Kevin Smith on 'Tusk' :: A Cuddlier 'Human Centipede'

Kevin Smith has always had a devoted fan base, so much so that he was able to make an entire movie, "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," full of references to his previous four movies. That was when Smith was only known as a filmmaker. Fans followed his website and in person speaking tours.

Since Smith became a podcaster, launching SModcast and SModcast Internet Radio, his growing fan base includes people who just want to hear him talk, regardless of movies he made in the past. So it is fitting that his latest movie, Tusk, actually sprung out of a podcast.

"I had just done this podcast, SModcast episode 259," Smith said. "In it we had talked about this weird ad that was running on the internet about this guy who was like, 'Come live in my house. I'll give you free room and board so long as you dress up like a walrus.'

"So it captured my imagination. You can hear it on podcast 259. You can hear us talk about this thing and it goes into this wild conversation about oh, this sounds weird. Do you think this is true? Oh my God, this sounds like a horror movie. I would not do this because you're going to get there, guy's going to hit you over the head, sew you into that suit. You're going to become the human walrus, just like the human centipede but cuddlier."

Listen to the podcast

"Tusk" is in fact about a podcaster (Justin Long) who meets a strange Canadian (Michael Parks) who drugs him and proceeds to surgically turn him into a human walrus. If you're wondering how Smith got there, you need only listen to the podcast.

"You can hear the episode, you can hear me talk myself into it. I get very excited and by the end of the episode I was like, 'This could work.' Me and [producer/cohost] Scott [Mosier] sat there making it up and really we were just trying to make each other laugh, but at a certain point, you can hear my wheels turn where all of a sudden I fall in love with the idea of this movie. I get so sad, in the middle of the podcast, because I realize nobody's going to make that movie. Then I get excited because I was like, 'I used to be a filmmaker. Maybe I could make that.'"

Smith turned to his listeners to decide whether or not he should make the walrus movie. He turned to another area of his expertise, social media. "In the podcast I said if you think this is a good idea, if you think I should pursue this, write this as a script and see this movie, hashtag is #WalrusYes. If you think it's stupid and I'm wrong for doing this, the hashtag is #WalrusNo. So I put it out there, I put the episode out there, people listened to it. The morning after the episode went up, there were thousands of #WalrusYes and only one #WalrusNo. And the #WalrusNo guy was just like, 'I feel like for the democratic process I should say no.' So he was halfhearted. He was really #WalrusYes. People want to see this movie."

Out of retirement

After his last movie as writer/director, the horror film "Red State," Smith announced his retirement from filmmaking. He still planned to make a TV miniseries "Hit Somebody" and close his career with "Clerks 3," but he intended to transition to full time podcasting. The process behind "Tusk" reinvigorated his passion for filmmaking and now he plans two follow-ups to "Tusk," as well as "Hit Somebody" and "Clerks 3."

"I realized I was into the same vibe that I'd had when I made 'Clerks.' There was a point where I was going to independent films and I loved them. I didn't think about making them myself but just loved cinema, but had gotten to a place where I was like, 'I love comedies but I never see my kind of comedy represented. I never see my friends up there. I never see my world, a world where we sit around talking about 'Star Wars' and p*ssy. I don't see ourselves reflected.

Then I was like, 'You know what? You can do it. Why don't you just make that movie. Nobody's going to make a movie about you and your friends except you. You're the only one so do it.' That's what made 'Clerks' happen and 'Clerks' started the rest of my life. I'm here today because of that movie. I'm sitting there going, 'Someone should make this walrus movie.' And I realize nobody's every going to make this walrus movie because it's f***ing dumb, really f***ing dumb. The only person stupid enough to make it is you, Kevin Smith. So I was like maybe I should just try it, give it a shot."

Tweet hit him hard

Now Smith wants to set an example for the next generation of filmmakers. In the '90s, Smith was inspired by indie movies like "Slacker" to see that he could make his own movie about people standing around talking. Today's future filmmakers are listening to podcasts and scouring the internet.

"There was one tweet that really hit me hard in the heart where somebody was like, 'Is that it? Is that how simple it is to start?' Some people out there don't know how to take that first step that so many of us take for granted, don't even know how to put that much together. The fact that they heard us on a podcast, me and my friend goofing off talking about, 'Yeah, and then the dude's stitched into a walrus.' And then me going, 'Oh, I wrote a script for it,' they saw the process out there for the first time. They got to see something that I take for granted all the time. They're like, 'I didn't know that part.' They found it fascinating. People wanted to know more so I kept open sourcing it. I kept putting everything under that hashtag, #WalrusYes, letting people know what we were doing, sending pictures out on Instagram, because the audience was so much a part of it. By everybody going #WalrusYes, it was just enough confidence for me to step forward and start writing."

To keep things in perspective, Smith is savvy enough to know that not all internet advice is good. #WalrusYes was truly a special movement. "I understand when the internet is just like, 'Yes, do something.' That's not necessarily a vote of confidence. They just want to see you f*** up more often than not. It didn't matter though. The fact that anybody thought it was a good idea, I'm going to keep pushing it forward and boom, we were on a set shooting a movie."

A Canadian horror movie

The Canadian references throughout "Tusk" came from one of Smith's other projects. "I didn't set it in England which is where the original ad was. I set it in Canada because I was writing this 'Hit Somebody' miniseries and I was chockablock full of Canadian history and some of it was not useful to 'Hit Somebody.' So I was like, I'm going to set the movie in Canada. Suddenly I can access all this weird lore and treat Canada like the Texas of North America, just a land of mystery and wonder where weird, evil things could have happened because everyone's always like, 'Oh, Canadians are so nice.' I'm like, 'Bullsh*t, they're evil.'

"So I was like, make a Canadian horror movie. Just write it. One day I'm going to die and I don't want to be on my deathbed going, 'Why didn't I make that walrus movie?' I want to be on my deathbed going, 'I'm the motherf***er that made the walrus movie.'"

The trailers for "Tusk" play it smart by never showing the walrus. You have to pay for a ticket to see that. "It's a weird movie, kids. The trailer is cut so amazingly, you see most trailers it's like you've seen the whole flick. We've shown you 20% of the flick. We haven't shown you anything. That was how we cut the trailer to keep it mysterious. If you watch the trailer a few times, you could sit there and be like yeah, I bet you they never turn him into a walrus. Maybe it's all in the character's head. That's how classy a cutting job they did on the trailer. It would make the potential audience go, 'I would see this. It could be a psychological thriller rather than a bunch of rubber.' I just want to take this opportunity to tell you, we do turn him into a walrus. And it is f***ed up, man."

Tusk opens September 19.