To generations of fans, Jason Mewes will always be remembered as Jay, the foul-mouthed “hetero life mate” of Kevin Smith’s Silent Bob. After first playing the role in 1994’s Clerks, Mewes would reprise the role for every one of Smith’s “View Askewniverse” movies, including Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma, among numerous all the rest. Most recently, the duo returned for Jay & Silent Bob Reboot, which is currently touring the country on a roadshow-style theatrical run, which began in late 2019.
In addition to his work on Jay & Silent Bob, Mewes recently made his directorial debut with Madness in the Method, in which he stars as a twisted version of himself, struggling to be taken seriously as a leading actor after being typecast as the stoner sidekick. After getting a book on method acting, his efforts to improve his craft quickly spiral into a hilarious killing spree. The meta crime thriller/comedy boasts an impressive roster of supporting actors, including Dean Cain, Teri Hatcher, David Dastmalchian, and Danny Trejo, as well as View Askewniverse veterans Kevin Smith and Brian O’Halloran. Madness in the Method also marks the final screen appearance of the great Stan Lee.
While promoting the home video release of Jay & Silent Bob Reboot, Jason Mewes spoke to Screen Rant about his work on the film, and the singular experience of taking a movie on the road and touring the country to meet the fans. He shares some of his stories from the road, laments that his responsibilities keep him from reading as many comic books as he would like, and sets the record straight on whether or not he actually memorized the entire script of Dogma. Finally, he discusses how his “solo film,” Madness in the Method, came together and what a treat it was for him to get to direct his debut feature film.
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is out now on streaming, digital, and Blu-ray.
I’m a very professional interviewer, a total pro, but I’m so god-d*mned excited to talk to you today.
It’s been fantastic. I was looking at the Academy Awards nominations. For me, it’s like, whatever. I love the show, I watch every year, but I really care very little about who actually gets the prizes. The cool stuff never wins. How hard would it be for them to get up and say, “Best Actor: Jason Mewes for Madness in the Method?”
Thank you, I appreciate that, bro! I love, “I’m very professional, but you f****** rock!” How was your day?
I imagine, every day, you’re walking down the street and someone sees you and tells you how Clerks changed their lives. Does that ever get borning? Are you over it?
Oh my gosh, that would be so surreal. Honestly, I’ve never been an inking of an idea that I would ever get any type of nomination. I would just think it’s a joke, honestly. But I felt the same way, and not to say it’s the same thing, but we got to do our handprints in the cement at the Mann’s Chinese Theatre. For years, I’ve seen that, and walked past the legends whose hands are in there. I couldn’t believe when we got the word that we were going to get to put our hands in there. I mean, it’s pretty surreal and amazing that happened. We did a show, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, in Canada, and we got nominated for the Canadian TV Awards. Six nominations, and we won Best Comedy Ensemble, and that was super exciting for me, because it was an award, and it was from Canada, and it was amazing!
That must be so life-affirming to hear at the shows.
No, definitely not! But, honestly, it doesn’t happen to me on the streets, often. Just maybe at the shows. That’s what I love about touring and what I’ve been doing. I love doing Comic Book Conventions for that reason. I love doing my stand-up, A-Mewes-ing Stories, and now with the tour, it’s just like… We get to hear the most amazing stories. We did a meet and greet with a gentleman who grew up in an orphanage. And when you’re 18, the state doesn’t have to take care of you anymore. He always knew, when he was 10, 11, 12, that he was going to be out on the street when he turned 18, and nobody was ever going to adopt him. And he said he didn’t know what he was going to do, he had no friends, no family. But he told Kevin, you saved my life! He hung out with some guy, and it was really awkward and they barely talked, so he said, “Hey, you wanna watch a movie?” And they watched Clerks. They talked about it, and they laughed, and they had fun. A week later, the guy said, “Hey, you wanna watch another movie?” And they watched Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. And he said they bonded over that, and the guy adopted him. And now he’s been his father for many years. Hearing stories like that is so amazing.
I imagine you’ve been getting a lot of that during the roadshow, which is still going strong, right?
We get to hear them at the shows, but for the most part, unless I’m with Kevin, most people don’t recognize me! In each movie, I look different, so when I’m walking down the street in L.A., it doesn’t happen often. Sometimes I’ll be in a store and someone will be like, “Hey, you sound like that guy.” But I don’t get sick of it, because these stories are surreal and amazing. It’s not something I planned. I didn’t plan on doing movies, ever. Even after Clerks and Mallrats, I didn’t plan on doing movies. It wasn’t until, like, Chasing Amy, that I was like, “Maybe this is something I can do…” But I did construction, roofing jobs, delivering pizzas, all the way through Dogma. No, I never get sick of it. I love that people still watch. Before Reboot, we hadn’t done a movie together, Kevin and myself together, in 13 years or so. People still come up to me saying, “You shaped my childhood,” or, “I have a friend who’s just like you,” or, “me and I friend dressed up as you guys for Halloween and he’s my hetero life-mate.” That’s all just awesome stuff.
That sounds fair enough! Okay, so I heard a story, and I want to know if it’s true. They say that on Reboot and on Dogma, you memorized the whole script in a night. Is that true?
Yes. We did two months, 37 cities, 60 shows. Until Christmas. Then we took two weeks off for Christmas and New Year’s. Then we went back and did a show in Oakland a couple of nights ago. It was awesome, 1900 people! Kevin did a solo show last night. So, January/February, the show’s still going strong, but I’m not going to be at all of them. I was at all of them in 2019, but it’s just too hard. I have a five-year-old, and being away from her for two-months straight is just too tough. I will be at shows, but I won’t be at every single one.
You and Kevin aren’t fake nerds. You’re the real deal. That means a lot to your fandom, and I think that’s why they stick around, even beyond the great art you guys put together. I’m sure a lot of people are interested, so I’d like to ask, what comics are you reading right now? Are you deep in the scene at the moment?
No. I mean, yes and no. It was only Dogma, and it wasn’t in a night. It was, like, it took maybe a month. Kevin told me that Alan Rickman was in the movie, and he was like, “Look man, he’s British, he’s a serious theater actor. You cannot be messing around and screwing up your dialogue.” And I got really nervous that I was going to mess up, so I just kept reading the script to memorize all my dialogue, but I read it over and over and over, so many times, that I absorbed every other character’s information. So I knew the script from front to back when we were shooting.
I want to shout-out, as hard as I can, Madness in the Method. I love that movie. It’s honestly in my 2019 top ten. Can you just talk a bit about getting that movie off the ground, getting to direct, and doing a “Jason Mewes solo film?”
I am not! I’m not deep in the scene. But I always try to keep up with The Justice League, the JLA. I went back and read Kingdom Come again. But I’ve been reading Suicide Squad. I’m a big fan of Deadshot. They just had another couple issues of Deadshot that came out, which I haven’t read yet, but I’m waiting to get them all. I don’t read as much as I did. I used to carry comics with me in my backpack. Anywhere I went, I would read. While I was walking, while I was sitting and waiting for a ride, waiting for coffee, anything. I would just read all day. I tried going digital, but… Trying to look at the phone and read, it’s not the same. But carrying books with me now is hard. Most of the time I have my kid with me, and if not, then I’m with the wife, and if I’m not with the wife, I’m working. So I still read, but not as much as I used to. But I wish I was keeping up with it!
Right, so you part ways and you don’t really think anything of it…
That’s awesome, Zak. I appreciate that. Honestly, I had no idea that I would be getting such good feedback. On the roadshow, people have been telling me… You know, over the years, I’ve been in these movies where I’ll do a movie and then just not hear about it for three years, until someone tells me, “Hey, man, I just saw Bottom’s Up!” and I’m like, wait, what? And they’re like, “Yeah, it’s out on DVD now.” I was worried my movie was going to be the same. But what happened was, I was in London, doing a movie called Devil’s Tower. I was in, like, four scenes or something. But the producer on that, Dominic Burns, he had done a few movies… I was in London, so I took some days for free time, and he showed me around Nottingham and doing some Robin Hood tours and stuff. So we spent some time together, and he was like, “Bro, what’s some other stuff you really want to do, besides the slapstick stoner guy or the Jay character?” I was like, you know what? I really want to play a Hannibal Lecter/American Psycho serial killer serious dude… Or, like, a rogue cop, a badass cop, and I really want to direct, down the road. And he was like, “That’s awesome. I hope you don’t mind, but I’m gonna write a script for you.” I was like, of course I don’t mind, since I thought he was just blowing smoke up my a**.
Wow, so then you really got started working!
But two months later, he calls me, like, “Bro, here’s the script.” It wasn’t quite what wound up being shot, but it was definitely the outline. I was like, “Dude, it’s pretty awesome, but how about instead of this, it’s Jay Mewes, but from an alternate universe. So it’s Jay, but it’s not Jay Mewes,” and we went back and forth, re-writing… I mean, he did all the writing, but I kept feeding him ideas and Chris Anastasi, the other writer. And that got it to what it is. And he was like, “Dude, we’re gonna make this.” And I’m like, sure, whatever. And I didn’t hear from him for, like, five months. I really thought he just got another gig and was working and forgot about it. And I was touring and stuff and didn’t think anything of it. But, all of a sudden, he called me one day and was like, “Guess what? Dude, I’ve been working on it the last few months. I got the financing for the movie.” I was like, “Get out of here!” He was like, “No, dude, I’m serious, we’re making the movie! And guess what? They’re gonna let you direct it! They were a little hesitant, they wanted to get someone who’s directed a bunch of movies and all that because there’s some money on the line, but they’re gonna let you do it.” Honestly, Dominic Burns made it all happen.
More: Jay and Silent Bob Reboot – Every Single Cameo
We started scheduling, getting ideas for people to come, we started reaching out to people, and yeah, he’s a real big reason it came together and happened. I had so much fun. I really enjoyed directing. It was really cool. We didn’t have a whole lot of money, obviously, but it was cool because Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher and all these people were like, “Oh, Jay Mewes is directing his first feature? I want to be part of it.” That was really cool, man. To see that people who I didn’t even know knew my work, they came on board to hang out and play around and stuff. That was exciting for me. Danny Trejo’s my friend, so I knew he would jump in, and I reached out to Stan (Lee), and it really came together, better than I expected.
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is out now on streaming, digital, and Blu-ray.
