Kevin Smith's Secret Stash: The Definitive Visual History

by Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes (Foreword), Chris Prince (Editor)

“Being Kevin Smith is my favorite thing in the world. . . . I don’t have a job. I don’t even have a career anymore. I’m just me for a living.”

Making the leap from convenience store worker to international film icon, Kevin Smith has spent over twenty-five years at the forefront of pop culture. In this hilariously candid treasure trove of artifacts and anecdotes, Kevin tells the full story of his incredible life for the first time, from his early days in Highlands, New Jersey, through to the breakout success of low-budget indie smash Clerks in 1994, and the series of hit films that allowed him to build his own cinematic “View Askewniverse.”

• THE STORY OF KEVIN SMITH, TOLD BY KEVIN Both funny and confessional, Kevin Smith’s Secret Stash sees the director hold forth on all aspects of his career, including his live shows and podcasts, plus his comics and television work, such as the hit AMC show Comic Book Men .

• NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN This deluxe volume is illustrated with a wealth of rare and never-before-seen items from Kevin’s personal archives, including script pages, personal letters, and concept art from beloved movies including Mallrats , Chasing Amy , Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back , Red State , Tusk , Jay and Silent Bob Reboot , and more. It also features a range of special pullout features exclusive to the book, including Kevin’s application to film school and comic art from Chasing Amy .

• SPECIAL In addition to a foreword from Kevin’s longtime collaborator and friend Jason Mewes, the book includes contributions from J. J. Abrams, Ben Affleck, Marc Bernardin, Ming Chen, Shannon Elizabeth, Walt Flanagan, Ralph Garman, Mark Hamill, Bryan Johnson, David Klein, Justin Long, Scott Mosier, Brian O’Halloran, Seth Rogen, Jennifer Schwalbach-Smith, and Harley Quinn Smith.

• OWN THE ULTIMATE KEVIN SMITH Definitive, revelatory, and packed with exclusive surprises, Kevin Smith’s Secret Stash is the book fans have been waiting for and a must-have for pop culture aficionados everywhere.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Media Tie In, Pop Culture

320 pages, Hardcover

Published September 14, 2021

About the author

Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, director, as well as a comic book writer, author, and actor. He is also the co-founder, with Scott Mosier, of View Askew Productions and owner of Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash comic and novelty store in Red Bank, New Jersey. He also hosts a weekly podcast with Scott Mosier known as SModcast. He is also known for participating in long, humorous Q&A Sessions that are often filmed for DVD release, beginning with An Evening with Kevin Smith.

His films are often set in his home state of New Jersey, and while not strictly sequential, they do frequently feature crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon in what is known by fans as the "View Askewniverse", named after his production company View Askew Productions. He has produced numerous films and television projects, including Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Clerks II.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A coffee table book takes us on a fun tour of Kevin Smith's career from Clerks to Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. Some of the stories will be familiar if you've listened to his DVD audio commentaries and various Q&A specials, but it is still crammed with plenty of behind-the-scenes material as well as reproductions of artifacts from Smith's life that have been stapled or pasted to the book's pages, e.g., business cards, a comic book page, Mooby stickers and french fry box, storyboards, etc.

My wife and I took a couple months to work our way through the book -- she reads to me as I cook supper -- and we rewatched all our favorite films along the way. There's no way we'll ever watch Tusk or Red State again -- no book is that persuasive -- but we're considering giving Yoga Hosers -- the only film of Smith's we ever skipped -- a first look even though we're pretty sure it'll be as bad as those.


FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Foreword by Jason Mewes -- I Wasn't Eve Supposed to Be Here Today -- Clerks -- Mallrats -- Chasing Amy -- Dogma -- Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back -- Jersey Girl -- Side Hustles -- Clerks II -- Zack and Miri Make a Porno -- Cop Out -- Podcasting -- Red State -- Comic Book Men -- Tusk -- Yoga Hosers -- Jay and Silent Bob Reboot -- Epilogue

[Melinda Nankivell · Rating 4 out of 5]

For fans of Kevin Smith, in this coffee table book Smith gives us an Insight into the production of all his films and some of his side projects up to the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot in 2019.

I very much enjoyed his storytelling, the behind-the-scenes goss, the photos and the little inserts throughout the book. This was the perfect book for someone like me who has followed his career since Clerks.

Fun fact: when Andrew and I were in NYC for our honeymoon we went to New Jersey for a day just to visit Kevin Smith’s comic book store, The Secret Stash, and we got to be extras in an episode of Comic Book Men which was being filmed at the time. We ended up on the cutting room floor, but it was still an awesome experience for this fan girl, as was reading this book.

[Adele · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a fan of Kevin Smith, and by that I don't mean you somewhat enjoyed Clerks and Chasing Amy, I mean you watch his Q&A, you know who his friends are, you might even know how long Mewes has been clean and are relieved he seems to be firmly on a good path now. If you are that kind of fan you will enjoy this book, but if you are that kind of fan you have probably already read it. If you are not a Kevin Smith fan I can't imagine you have any interest in actually reading this book, but for you it might still be fun to flip through to see the silly inserts, look at the weird pictures, and read a little bit of movie people gossip if you are into that.

[Juan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ignore the dates of which it took me to read this, it was not as long as that, I am just super lazy at updating goodreads.
This book by Smith is great, it goes through pretty much every step of his career, project by project. There is a lot of interesting facts laid out here and a lot of which were new to me and I have seen Smith live several times. There is a whole Ben Affleck love affair going on in Smiths life that I was only somewhat aware of, it goes a lot deeper than what I thought. It truly is a great friendship they have. The chapter on working with Bruce Willis was a bit of a hard read though as recent events that have been revealed about Willis life have come to light after this book was written which may explain the behavior of Mr. Willis.
This book also has added items inside of it, such as reproductions of cards, flyers, old script pages, stickers, etc, etc.
If you are a Kevin Smith fan, I highly say this book is worth getting.

[P.R. Dedelis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was completely blown away by the care with which this book was created and put together. If you're a Kevin Smith fan, this is a must have for you. If someone you know is a Kevin Smith fan, please gift them with this book, I guarantee they will be eternally grateful :)

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will say only read this book if you are a fan or find Kevin smith and his films of interest. Through if reading blindly you might discover quite a character

Coming across this book at a comic book store. Decided to gift myself this book. As it felt like perfect timing. Feeling good after celebrating a friend’s birthday and in a jolly mood with the help of some drinks.

Finished at the stroke of midnight while my birthdate’s anniversary was made official.

This book told many tales that have been often repeated and updated and a few never heard

While not a legendary filmmaker. A noted and known one with control over abundant audience. Who has affected my life in different ways usually for the better. He and his film have helped me connect and bond with some others. Even family members.

I’ve always admire Kevin Smith. As a writer, director, personality, raconteur and as a person. In the few times that I have meet him in fan capacity. He has always been cordial and welcoming. As I was an early adapter. Meeting him around the time he was filming CHASING AMY.

I have followed his career over the years. Through all the trials, podcast, books, movies, comic books, DVD’s, tours, shows

He has always been an open book about process his experiences and life. Good and bad and has always come off as a decent and good hearted person with a sense of humor and intelligence. That has always been welcoming and practically transcendent.

Over the years I haven’t always loved his projects but always kept up on them And understood where he was coming from. Anytime he has spoken or interviewed I have tried to keep up with. I will always be a fan and admire him and even if I might not want to make the same kind of films. He helped give me the belief and light he fire that I could and hope I can be the same type of genuine, decent and giving person he appears to be.

Taught me not to be ashamed of your interests but embrace them and bring them into your work. As then at least you are surrounded by what you love and something you know and care about deeply & more…

Be an amplifier for those you love and those around you. Embrace and encourage them
And showcase their talents and gifts. Especially if you are in a position to help.

Life can be full of research. Be a storyteller and relate to others but let your voice come through. So that it entertains and they keep coming back and identify in someway.

This is a testament to his professional work and to those who he has worked with over the years. Who he treats like family. As well as his audience who he continuously shows his appreciation for.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was expecting this to be an adult pop up book, with nice pictures to flip through. I didn't expect I'd find myself sitting and reading the whole thing cover to cover. I didn't expect to be in literal tears at the end of it.
I love Kevin Smith, back at Uni when I was dating a wanna be filmmaker he thought everyone had to have a favourite director. So I picked Kevin Smith, partially to piss him off and partially because it was true. His movies were just the most real thing I'd ever seen.
Listening to him on podcasts you just want to hang out with the guy as he's so relatable. The geek who made good whose just endlessly funny and entertaining.
And this book is just like that. He's written all about making each of his films (as well as the podcasts and side projects) and it's a wonderful insight into everything. (Dear gods Bruce Willis is a giant dick!) And the little comments from everyone he's worked with are so sweet and heartfelt.
It's definitely the feel good book of the year.
And all the popups are really cool.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this book flew under the radar. It’s essentially a Kevin Smith autobiography/retrospective/tell all with new details he hasn’t said before. He takes you movie by movie through his life and talks about the things influencing him to create that specific art at that moment. On top of that, he has little tidbits about “who is Kevin Smith” from his friends and close collaborators. Mosier finished a script first, but he thought Kevin’s was better. Kevin offered Mosier co-director credit, but he refused and wound up with producer. When they went to Mallrats, Mosier was producer in name only because Universal hired additional people, Scott wasn’t happy. This is some of the most in-depth story of his relationship with Joey Lauren Adams, including their first dates, concrete examples of his insecurities, and how he worked with her. Affleck writes about how important Kevin was to him and how Kev’s overly public thing turned him away from him for a few years, and he regrets it. Jason Lee and Affleck were both uncomfortable with the kiss at the end of Chasing Amy. Jim Jacks threatened suicide until Kevin Smith invited him to Jersey to hang out and get away from Hollywood during the pre-Amy days. He knows the difference between making a film (Clerks, Amy) and a movie (Mallrats). During a fight, Joey Adams said, “you’re not a good director, you don’t know what you’re doing. You’re not like Linklater.” Jay’s snoochie boochies bashing in Amy is supposed to be a direct attack at Mallrats since he never said that in Clerks. Bob’s Amy speech is slightly improvised because he couldn’t remember his lines. They didn’t have enough film ordered to do the final Amy scene, so they had to do it as close to one take as possible with slight interruptions, and it went all the way to 3am. Lifting too much of Joey Adams’s sexual history for Amy ended up further driving a wedge between them, and he basically says she left him for Vince Vaughn. Joey was promised Bethany in Dogma, the breakup and Weinstein made that tough, he gave her Serendipity, but Weinstein basically said no and convinced her to drop the role with the promise of him getting her in a different movie later on - which of course he didn’t. Golgothan was inspired by Clayface on BTAS. Affleck, Damon, Smith, and Chris Rock went to see Big Lebowski and thought it sucked, Rock stood up in the theater and said it sucked and the audience freaked. Bob Weinstein really wanted Tom Green for Marshal Willenholly. Bruce Willis was the original choice for the Will Smith part of Jersey Girl, and it was going to be set in the 80s (even further back - Kevin wrote the initial concept of Jersey Girl for Bill Murray to star). He did a rewrite of Overnight Delivery with Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd, he claims to have rewritten 50% and complains about not getting a credit (trust me dude, you don’t want your name on it). Jeff Anderson was independently wealthy from a tile importing business at the time of Clerks 2, which added to his reluctance to do it. Ellen Pompeo was the original Becky, then he tried Bryce Dallas Howard. Rosario wanted to do a Tarantino movie, and Weinstein instead convinced her to do a Kevin Smith (as a sort of stepping stone). Toad (of TESD lore) was the inspiration for Elias. I would’ve loved his “Name” movie following post-Amy where Lee, Adams, and Affleck star in a porn-adjacent world. It was almost Wahlberg and Ferrell in Cop Out, but the studio didn’t want to do it as an R movie, so they went and pitched to another studio The Other Guys. Bruce Willis turned on Kevin when he found out about him playing Carnegie Hall. Bruce was totally drunk every day on set, going through bottles of vodka. Angel of death ending to Red State would’ve made the movie so much better. Sam Jackson almost played the John Goodman part, but he needed $250k, and Smith was going to trade him a piece of $200k art and pay him the difference. Melissa Leo and Michael Parks didn’t get along. John Goodman was drunk all throughout Roseanne and was heavily recovering during Red State, so he stayed on set the whole time. Jesse Eisenberg was Blumhouse’s pick for the Justin Long part of Tusk. Michael Parks had a stroke two weeks prior to filming Tusk and was really difficult on set as a result. Quentin Tarantino turned down the Johnny Depp role in Tusk because he thought he was going to be the walrus. Smith refused to have the studio issue a contract for Depp to appear, he just took him at face value that he’d show up in three months - as a result, he had to put money to cover that portion of the shoot into an escrow account. Disney wouldn’t allow Johnny Depp to be advertised or credited with Tusk as it was released within a six month window of a Pirates movie. Yoga Hosers started as a summer camp slasher. Mini Nazis idea was from another pair of filmmakers who wanted to make it as a short. Michael Parks was supposed to play the villain. Depp offered to reach out to Pacino to do it. Scott Mosier didn’t like Yoga Hosers. Jamie Lee Curtis wanted to be in Jay and Bob Reboot, but she declined when she found out it wasn’t shooting in Hollywood. Affleck had a falling out with Kevin after a newspaper picked up a story Kev told about how Affleck had Thanksgiving dinner in the late 90s with Paltrow, George Lucas, and Spielberg - in which Lucas said he knew what Clerks was and knew the Death Star contractors idea and thought it was funny. Affleck was furious because it made him look bad, and he wanted to work with Spielberg. Smith tried to reconcile with Affleck by almost posting an extremely personal and long Twitter post until someone on his team stopped him and said not to do it (he includes it in the book). Affleck almost came to play the movie version of Cocknocker in Reboot (Hamill wasn’t allowed by Disney).

[RL Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smith has told a lot of these stories before, but he's such a good storyteller fans won't mind. While the photos and replicas inside may seem like the selling point; I really enjoyed the story.

[angelofmine1974 · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/SQ_Yq6tySK4

Enjoy!

[Eric Copeland · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's really not much to say about this book, but there's also so much to say about it. If you're not a Kevin Smith fan, this coffee table tome will be of exactly zero interest to you; if, however, you love "Clerks," "Dogma," Jay and Silent Bob, SModcast, etc., then you won't be able to get enough of it.

When the '90s wave of independent cinema hit with Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez, and of course Quentin Tarantino (among others), it seemed that Kevin Smith came out of nowhere -- and with good reason. Because he DID come out of nowhere. An actual clerk from New Jersey who dropped out just less than halfway through film school in Vancouver (so that he could get part of his money back), Smith got together with his friends from home and from film school, scrounged up about $28,000 in credit cards, and shot a black-and-white classic that was joyfully vulgar and unashamedly niche. Since then, he's tried his hand at comic books, public speaking, podcasts, and naturally more movies: mostly comedy, but with an action movie and couple of horror flicks thrown in there too.

His work and his worldview can never be considered to be a universal taste, but the sheer number of actors who have appeared in his movies, both in regular roles and in cameos, would seem to indicate that his projects speak to a wide array of Hollywood types, possibly because of their self-referential and often satirical treatment of how the entertainment world works. Along the way he's also picked up a decent following of regular folks too (like me); even his flops, such as "Mallrats" and "Jersey Girl," have found a following on video.

His movies aside, if you've ever seen the series of films documenting Smith's speaking engagements on college campuses ("An Evening with Kevin Smith," "An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder," and "Kevin Smith: Sold Out - A Threevening with Kevin Smith"), you know the man is a born storyteller. A raconteur of the highest level, he can spin fascinating yarns from what would otherwise be fairly humdrum occurrences... though admittedly, when his stories are peppered with personal experiences with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, it tends to command a little more attention.

Smith's storytelling is in grand form here. He relates his own tale, from the early days before he ever imagined writing a screenplay, up through "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot" and "Yoga Hosers" (it stops short of last year's release of "Clerks III"), and he pulls no punches. He's self-deprecating much of the time, and for the most part he's admiring of the people he's worked with (there's one glaring exception, but I won't name that person here). If there's a chapter in Kevin Smith's life that isn't covered in this book, I don't know what it is. In fact, I suspect his wife took some time getting used to him airing the gory details of their relationship vocally and in print.

As an added bonus to fans like myself, the book features plenty of sidebars in which the various people in Smith's life talk about their opinions on him and his work. Even cooler, there are replica artifacts inserted with extreme frequency -- everything from a reproduction of his handwritten application to the Vancouver Film School (which for some reason the late-teens Kevin thought was in Vermont), to a box that purportedly would have held a serving of french fries from the fictional Mooby's restaurant chain.

I initially checked this book out from the library where I work, but in the midst of the chapter about his second movie I realized I would need to purchase my own copy. Once that book was in my hands, I took a small break while I finished another book I had started in the meantime, then steadily devoured every remaining word in the book. Now it sits on the shelf, within easy reach because I know I'll be referring back to it as I revisit Smith's movies.

[Edward B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is loaded with stories we (kevin smith fans) have heard since 1994 and the debut of CLERKS as well as tidbits we, or at least i, haven't heard of. Its also filled with inserts that are very cool to own as well.

Out of all of kevin's written works about his life and career, this is arguably the most detailed.

Also makes me see certain actors or actresses in a different light and i've either come to respect them more or have them lose what little i'd already had for them.

Definitely a worthy read as a fan. Had a good time with this one.

[Sherry Seigal-Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an awesome look behind the curtain of the making of Kevin Smith's movies. There's tons of cool stories, pictures, concept art, and inserts to look through. It's like a scrapbook for the View Askewniverse that shows all of the love and fun that went into each movie and creates a new context for movies I already love.

[William Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book for anyone who is a fan of Kevin Smith and his films! There's a chapter for each of his movies, and there are fun little inserts that are almost like little bonus features. It's an incredibly well written, insightful, entertaining book

[Natalie (Natflix&Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Kevin Smith from the beginning, although I don't love every film he's done. I do love his writing, though, and really enjoyed this dive into his different films and other parts of his life and career.

[Shana Keel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kevin Smith is such a cool dude. He's a normal person in a celebrity situation.
I've loved his movies since I was a teen, and now I have the itch to do a major rewatch!
Read this book, it's funny, endearing and a great behind the scenes look at his accomplishments and struggles.

[Josh Newhouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

A reminder of what I loved and also what I missed!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Snoogans!

[GaP · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kevin Smith takes us down memory lane to tell us his secret origin. How he got into filmmaking and his feelings about it every step of the way. A geek made good and I learned much about his movies and side-hustles as well as what was going on behind the scenes. Ends at the threshold of CLERKS III.