It’s no secret that Kevin Smith approached DVD as a cynic. Many remember his audio commentary on the “Chasing Amy” laserdisc which began with a rather blunt comment about the new up-and-coming video format: “F**K DVD.” But, since that time he’s warmed up to the digital video discs, which is evident when looking at the new deluxe DVD of his recent film “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.”
“It’s a lot of fun putting stuff together and it’s a lot of fun for people to watch,” Smith said during a recent conference call. “I was always a big fan of laserdiscs, and back in the day they were the things with all the special features. When we got into the game, laserdiscs were still it and there were no DVDs yet on the horizon. The first laserdisc we did was “Clerks” and we tried to put as many extras on as possible. Then DVDs took over and we’re allowed to put a lot more content on them without it being that much more expensive. Pressing three laserdisc platters made it pretty costly to include a lot of material, unless you were gonna make it like a $100 box set, which I don’t know if any of our films could support. Putting out a $26 DVD is cost effective and it’s also fun for the fans.”
The new DVD really does have as much content as could possibly be squeezed in. For starters, there are a whopping 42 deleted and extended scenes, each with an introduction by Smith and company. Then there’s an audio commentary by Smith with star Jason Mewes and producer Scott Mosier, two making-of documentaries, music videos for Stroke 9’s “Kick Some Ass” and Afroman’s “I Got High,” outtakes and a short feature on Morris Day and the Time. It’s a disc no fan of the movie, or Kevin Smith, should be without.
“The beauty of it was when I got my check disc I went through all the extras and really kind of fell in love with it again,” Smith said. “You spend so much time with the flick you really grow to hate it and by the time it comes out you don’t want to see it ever again. So watching that check disc is really fun because it reminded me how much fun it was making the flick.”
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