You probably know him on-screen as Silent Bob, from the popular feature film series “Jay and Silent Bob” or “Clerks”. But off-screen, he is Kevin Smith – actor (“Clerks”, “Mallrats”, “Chasing Amy”, “Dogma”, “Scream 3”, “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”, “Daredevil”, “Clerks II”, “Live Free or Die Hard”), director (“Clerks”, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”, writer (“Clerks” series, “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”, “Daredevil”, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”) producer, consultant, executive advisor and many others.
One of the first scenes from his latest movies, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”, features an amateur filmmaker trailing his even more amateurish equipment out in the cold. The movie follows the story of two friends and roommates, Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) who decide to make a pornographic movie. Their idea and their movie are supposed to launch Zack as a filmmaker and solve their money issues.
The movie itself was inspired by Seth Rogen, who convinced Smith that he had what it takes after sparking laughter in movie theaters with “Knocked Up” and “Pineapple Express”. Smith’s new creation features a lot of porn scenes – as one would expect from the title, an over-dressed Banks and a bit of foul language and classic toilet humor.
To make the porn scenes as credible as possible, Smith employed actual porn stars, like the infamous femmes fatales Traci Lords and Katie Morgan.
Smith’s movie was highly criticized, as people seemed to linger on the word “porno” rather than focus on the movie as a whole. It is probably why they earned an NC-17 rating, which later on turned into an R – without cutting out any scenes.