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' last Wednesday, was this mention of Eliza doing her ADR: "The reason being in doing this is that sometimes while shooting, dialogue can seem "dirty", "unintelligible" or that the director is just not content with the delivery of a particular line reading, and for those reasons today, we find Jay, Dietrich Bader and Eliza Dushku coming in to loop some of their dialogue. Eliza opts for the headphones and "beeps" to assist her, but oddly her voice since shooting, has gone through a slight change, which she accounts must be due to her recent decision to give up smoking and now lends itself to some difficulty in matching her voice."
[ 13.Jul.01 ] News Askew has put up links to a Windows Media version of the theatrical trailer to 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.' Eliza is in it, in the scene where she and the rest of the girls strides out of the van dressed in their latex catsuits. ... News Askew also reports that "...if your cable system carries the TV Guide Channel, wait long enough and you will see their "Behind The Scenes" segment on Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, including clips and interviews with Mark Hamill (they list his character as just "Knocker") and Eliza "Duckshoot" Dushku. They promise more coverage as the release gets closer." ... All of the J&SBSB press junket transcripts has been put up at Mr Brown's Movie Site. In the Eliza and Jennifer Smith transcript, Eliza told an interesting story about Kevin's approach to shooting a scene with her: "He had this game that he loved to play with me where right before action, it was like, "roll film, sound, speed," they were doing the slate, and he'd go, "Hey Duck-Shoot! You know, right before you walk up to Shannon, I want you to turn to Ali and say, 'dadadadada,'" and I was like, "What?" The first time he did it, I'm like, "He's gotta be crazy." And he gave me four lines that he wanted, literally. And then he goes, "OK? Great. Action!" I went up, and I kind of threw them out, and it turned into a habit. A lot of my lines in the film--when I said them, that was the first time they came out, and they were kind of spontaneous." She also her POV of her casting call with Kevin and Scott Mosier: "So they asked me to come in and meet at the Four Seasons bar. I showed up, and they had said, "Look hot" and "Be nice," so I went, [in a sweet voice] "Hi, how are you doing?" and they were total jerks. And I'm like, "What the--?! What's your deal, dude?" And they were, "What do you mean, what's our deal? Dude?" They started making fun of me about being from Boston, and started making fun of Buffy, and said, "Oh no, we're not making a movie, we just wanted to bring you down here and see how many girls we can get to come to the Four Seasons..." And I was like, "Whatever!" [laughs]." Thanks again to Michael Dequina for taking the time to transcribe all the interviews.
[ 5.Jul.01 ] News Askew has posted downloadable clips from recent segments shown on Entertainment Tonight and E! News Daily. They're pretty large downloads, but both feature brief shots of Eliza. ... News Askew also reports that the theatrical trailer for 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' has been attached to 'Scary Movie 2' (which opened in the US this week.) The theatrical trailer contains more footage than the two trailers that have been released on the internet.
[ 1.Jul.01 ] There's been a lot of previews and press screenings for 'Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back' recently, resulting in a lot of reviews floating around the web. Two reviews - positive, with minor spoilers - are available at Dark Horizons. Eliza apparently has a fairly substantial role as [HIGHLIGHT SPOILER] Sissy, the brains behind the girl-gang of international jewel thieves. They pose as animal rights activists when they met Jay and Silent Bob on the road (who are on their way to Hollywood to try and stop the film adaptation of 'Bluntman and Chronic') and end up using 'em, in a diamond heist. Watch out for some 'subtext' between Sissy and Chrissy (Ali Larter's character.) [/HIGHLIGHT SPOILER]
[ 21.Feb.01 ] This is the latest Eliza mention from Mysterio's report on the set of J&SBSB: "When Quentin Tarantino expressed his interest in doing a 'Fox Force Five' project on the heels of 'Pulp Fiction', I think I now know what he meant and why. This is Kev's 'Fox Force Four', and tonight is "glamour stuff" with the girls as he calls it. The girls (Shannon, Eliza, Ali & Jen) all sit bundled up in coats and shielded by propane heaters that Kev dubs "The Fortress of Heat". They’re coming in handy tonight, as temperatures are to dip into the low-'30's, with cold winds throughout. The scene calls for the girls to simply hop out of a van, and strike sexy, camp-like poses together in their tight, body-hugging suits. To motivate the girls performance and hoping to get the shot off in one or two takes, Kev offers up this little piece of advice: "The sexier the pose you make, the faster we move on to the next shot. The van you will be jumping out of does have heat, but the other van waiting directly behind you is "the heat van"; it’s MUCH warmer." The shot is set and the girls drop out of their coats, revealing their skimpy outfits, and head off to the van. The scene rolls, but isn’t quite what Kev and Scott want. Scott would like them to exit the van a bit quicker, so he offers up this direction to the girls: "Maintain the sexiness, but make it faster." After a few more takes, the scene moves into a 2-shot of each set of girls, striking those same sexy poses. What looks great on film looks even better in person, but you’ll just have to take my word for it (or not)." ... From News Askew, they've posted a bit about Joe Quesada's (editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics) role, that was revealed on the shopping channel, QVC: "On QVC UK Nic Buruci (dynamic forces) mentioned he was good friends with Joe Quesada during one of his comic collectible hours. He said Quesada would be appearing in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (or Jay and Silent Bob's Last Adventure as he thought it was called). Nic said Joe played a Pizza Delivery Man who gave Eliza Dushku a "special delivery". Hinting, like the other stories, it all very rude." ... Kevin Smith posted a new message regarding the latest week of filming at View Askew last Sunday, and he began his post with: "A good week all around, with the weirdest moment being watching my wife and the other girls clad merely in their undies, simulating sex. What a strange job." I'm assuming that Eliza is included in "the other girls" with Shannon Elizabeth and Ali Larter.
[ 12.Feb.01 ] This is from Kevin Smith's latest weekend report on the filming of J&SBSB: "Eliza and Ali were both wonderful, spunky, arch, sexy and born to deliver the kind of dialogue I write. They'll definitely be popping up in stuff I do after this flick."
[ 4.Feb.01 ] Kevin Smith checked in on the News Askew site with the following tidbit: "Next week is what we're calling 'Chick Week' around here, as we spend the five days shooting Shannon, Eliza, Jen, and Ali Larter - all dressed in... Well, you'll see." J&SBSB is currently filming in LA.
[ 23.Jan.01 ] E! Online, Cinescape and the Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back site all confirm that Eliza will indeed be in the new Kevin Smith film. She'll be playing an "agressive jewel thief" in a role Kevin Smith custom wrote for her, after seeing her lengthy audition. In other news, the Psycomic website has shut down operations and Kevin will no longer be writing his weekly articles, but all you need to know about the film will be available from the View Askew J&SBSB website.
[ 18.Jan.01 ] Everything you need to know about "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" is in Kevin's columns at Psycomic. Actually, I'm waiting for concrete information about whether or not Eliza is on board for the film before I do a full update for it. In Kevin Smith's Jan. 5th article, he writes that he wants to cast Eliza immediately upon meeting her. But he doesn't mention her being on board in his casting call round-up article the week afterwards. That E! Online Sizzlin' Sixteen profile says that she will be appearing in the movie.
