Kevin Smith’s next film, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, is the director’s first “View Askewniverse” live-action movie since Clerks II hit theaters in 2006. The director is pulling out all the stops, including going on a national tour with the Reboot Roadshow. It was also recently revealed that the creator has teamed up with Caviar Gold for a special Jay and Silent Bob strain of weed. Smith and Jason Mewes, who is best known for playing Jay, introduced their signature new strains of weed at West Hollywood’s Herbarium Recreation Dispensary this week. The creatives spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the business decision, and how they went from playing illegal weed dealers on the big screen to becoming legal weed dealers in real life.
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“It’s amazing. It’s cool because the movies have been based on our characters,” Mewes explained. “They sold weed and they did it illegally. When Kevin wrote Clerks, he based Jay on me 100 percent. That’s what I acted like, that’s what I did. Everything but sold weed. So it’s really cool that so many years later that Jay can actually sell weed and sell it legally. It really made the character come full circle and made me Jason Mewes come full circle.”
Smith added, “After 25 years of being fake weed dealers, it feels nice to be real weed dealers. It’s amazing. In terms of the movie, I was always hoping that when the movie comes out the weed will be out there. And the movie will go away quicker than the weed ever will so I’m kind of hoping that the weed just kind of keeps going. It would be a nice legacy for the flick.”
Smith also explained why he thinks Jay and Silent Bob have remained such important culture figures ever since Clerks came out in 1994.
“I think it has everything to do with Jason Mewes. He’s one of the most original people I’ve ever met and people respond to him in this weird way,” Smith said. “There’s a familiarity to him and a comfort factor to him and there’s something to be said for being around for a quarter-century. People are like ‘oh, you’re still here?’ But if you last long enough people are like ‘hey, good to see you again’”
The follow-up to Kevin Smith‘s 2001 film, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, will see the characters “return to Hollywood to stop a reboot of ‘Bluntman and Chronic’ movie from getting made.”
Jay & Silent Bob Reboot hits theaters on October 15th and October 17th.
