Director regrets Weinstein ties
‘Clerks’ creator Smith to donate future residuals
Director Kevin Smith said he will donate future residuals from his films that were produced or distributed by Harvey Weinstein to Women in Film, a nonprofit organization supporting female filmmakers.
Smith, who has directed many films with Weinstein connections, including “Mallrats,” “Chasing Amy” and his 1994 directorial debut “Clerks,” got emotional while speaking about the allegations against the veteran Hollywood producer during the recent edition of his podcast, “Hollywood Babble-on.”
“My entire career is tied up with the man. Everything I did in the beginning has his name on it,” Smith said, adding that he “spent many years lionizing and telling stories” about Weinstein.
Miramax famously purchased “Clerks” after Weinstein saw the low-budget indie at the Sundance Film Festival. The studio also hired famed lawyer Alan Dershowitz to appeal the film’s initial NC-17 rating, and the Motion Picture Association of America changed the rating to an R.
“It’s been a weird (expletive) week,” Smith told his co-host Ralph Garman and a live audience at the Improv in Hollywood. “I just wanted to make some (expletive) movies, that’s it. That’s why I came. That’s why I made ‘Clerks.’ And no (expletive) movie is worth all this. Like, my entire career — (expletive) it, take it, it’s wrapped up in something really (expletive) horrible.”
The podcast episode, taped Friday, followed a week of sexual assault and harassment allegations against Weinstein, who was fired from the Weinstein Co., the film studio he co-founded. On Saturday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled the producer.
“I’m not looking for sympathy. I know it’s not my fault. But I didn’t (expletive) help because I sat out there talking about this man like he was a hero and like he was my friend and like he was my father and (expletive) like that,” Smith continued, his voice trembling.
“I was singing praises of somebody that I didn’t (expletive) know. I didn’t know the man that they keep talking about in the press. Clearly he exists. But that man never showed himself to me.”