Exclusive: Director Steve Stark Talks Jay And Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie

Jay and Silent Bob are back in a new animated feature, Jay and Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie. In the film, Jay and Bob hit the lottery and use their money to do what anyone would do: become superheroes.The film is written by Kevin Smith and produced by Jason Mewes, and it parodies the superhero film genre with exactly the kind of humor you’re used to from the duo. The film is directed by Steven Stark, who took some time to talk to use about the film.ComicBook.com: How did you become involved in Jay and Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie?Steve Stark: It all started when I animated one of their podcasts, SModcast. I put it up on YouTube and ended up getting tweeted by them and they mentioned me in the actual podcast and were like “Do more!” So I did another one and after that they contacted me to do a monthly series and then the idea to do the movie came up and I was like, “Absolutely.”ComicBook.com: I understand that Kevin Smith had written the script some time before you and Jason Mewes became involved. How much did the film change between Smith writing it and you animating it?Steve Stark: Actually, the whole last act changed. He rewrote it all. I guess it was an old script, written in 2007, so he wanted to update the jokes and stuff. He rewrote the whole ending, it was awesome. It was awesome to read it and it was amazing just to work on it. I’m a super fan too. One of my favorite movies ever was Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Me and my friends used to quote and stuff, and now – ten or fifteen years later – I’m working on a Jay and Silent Bob movie.ComicBook.com: The film is one big parody of superhero movies. Was there anyone in particular you wanted to poke some fun at? I know there was at least a couple of jokes aimed at Michael Bay.Steve Stark: We definitely wanted to take on The Dark Knight series. Getting a shot in on Michael Bay, for sure. How can you not, with the new Ninja Turtles?ComicBook.com: He is kind of a prime target…Steve Stark: Have you seen that new trailer?ComicBook.com: Yes. Yes, I did.Steve Stark: What did you think of it?ComicBook.com: Doesn’t…really look like my thing.Steve Stark: That’s not our Turtles!ComicBook.com: I know you directed and animated the film, but were you responsible for the character designs as well?Steve Stark: Yeah. Basically, it was a team of three. I’d be going from an animatic, which is like a really scratchy, stickman version, just to feel the thing out. If it makes you laugh with the voices and just the stickman figures, then I would draw on top of that as rough drawings. At that point, I would pass it off to cleanup and they would go over top with the actual black lines and fill in the color. And then a third person would be doing a background.ComicBook.com: Were there any characters that you felt were particularly rewarding or challenging to work on?Steve Stark: Definitely one that I loved working on was C**kknocker. Another one that was hilarious to work on was D**k-Head. That was pretty fun. A challenging one would be Lipstick Lebsian. I did a bunch of different designs for her and eventually, once the voice was cast, that’s when I kind of nailed it down. Before that she was kind of a harder one to draw for me, or figure out.ComicBook.com: I was told that you were responsible for a lot of little, added visual touches to scenes in the film. Any personal favorites?Steve Stark: I remember the one where Lipstick is calling them a**holes and I drew her hand giving the “OK” symbol.  I like little touches like that. Or when C**kknocker is having this conversation with Lipstick about where they’re going to go next, and it just popped into my head to have him just staring right at her boobs for a second. And then Lipstick rolls her eyes. And he just keeps talking about whatever he’s talking about, but she totally catches him.ComicBook.com: One of the things I enjoyed the most, and Jason Mewes mentioned it as well, was Neil Gaiman’s character of Albert, the Alfred parody. How did that character come together?Steve Stark: Well, getting Neil Gaiman had nothing to do with me. That was all them. They got all the talent and everyone involved. As these voices started to come in they’d contact me and tell me and it was amazing because it was all these people I never expected to get to work with. Once some people were cast, sometimes we’d have to go back and erase the character’s head. The butler was one of them. I had a bald butler as his first design, but once Neil Gaiman was cast we went back and replaced it to look like him.ComicBook.com: Did any of the other characters get a post-casting redesigns like that?Steve Stark: Yes, the Jon Lovitz scientist, who plays like the Captain America scientist guy, he was originally a white-haired…actually kind of like how he looked in the movie, white-haired and kind of Albert Einstein-ey. Once the cast got put in there I was like “let’s do it up,” and went back to make it look like Jon Lovitz.ComicBook.com: So, are you guys already working on a potential sequel?Steve Stark: Yes, Jay is currently working on a script for the new one and is talking about it. I think that is definitely in the works.ComicBook.com: Can we expect more jokes about Michael Bay?Steve Stark: Oh, definitely!