Macworld 2010: An afternoon with Kevin Smith [video]

Film maker Kevin Smith came to Macworld 2010 on Thursday, joking that he was invited to warm up the crowd for Steve Jobs, to whom he was excited to talk and pitch movie ideas.

Smith spent the next hour and a half taking questions from the audience, much like on his tours of An Evening with Kevin Smith. No topic was taboo, as Smith talked and joked freely about his weight, recreational drug use, and reputation in Hollywood.

“I’m the clown prince of film making,” Smith said at several points, adding that it took him a while to step out of of writing and directing his own style of films. His upcoming comic book of The Green Hornet, in fact, is based on a screenplay he wrote for a film he was too uncomfortable (at the time) to make: a big budget action picture. His next film, Cop Out, was a concious decision to try and push himself into unfamiliar territory. Smith described what it was like working with Bruce Willis, and actor he admired, but who was very aware of his career and image, as well as being astonished at Smith’s loose style.

Smith went on to say that social media like his Twitter feed and Smodcast give him a chance to express himself and his thoughts in such a way that he doesn’t need to give his alter ego, Silent Bob, monologues anymore. He added that Cop Out was a switch from his last film, Zack & Miri Make a Porno because he was starting to feel like he had grown away from the characters he was writing when he started film making 15 years ago.

Asked by a film student how to become a film maker, Smith said it was easy; just make one. “Make one that everybody likes,” he added, before correcting himself saying that not everybody had to like it. “Your parents can hate it,” but you just needed to find enough people who liked it. “Then make another one.”

There were very few questions related to Apple, but one person asked how he felt the iPad would change film making. Smith responded that we’d probably see someone killed with an iPad in an upcoming film.