Kevin Smith Gets Waiver to Film The 4:30 Movie
Kevin Smith has another movie on deck, and he’s going to film it during the actors’ strike. He’s not breaking union rules, though; Smith obtained a waiver from SAG-AFTRA to shoot The 4:30 Movie, which was written before the writers’ strike began and doesn’t involve a studio connected to the AMPTP, but rather Smith’s own View Askew Productions. The low budget and impending start date also factored into the union’s decision to grant the waiver, which Smith said is one of thirty-nine given out so far; The 4:30 Movie has a budget of just $3 million and was supposed to begin production last week. Smith revealed this to the audience attending a script reading of his ill-fated Superman movie, Superman Lives, at Smodcastle Cinemas, a movie theater Smith opened last year in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. Here’s how Smith described The 4:30 Movie, via ComicBook.com:
“It’s a movie that’s set in 1986 and it’s set at this movie theater right here, and it’s kind of about me, and [Clerks star Ernie O’Donnell) and our friend Michael Belicose, and what we used to do with our free times when we were kids. We would go to the movies at a multiplex like this, pay for one movie, and then hop from movie to movie all day long and see free movies.”
I’m glad SAG is granting waivers for small films like this. A lot of people get hurt during these big strikes, so throwing a bone to productions that aren’t involved with the studios you’re at war with is the decent thing to do. As for the movie, it sounds fantastic to me. I don’t think it takes place in the View Askewniverse, which is good; as much as I love it, I like seeing Smith branch out now and then. And I love the concept; not only can you do a lot with it, exploring the culture at the time and the friendships of people who movie-hopped – not to mention all the great movies that were out at the time – but it sounds like something Smith is particularly suited to make. I could see Dante and Randal or T.S. and Brodie doing this sort of thing back in the day. (Jay and Silent Bob would probably be in the bathroom selling illicit substances and trying to raid the snack bar.)
The one problem I have is that The 4:30 Movie will star Austin Zajur, who played Blockchain in Clerks III. He was terrible in that movie, and Blockchain was an awful character who felt extraneous to the plot, clearly there as a favor to Zajur, who is dating Smith’s daughter, Harley Quinn Smith. It’s very nice of him to have done that, but this is the lead in a movie, and so far, I don’t think Zajur is as appealing as Smith’s regulars. I understand going with a new actor; Smith’s stable is getting older, certainly too old to play characters like this. I hope Blockchain was a fluke and Smith really does see something in Zazjur; I like his films too much to have one ruined by nepotism.
