Kevin Smith Celebrates Jason Mewes Birthday With New Jay and Silent Bob Reboot BTS Look
Ever since Clerks first arrived in 1995, Jay and Silent Bob have been an inseparable duo, both on [...]
Ever since Clerks first arrived in 1995, Jay and Silent Bob have been an inseparable duo, both on the screen and off. Director and star Kevin Smith has been best friends with Jason Mewes for nearly 30 years now, and there's clearly a ton of love between the two. In addition to their work in movies together, Smith and Mewes have long co-hosted a podcast, and their families have become incredibly close over the time.
To celebrate their long-running friendship, and the recently-wrapped film Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, Smith wrote a long letter to Mewes and shared it on Instagram.
"Happy Birthday to the guy I've been standing next to in the movies for 25 yrs and for 30 yrs IRL: [Jay Mewes]," Smith wrote in the post. "The star of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot has been my hetero life mate on screen and off since my first film Clerks. I may have built the rickety spacecraft but Jay was the rocket fuel that took us from the Jersey 'burbs to planet Hollywood."
As the post continued, Smith told the story of when he first met Mewes back in 1989. He explained that a lot of the things people have seen from Mewes on-screen over the last couple of decades are actually genuine.
"When we met in 1989, he was the most original person I'd ever known," said Smith. "His sense of humor, his childlike mannerisms, his made-up language - none of it was familiar or borrowed from a movie or TV show. The kid was a true American original. But in getting to know Jay (or rather inheriting Jay from [Bryan Johnson] and Walt), I realized how he had this million dollar heart. A nickel head sometimes, but always a million dollar heart. He was always so positive. Jay never saw a bad movie or read a bad comic book: they were all great, as far as he was concerned. And his response when you demanded to know how he could like a movie or comic book you didn't deem acceptable was always something whimsical - like 'I dunno. It was in color.'"
At the end of the note, Smith talked about how Mewes has used the tragedies in his own story to become a great man and father.
"Jay didn't have an ideal childhood, to say the least. It was the kind of tragic origin from which many folks, understandably, have a hard time recovering. And yet you'd never know it. Indeed, he's easily the best Dad I've ever seen - which I suspect is predicated on what he didn't get as a kid. There are many reasons I love Jason Mewes - but chief among them is that he's been making me laugh for 30 yrs now - and laughter is such a rare commodity, we pay people for it. But for over half my life, I've been getting it free from my Shadow. Back in '89/'90, I'd always say to Jay 'Someone should put you in a movie.' One day I took my own advice, and then kept taking my own advice for the next quarter century. Jay was like the final Infinity Stone in my gauntlet - and ever since I've known him, my life and career have been a snap. Love you, L'il Snootch! Snappy Birthday (which, by the way, is what you say to someone in the Marvel Universe who was returned after Professor Hulk snapped them back)!"
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is set to hit theaters sometime this year.
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