Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Kevin Smith: Setting the 'bar'
by Andrew Davis
2007-10-03

This article shared 4302 times since Wed Oct 3, 2007
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Famed director/producer Kevin Smith certainly has a history with the LGBT community—whether it involves the controversy with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ( GLAAD ) regarding one of his movies or his status as an icon of the bear community. Smith's relationship with this demographic continues with his executive-producer role in small town gay bar, a documentary ( now out on DVD ) that centers on past and present gay bars in rural Mississippi. Smith recently talked with Windy City Times about the movie, the Rev. Fred Phelps and going to gay bars.

Windy City Times: Since the movie is called small town gay bar, I have to ask: Had you been in a gay bar before you heard of this film?

Kevin Smith: Yeah. The first one I had been to was called Feathers; it's in northern New Jersey. My brother took me there around '92 or '93. Plus, I live in a pretty gay world, so I've been to plenty since then.

The other day, I went to my first bear bar. Unfortunately, I wasn't the focus of attachment I was assured I would be if it was open. I would've had my pick of the litter; I would've been Marilyn Monroe.

WCT: How long had you known [ director ] Malcolm [ Ingram ] before he approached you with his idea for small town gay bar?

KS: I'd known him in '94; I met him when I was at the Toronto Film Festival with Clerks. And I'd given him a bunch of money to make his first movie, Drawing Flies. Then, I was an executive consultant or one of those bullshit credits on the second feature, Tail Lights Fade.

We were in post-production with Jersey Girl when Malcolm came by the production office. We hadn't seen him in a couple of months, and he brought 10 minutes of the prototype for small town gay bar that was shot in a gay bar in Traverse City, Mich.—and it was riveting. It was like your 86-year-old grandfather suddenly handing you a movie he made with a Super-8 camera and it was Jaws; you're just like, 'Where did that come from? You're an idiot—how did you make something this good?' It was a quantum leap forward for him. Suddenly, he wasn't trying to create something he thought other people would like; he was speaking from his own experience. ( By this point, he was out. ) I said, 'This is genius. You have to do a whole feature. Here's some cash; go out and make it.' [ The movie ] is a snapshot of a world most people don't really get a good look into.

WCT: You've said that small town gay bar is about family. Talk about that a little bit.

KS: That was something I learned from my brother; I'm fairly close with him and the rest of my family. I love my brother, Don, but we're not of his world. He has his gay extended family, and that was something I picked up from him. The family of the 21st century isn't necessarily a nuclear one—it's the one you create around yourself. small town gay bar depicts a bunch of individuals who aren't living their lives in nuclear families; they create them from these watering holes. I kinda dug that.

WCT: What was the most surprising thing you saw in the film?

KS: Hands down, the most surprising thing was that someone like Malcolm came up with something this good. [ Interviewer laughs. ] Second to that would be [ anti-gay Rev. Fred ] Phelps. That, to me, is spellbinding. You watch Phelps speak and you realize why Adolf Hitler was able to gather an army around him and convince people to liquidate six million Jews, among others. [ Phelps ] is charismatic, and you get why people like that connect [ with others ] ; he so believes his message and he's charismatic enough where you go, 'The dude doesn't sound retarded [ and ] he's well spoken'—but what he's saying is so fucking backwards, dark and evil. This guy is beyond the pale. Watching him, your skin fucking crawls.

WCT: I think the people who murdered [ gay teen ] Scotty Joe Weaver [ profiled in a segment in small town gay bar ] would've been congregants in Phelps' church.

KS: If Phelps was interested in having anyone in his church besides fucking family, anyway. That's a close-knit group, man. There are like 70 members who are all related; it's kinda nuts.

[ The segment on ] the folks who murdered Scotty Joe Weaver, like Phelps', was something that doesn't have much to do with the bars, but it was something Malcolm found a way to layer into the doc so that it makes sense in the context. It strengthens the point of the bar owners about why these bars are so important.

WCT: Your history with GLAAD has been...interesting. Did the organization say anything about small town gay bar?

KS: I think they gave it a good review, if I remember correctly. But it wasn't so much GLAAD that put me on the shit list as much as it was their media director at the time, Scott Seomin; he took issue with [ the movie ] Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. There was a scene in that movie in which one of the titular characters said that he would suck the other guy's dick; it doesn't get more gay-friendly than that in a mainstream movie, unless you're Brokeback [ Mountain ] . So I was like, 'What? This is the hill you want to die on?' That same summer, Rush Hour 2 came out, and that was completely homophobic.

The bittersweet p.s. to the whole affair is that The Advocate put us on its top 10 movies of the year, and so did John Waters. I sent Scott an e-mail pointing that out.

WCT: What does your brother think of small town gay bar?

KS: He totally dug it; he appreciated it.

Malcolm said that, while he was going to [ film ] fests, there was this catty prejudice in the more urban areas. Traditionally, based on media stereotypes, people within the gay community don't like to think of gay people looking like they do in [ the movie ] : not photogenic, not beefy or muscular—they look like average people. I never asked my brother, 'Look—getting past the fact that you wouldn't fuck any of these people with a stolen dick—did the movie connect with you?' He seemed to take it for what it was.

I'm always fascinated by the idea of prejudice within a community that's the victim of prejudice—or that there are levels of cattiness within a subgroup or minority.

WCT: Switching gears, I saw a blurb in Out magazine in which you said your favorite make-out song is Freak Me [ an R&B ballad by the group Silk ] .

KS: [ Laughs ] Unfortunately, my wife doesn't agree with me. My wife likes this trance CD that we picked up at The Standard Hotel in Los Angeles a few years back. That has become our go-to soundtrack.


This article shared 4302 times since Wed Oct 3, 2007
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

After 30 Under 30: MAP Executive Director Naomi Goldberg 2024-03-25
- NOTE: In this series, Windy City Times will profile some of its past 30 Under 30 honorees. Windy City Times started its 30 Under 30 Awards in 2001, presenting them each year through 2019. This year, ...


Gay News

THEATER When growth is paramount: Jim Corti helps fuel Aurora theater expansion 2024-03-01
- Out actor/director/choreographer Jim Corti made his Broadway debut in 1974, in the ensemble of Leonard Bernstein's musical Candide. Director Harold Prince's acclaimed Tony Award-winning revival is often cited as a ...


Gay News

MOVIES Director Daniel Peddle on the sequel to the classic doc 'The Aggressives' 2023-12-05
- In 2005, Daniel Peddle released The Aggressives—a groundbreaking documentary filmed during the late '90s and early '00s in New York City that profiled several masculine-presenting/transmasculine people of color. Fast-forward to ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ 'Black Adam,' Cyndi Lauper, Sondheim, Oscars, OutFest 2023-03-18
- Cultured Magazine recently profiled Quintessa Swindell—who became the first out, non-binary actor to play a lead superhero in the DC universe when they portrayed Cyclone in the 2022 movie Black Adam. Swindell grew up in Virginia ...


Gay News

Show about trans+ women models to debut Aug. 5 on Here TV 2022-07-29
- The Here TV docuseries Road to the Runway—which focuses on trans+ women models—will debut Friday, Aug. 5. The series profiles the 20 hopefuls competing in this year's annual Slay Model search. Cameras follow the women to ...


Gay News

Local writer from Hillman Grad Productions Mentorship Lab to tell stories about immigrant experiences 2022-06-04
- Growing up on the South Side of Chicago without any sort of U.S. citizenship, Ruben Mendive said he started developing his identity as a writer while he was sitting in front of the TV, devouring "every show that came out ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Writer, attorney, activist Takeia R. Johnson 2021-07-25
- The local organization Affinity Community Services announced the recent passing of Takeia R. Johnson. According to Johnson's LinkedIn profile, she was editor-in-chief and lead writer at Inclusion at Work as well as a Ph.D. student focusing ...


Gay News

SAVOR Talking with new Travelle Chef de Cuisine Qi Ai; Profile of Travelle's breakfast 2021-06-09
- Travelle Chef de Cuisine Qi Ai Travelle at the Langham (330 N Wabash Ave.; https://www.travellechicago.com/) has undergone a major change during the COVID pandemic: New Chef de Cuisine Qi (pronounced "tee") Ai was promoted from sous ...


Gay News

MOVIES Dutch journalist talks about making 'My Friend, the Mayor' 2021-02-17
- In the Amazon Prime Video documentary My Friend, the Mayor: Small-town Democracy in the Age of Trump, Dutch journalist Max Westerman profiles friend Sean Strub, an openly gay activist, activist, long-term AIDS survivor and POZ magazine ...


Gay News

Booksellers launch "Boxed Out" campaign, a look at consumer choices 2020-10-22
--From a press release - (New York, New York) 20% of independent bookstores across the country are in danger of closing. Today, theAmerican Booksellers Association launched the "Boxed Out" campaign to draw attention to the high stakes indie bookstores face this ...


Gay News

Author/academic John D'Emilio on new book, future endeavors 2020-10-01
- Queer Legacies: Stories from Chicago's LGBTQ Archives is a new book by Gerber/Hart Library and Archives President and University of Illinois at Chicago History and Women's and Gender Studies Professor Emeritus John ...


Gay News

Out Illinois State coach dives into new position 2020-09-16
- Logan Pearsall, an accomplished college diver who has since transitioned into master's level diving, was competing at the 2017 FINA World Masters Championships in Budapest, Hungary. He was doing a challenging inward dive from a one-meter ...


Gay News

Joseph Baar Topinka preserves legacy of mother: Pro-gay Republican Judy 2020-09-02
- Riverside resident Joseph Baar Topinka is still impressed with the resolve and stamina with which his late mother, longtime GOP politician Judy Baar Topinka, was able to "slug it out" in the political arena. "She got ...


Gay News

'Making Sweet Tea': Out NU dean talks about new documentary 2020-08-18
- Performer and Northwestern University Dean E. Patrick Johnson discussed his new film and the importance of reclaiming storytelling agency in a virtual Q&A Lambda Legal hosted Aug. 9. Johnson, dean of Northwestern University's School of Communication, ...


Gay News

Asha Ransby-Sporn talks building on the anti-racism movement's legacy 2020-08-05
- With anti-racism protests happening around the United States, in what some media outlets are saying is the largest movement in this country's history, demands to abolish the police have increasingly been a part of the rallying ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.