It’s true: Jay and Silent Bob are returning to theaters after an eighteen-year absence. For many fans it’s not a moment too soon. Kevin Smith first created the characters twenty-five years ago with the low-budget, black and white classic, Clerks. Since then Jay’s irreverence and Bob’s, well, silence, have carried the two characters to cult hero status. Now Jay and Silent Bob find themselves immortalized in cement.
In an honorary ceremony at Theatre Box on Friday, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes found their place in permanency by placing their hands and signatures in cement. Their handprints become part of San Diego’s TCL Chinese Theater, where fans can now visit Jay and Silent Bob in perpetuity.
Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes celebrate Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
The event was not only intended to honor Smith and Mewes, but to also promote their newest film Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. Once again the duo rushes off to Hollywood to prevent a reboot of the film the tried to stop in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Kevin Smith took a few minutes to talk to That Hashtag Show about the film. When asked how he thought the film would resonate almost twenty years after the last one, Smith had this to say:
Am I worried about how it will play with the current audience? Not necessarily. We’re not going mainstream… I just have to worry about the cats who have liked our stuff from the beginning…. Just like we grew up making this crap, they grew watching this crap. It’s part of their DNA.”
Kevin Smith recognizing his niche audience is one of the reasons his fans find him so endearing. For him, it’s not about the money; it’s about the fans.
The world doesn’t need Jay and Silent Bob. Only some people do. So we just kind of go after those people to make them very, very happy.”
Jay and Silent Bob stumble their way back into theaters later this year.
